A few weekends ago
I experienced the most outrageous food
weekend of my life so far. The story
starts a month or so ago when Rebecca and I decided that we really didn’t want
anything material for our anniversary (even if we now have a new map of old
London hanging from our wall, but that is
a different discussion). We decided that instead we were going to go out
for a nice meal together and enjoy our anniversary that way. So, we did our
research and found that we could go out to a two Michelin starred restaurant
for lunch and it was decently reasonably priced. Also, because we were sensible we decided to
go for Saturday lunch so that I didn’t have to worry about trains and Rebecca
didn’t have to worry about work. We booked to go to L’Atellier de Joel Rubichon in central London. It had a neat
counter experience where the chefs all prepared the food for you in the middle
where you could see it all going on. As the day approaches, our friends
birthday approaches as well and her fiancée says that he has been able to book
the chefs table at Gordon Ramsey’s Maze if we would like to come out. Sounds
like a blast, but the only drawback is that it is on the Friday night before
our dinner. All well and good I don’t think about it until the Friday this is
all planned for. |
| Table at Maze |
Come Friday, the inevitable happens. While I get in to
London on time with no train delays, Rebecca is caught at work. Thankfully, so
are Steph, Greg and Carla. So, only the one non lawyer gets out on time. (There
can’t be any correlation to that at all, pure luck…) But we push the
reservation back and all is still good. First out the door are Steph and Greg
who end up at the restaurant about 30 minutes late and right on time for the
delayed reservation. Next out is Carla, about 5 minutes behind and finally, a
panicking Rebecca petrified she’s ruined everything and sprinting 25 minutes
after Carla. Thankfully, Carla and I waited in the lawyer’s lobby for Rebecca
and we travelled up together. On a side note, I would say it worked out pretty
decently for me waiting anyways as I ended up seeing about 75% of the people I
know that work for the firm as they left for the weekend and I got to say hello
to them as I waited. At the restaurant, we arrive and have a drink before we
are seated. When Greg told me that it would be the chefs table, I assumed that
would mean like a vip table or something like that. Yes, it was a vip table,
but unlike what I was expecting, it was actually in the kitchen. So as we
walked through the restaurant and into the kitchen at 8pm I was a bit shocked.
The meal itself was great, each new course was brought up to us by the chef
that made it and paired with a wine by the sommelier. They then explained it to
us and let us ask them questions. We generally stuck to questions about what being
a chef was like (apparently working 10 am to 1 am five days a week is the norm…
ewww) or why they made something the way they did. I, even in a classy
establishment, still managed to throw class out the window when one of the male
chefs apologized to the female sommelier for finishing too quickly. Sorry, my
mind is literally hardwired to make crude remarks. Another highlight was when
the three girls ended up being put to the test and had to plate the meal that
we were eating for one of our courses. I’m proud to say Rebecca came in second
and I got to learn that she really isn’t as bad as she makes out to be in the
kitchen. She may just be playing so that she doesn’t have to cook. At the end of the 9th course and
subsequently 12th class of wine (I had a chunk of Rebecca’s wine)
the clock was striking 1 in the morning and we were all extremely stuffed. I
knew it was bad when I watch Rebecca look longingly at some of the chocolate
truffle still on the table at the end of desert that she did not have the ability
to eat. We grabbed the bill (had a minor
heart attack at its sight) and went home to bed.
 |
| Rebecca Showing off her Cooking abilities |
 |
| Rebecca and I at l'Atellier |
Saturday rolled around and we crawled out of bed at 11 in
the morning and got to start the process all over again. This time we knew
exactly what we were getting into. A little worse for wear we made our way to
the restaurant, almost on time as well. Arriving at L’Atellier de Joel Rubichon
we were told that our seats weren’t ready yet, but we could go to the lounge
for a drink while we waited. There is nothing like nice cocktail to help
through the grogginess of too much wine the night before. Once our seats were
available we made our way back down to our seats for lunch. This time, even
though the chefs were all on display like the night before, the experience was
completely different. At L’Atellier, the chefs were all quietly preparing their
food. No drama at all. It was still really cool to see the skills of the chefs
out there in the open, but like I said, it was so very different to the
experience of being in the kitchen. It was almost like the chefs were either on
best behavior or they were just unchallenged because it was such a relaxed
atmosphere. The best way to describe it for me was that it was almost like a
fish tank as a centerpiece. Yes it’s there, but if you’re not watching intently
you wouldn’t notice. Whereas, at Maze, it was more like a pit fight
centerpiece, even if you weren’t watching it you knew things were happening.
The other thing I would have said was that while the food at Maze was great,
the food at L’Atellier was spectacular. That is likely why one has only one
Michelin star and the other has two. But three courses later (each pair with
another wine) I’m at the point where I don’t know if I only want to eat at
fancy food places again or if I don’t want to see another scrap of food again. Either
way, I know that I don’t think I will ever eat that well over the course of 24
hours again in my life.
