10 Monaco star restaurants: Joël Robuchon

We continue our series of articles about Michelin restaurants in Monaco where you learn not only about the signature dishes of the restaurants but also exclusive interviews with the best star chefs and sommeliers. Discover 10 unique stories about culinary marvels of Monaco!

Joel Robuchon: Menu & Concept

Joël Robuchon currently retains 28 Michelin stars and is one of the most highly-acclaimed chefs in the World and a distinguished figure on the international gastronomy scene. Robuchon is an artisan of change and a purist when it comes to flavours and tastes.

Driven by his philosophy that “We are what we eat” and inspired by his global travels, Robuchon opened his two Michelin-starred Restaurant Joël Robuchon in the heart of Monaco at the Hotel Metropole Monte-Carlo offering culinary delights with light and healthy dishes.

The Belle Époque stylishly built Hotel Metropole Monte-Carlo, which overlooks the Mediterranean Sea offers a refined and comfortable atmosphere with sensational décor.

Chef Robuchon’s Mediterranean cuisine is well-suited to the ambience created by interior designer Jacques Garcia using sumptuous Gobelins tapestry, velvet armchairs, parquet floors and sea views. On entering the restaurant, diners are immediately swept into an air of conviviality.

Chef Robuchon, who succeeded in combining haute gastronomy with five-star hospitality and dispelled the sacred and old-fashioned aura which encompasses the culinary scene, is considered a leading light in healthy and wholesome cuisine. He is a tireless researcher always surrounded by modern nutritionists.

The Restaurant Joël Robuchon Monte-Carlo offers an innovative style of cooking, stripped down to the essentials, with healthy and delicious dishes including vegetarian and gluten-free courses.

Here, everyone‘s attention is on the clarity of the dishes, which are produced with first-class ingredients. Without compromise and sustaining his naturally refined standards and excellence in the kitchen, Chef Robuchon concocts an amazing selection of dishes, appreciated by many for their wholesome ingredients.

Chef Joël Robuchon strongly believes in restaurants with transparency allowing diners to view their food being prepared in front of them. While dining, attention is drawn to the open kitchen and teppanyaki area, where Executive Chef Christophe Cussac and his team busily and deftly perform an orchestrated choreography of the culinary arts.

Inspired by the Mediterranean, the menu includes dishes such as crayfish presented in a crisp wrapping with basil and quail, which arrives caramelized and stuffed with foie gras, accompanied by potato puree with truffle. The team focuses on seasonal essentials, paying attention to flavours and textures that are both healthy and tasteful. Guests are recommended to choose a variety of degustation dishes and ask the highly-attentive staff for advice.

If interested, diners can choose to combine their meal with a set of wine pairings from the international wine menu, as presented by the head sommelier, Frédéric Woelffle.

“In 1989, Joël Robuchon was awarded the title of “Chef of the Century” by Gault et Millau and he currently retains the most Michelin stars in the world of any living Chef. So there is no doubt, that as you step into the Robuchon domain at the Hotel Metropole, you are in for a unique and exclusive gourmet experience.

The discovery menu consists of local produce, meat and fish or seafood dishes and delicate dessert options that are produced with exceptional detail to the marriage of flavours and freshness; complex but not complicated and lively to the palate.

There is an open Tepanyaki-style kitchen that offers contact between the Chefs and the guests.

Joël Robuchon has redefined French cuisine and although his style is classic, he uses modern twists and accentuates the natural flavours of a dish, turning them into something heavenly.

“Turning simple food into something luxurious”.

There is also a non-gluten, vegetarian menu option available”. – Bradley Mitton

“When you cook, you take a life. When you eat fish, or meat, you take a life. And you must be very respectful of the ingredients and that is very important.

Creating deluxe cuisine is like playing a sport. Always competitive. Always challenging. And if you slow down a bit, you can no longer return to the top level”. – Joël Robuchon

Joël Robuchon Specialty

John Dory with Mediterranean Flavours

Recipe (serves four)

Ingredients

– Cut the eggplant and the leek into cubes. Cook with butter. Once preserved, strain and add tomato purée. Cook again to boil.
– Cut the tomato in dice as well as lemon. Gently mix with olive oil.
– Wash young spinach leaves.
– Cut up the chives.
– Braise the john dory fillets seasoned with salt and pepper.
– Decorate the plate with preserved tomato, rosemary, espelette powder and black olive purée.
– Put the vegetables in the middle of the plate and the fish on the top. Add 4 spinach leaves on the edges of each john dory fillet.
– Cover the fillets with the tomato lemon mixture and top with chives.

Perfect Wine Match

“I suggest a white Burgundy style, for example a Vougeot “Clos du Prieuré” Domaine de la Vougeraie of the vintage 2013.

This wine is old world in origin but new world style in style. Which means, you get a really intense and full-bodied wine that has a rich oak character and fine balanced acids that marry with the Provençal ingredients of eggplant, leek and tomatoes and the wine is still refreshing enough to pair with the delicate flavours of the fish.

The structure of this full-bodied chardonnay also combines well with the “vierge” dressing (olive oil, tomatoes and fresh lemon juice) that adds refreshment and vitality to the dish and the palate.” – Frédéric Woelffle

Published with the consent of the authors of  “Signature Dishes of the Principality of Monaco with Wine Pairing Guide“​ by Bradley Mitton (Author), Zsolt Szemerszky​.

BUY THE BOOK  AT:  www.amazon.com/Signature-Dishes-Principality-Pairing-Russian/dp/1542987962/