Another big lunch

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I thought I'd take it easy on food today - having been out for dinner the last four nights - but it was not to be. Instead of having a simple sandwich at the Salon de The de Joël Robuchon, we ended up at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon for the set lunch.

We started with an amuse bouche of tomato concasse and asparagus jelly. The chef added mustard seeds into the concasse, making it a little spicy. The jelly is actually made from white asparagus and garnished with slices of both white and green asparagus. Pretty interesting balance of flavors, between the delicate asparagus and the sharper tomato and mustard.

My starter was the king crabe - in reality a giant wrap cut into two pieces. The filling consisted of curry-flavored Alaskan king crab legs, avocado, tomato, mozzarella, all wrapped with romaine lettuce with Caesar dressing and cracked red peppers on the plate. While it was delicious and refreshing, it was just too big for a starter. Honestly I was pretty full by the time I was done, and I still had a main course and dessert to go!

For main course I chose the agneau. A few nice slices of lamb, which are so flavorful from the layer of fat...and with the addition of oriental spices (cumin and other seeds) it was just working really well. The eggplant confit on the side was interesting, with roasted red peppers and parmesan cheese. Of course, I feel even more full by now from the lamb fat...

It's been a while since I had profiteroles, and these mini ones came with coffee ice cream and caramel sauce in addition to the bed of chocolate mousse underneath. Definitely sinful. But strangely enough, I started feeling better after the dessert!

The most interesting part about today's lunch came when we overheard the Taiwanese girls next to us talking about Robuchon opening an outlet in Taipei this coming September. I checked with one of the managers and he confirmed it, although he wasn't able to tell me the exact location. This is of course exciting news for me, as there will finally be a high-end French restaurant worth going to in Taipei! I can hardly wait...