Joël Robuchon - Monte Carlo - Monaco - review

Name: Joël Robuchon

Address: 4 Avenue de la Madone
98000 Monaco
93 15 15 10

Food: French, Modern French, European

Average price:$37Euro - $195Euro.

Complimentary: Bread - large variety.

Lemon cake (gift wrapped to take home, lovely touch)

I devoured this for breakfast the next day. IT. WAS. GOOD. Gorgeous soft crumb with wonderful bitter chunks of lemon rind interspersed throughout, it didn't even need any sort of accompaniment. I could have eaten the whole loaf.

We ordered: Discovery menu degustation $180Euro each. (unfortunately my notes seem to have disappeared, therefore I can only comment on what I remember.)

Amuse bouche

ruby red pomelo jelly 
with guacamole and Esplette chilli

Presentation was girlishly pretty and the combination of creamy avocado and cool, bitter pomelo with a hint of heat from the chilly was pleasant.

Yoshi cocktail - $19Euro

asparagus blancmange 
king crab with virgin olive oil in a floral symphony of tomato

Visually gorgeous.

gaspacho with sweet peppers and golden croutons

vegetable mille-feuille with foie gras, sweet and sour emulsion, pig's trotter on toast

mushrooms with soft boiled hen's egg cooked in  alight creamy broth with ginger

blue lobster lightly caramelised, artichokes with Spanish flavours

Poivrade artichoke in a touch of thyme with tomato confit

This was a powerhouse of flavour! I severely underestimated its deliciousness based on appearance. The combination of sweet, spicy, salty and nutty was finger licking good.

tandoori lamb chops roasted with a citrus and fig marmalade, Thai style cauliflower and fresh flaked almonds

pomme puree with truffle

Very heavy, creamy, buttery potatoes. In fact, I dare say, a little too rich for me as I couldn't eat that much of it.

pink bloom light cheesecake with Tahiti vanilla, seasonal fruits

This was nice, but nothing more than a good cheesecake.

chocolate coffee dessert

This dish left us strangely unsatisfied. Too much coffee and not enough chocolate for me.


Cost: $388Euro for 2x Discovery menus (one vegetarian), 1 bottle Evian ($9Euro) & 1 cocktail.

Service: Ok. The wait staff were faultless, and they give you an edible gift bag on the way out which is a nice touch, however the food was incredibly slow, and although we allowed 3.5 hours (1 hour more than they suggested) we almost missed the last train back to Nice as there was at least 20mins wait between each meal.


Atmosphere: Classic contemporary elegance. The colour scheme was a combination of browns and muted greens with a view into the kitchen. The noise level was low, but the restaurant wasn't at full capacity when we went. Despite the tables not being super close we could overhear the tables beside us fairly clearly.
The only gripe I have is that I was very uncomfortable physically, the seats were oddly shaped, not allowing you to recline, and the table column is so large that you cannot really find a place for your feet.

Parking: Limited street parking, unless you have a very expensive car.

Website:  http://www.metropole.com/en

Hours:  Open Mon-Sat 9am-6pm.

Would I return: Maybe.