L’ATELIER DE JOEL ROBUCHON Is situated in the heart of the West End in West Street and Covent Garden and adjacent to the The Ivy. It is the brainchild of super chef Joel Robuchon, whose name has been synonymous with haute cuisine for over two decades.
One of only two chefs in the world to hold six Michelin stars, he has been the inspiration of celebrated British chefs Gordon Ramsey, Michael Caines and Tom Aitken, who learned their culinary skills under his watchful eye. In 1996 he retired, but with former friends and colleagues, he was persuaded to participate in a new venture whose concept was a more casual eatery, and after eight years L’Atelier was born. There are two dining rooms; L’Atelier is on the ground floor, where you can eat high quality food in an informal atmosphere. It has an interesting feature of real green ivy lit up from behind a wall of glass that gives the room an interesting
contrast to the black and red furniture. Here you can sit at the counter that surrounds the whole kitchen where the food is prepared, and offers a congenial and relaxed opportunity to dine in less than an hour or at leisure, if you so wish. La Cuisine on the first floor is more formal and serves a quite elaborate and sophisticated menu. The décor consists of black and white tiled walls and black tables and chairs. This is the room for serious dining where the menu consists of many choices. Our waitress convinced us that the menu decouverte, which consists of eight courses, was an opportunity to sample a wide example of the chef ’s skills. The dishes were accompanied by 88