Robuchon au Dôme is the only 3 Michelin starred restaurant in Macau, and I had decided I wanted to celebrate my birthday in this restaurant several months ago. To be sure we got a reservation, I booked a table for two for lunch two months in advance.
Robuchon au Dôme offers 3 different lunch sets at $458, $558 and $688 (the prices are in Macau dollars, but the exchange is almost 1 to 1 with the Hong Kong dollar, and about 10 Macau dollars per 1 euro). The menu at $458 includes an appetizer or a soup; fish or meat; and cheese or dessert. The second one at $558 includes both an appetizer and a soup while the rest remain the same as the first menu. The last one at $688 includes an appetizer, a soup, fish, meat, and cheese or dessert. We decided to go for the second option at $558 since the first seemed a bit poor and the third a bit too much.
The meal started off with a selection of French bread, including plain baguette, cheese bread, bacon baguette, raisin bread and apricot bread among others. All of this was accompanied by salted and unsalted butter flown in from Northern France, which was brought to our table on a butter trolley where the two mountains of butter stood and were then spooned off for us. I enjoyed the plain baguette with salted butter the most: delish!
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| Bread trolley |
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| Butter trolley |
Then came the amuse bouche. It was a sherry gazpacho with pistachio and ricotta cheese, and did I enjoy it!!! It totally fulfilled the purpose of an amuse bouche, it left me craving for all the dishes to come!
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| Amuse bouche |
For appetizers we chose the French mussels "marinieres" with touch of cream and leek fondant perfumed with saffron; and Slightly smoked foie gras and top of marinated mushroom with virgin olive oil. Both were great but the mussels were spectacular. The soups were Sellfish bisque spiced with Espelette pepper with scallop quenelle and crispy head; and Light Corn veloute under delicate sweet onion foam, foie gras and smoked bacon. I loved both of them, maybe the bisque a bit better, but the one mind-blowing thing about the corn soup, which was the pieces of foie gras it came with. They exploded in your mouth with a rich foie gras taste that left both J and I agog in pleasant bewilderement. For the main dishes, we had the Crispy boneless veal head with aromatic garnish "ravigote" and black truffle sauce; and the Roasted lamb rump with spice and vegetable medley in Navarin style. The lamb may look just as in any other restaurant but it was definitely not, it melted in your mouth! I also really enjoyed the mashed potatoes they served with it. We didn't fancy the veal that much; while the meat was of outstanding quality, the jelly around it looked and tasted more like fat rather than anything else.
Then the dessert trolley, a.k.a. eye candy, came to our table for us to choose two desserts per person. They were good but not remarkable. Too bad I forgot to take a picture of the cheese trolley because... whoa did those cheeses look good!!!
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| Dessert trolley |
And finally a tea or coffee of our choice, served along with petit-fours, all of which was included in the lunch set as well.
I was deeply impressed by everything at Robuchon au Dôme. I guess it is no wonder, it was my first time in a 3 Michelin stars restaurant! I enjoyed the first part of the lunch the most, that is the French bread, the amuse bouche, the appetizers and the soups. I just couldn't recommend Robuchon au Dôme enough! I could stay staring at the interior decor of this restaurant for ages, it is that pretty! Not to mention the 360° views of Macau.
After our lunch we spent the day visiting Macau and betting in the casinos. What is there to say other than this has been the best birthday of my life? :)
Visited on: 21 October, 2012
Overall quality: 5*
Price: $558 + 10% service charge per head for the Lunch Set
Value for money: 5*
Would I recommend it? It would be impossible in Europe to find a 3 Michelin starred restaurant with these attractive prices. A must-try!
Robuchon au Dôme
43F - Grand Lisboa Hotel
Macau
