Joël Robuchon Restaurant

Conferred Chef of the Century by the prestigious Guide Gault Millau in 1990, Joël Robuchon was the youngest chef ever at 38 years old to receive three Michelin stars for his first restaurant Jamin. In fact, three of his restaurants are in 2013's lists of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants and Asia's 50 Best Restaurants. Ranked No. 24 on the former is L'Atelier Saint-Germain de Joël Robuchon in Paris while No. 23 and 24 on the latter are L'Atelier De Joël Robuchon in Hong Kong and Singapore respectively. Organised and compiled by William Reed Media, the lists collate votes of The World's 50 Best Restaurants Academy – an influential group of more than 900 international leaders in the restaurant industry, each selected for their expert opinion of the international restaurant scene. It was for the legendary (in the culinary world) icon's internationally acclaimed French haute cuisine that I specially made a trip to Joël Robuchon Restaurant.

According to Resorts World™ Sentosa's website, the restaurant is where fine dining becomes a sublime experience with the very best of French haute cuisine given through a repertoire of inventive French classics and an extensive wine list of over 1,300 premium wines from around the globe. Grand chandeliers hanging from high ceiling, paintings in gold frames on beige walls and crystals on table runners screamed lavish opulence in the extravagantly furnished place. Splatters of gold could be seen on the wall, ceiling and black carpet as well as its crockeries and trolleys. Comfortable seats with lovely table set-up including an intricate lamp, and lighting – dimly-lit yet not so dark that I had to strain my eyes to read the menu. Instead of going for the recommended degustation menu, my dining companion and I created our own. Between us, we had three appetisers or soups, two main courses and a dessert.

As I sipped my aperitif of rose champagne, we were presented with an enticing array of tempting breads on trolley. All looked so good that I felt spoilt for choice (fret not, staff could help decide based on customers' preferences), were served warm and had soft fluffy insides. Croissant was airy-light with butter aroma and flaky crust while baguette had a crisp outside, which was not too hard. Saw butter and olive oil being served to other tables and requested for ours too though most breads were good enough on their own, especially the ones with cheese and spices. Loved how sweetness of sour dough was accentuated when dipped in olive oil. Next was L'Amuse-bouche, a prelude to and showcase of what to expect for the meal. An exquisite presentation with taste and texture delicately balanced – tart jelly and granité went surprisingly well with sweet-sour raspberries, sweet blueberries and grapes.

Succulent and flavourful green beans in my appetiser of Le Haricot Vert were so perfect with creamy melt-in-the-mouth foie gras – the best I have tasted, mimosa salad (chopped hard-boiled egg yolk and white) and thin slices of crisp bread, crunchy red radish and mushroom that looked raw but did not taste so. Other appetisers were Le Homard, maine lobster on delicate guacamole with spring vegetables and turmeric oil, and La Saint-Jacques, pan-seared scallop with mimosa salad and baby potatoes with Imperial Caviar. My main course was Le Bœuf, beef ribeye grilled just nice so it melted in my mouth with bitter baby spinach and spicy horseradish mustard. Perfect except for the unbelievably small portion. I loved the smooth mashed potato which required no need for accompanying sauce or bacon bits and the crispy deep-fried potato skin, puffed up so the inside was empty, with a dash of black pepper. 

The other main course was Le Homard, roasted lobster with "Zita" pasta and château chalon sauce, and dessert was La Coccinelle. Interestingly presented as a ladybird made of ivory chocolate with fromage blanc lightness inside, it sat on rhubarb and wild strawberries. Had complimentary espresso and tea – The Vert Zhejiang Lung Ching Imperial, before a coconut ice-cream and peach meringue cake was served. Also included with L'Amuse-bouche in all menus is seductive sweets. Our choice from the desserts trolley included chocolate and citron macarons I could neither rave about nor fault, chocolate financiers which tasted more chocolate than butter, pecan cake, tart (pun intended) raspberry tart, bitter cognac truffle and coffee puff. Oh, and all ladies received a complimentary pistachio raspberry cake on the way out. While I would have preferred more pistachios, the raspberries did the trick as they were so refreshing that I finished the cake by myself in one sitting.