The French restaurant L’Atelier Robuchon will return to London in September, taking residence at the group’s Comptoir Robuchon location in Mayfair.
L’Atelier closed in its former site in April 2018, just nine months after Joël Robuchon, one of the most celebrated chefs ever to cook, died aged 73.
L’Atelier had originally been a two Michelin-starred restaurant in West Street, Covent Garden, which served Spanish and Japanese-infused French food, and an altogether more upmarket offering to the somewhat casual Comptoir concept.
The head chef of the reopened L’Atelier Robuchon will be Andrea Cofini, who joined the group in 2014.
Cofini, who has worked on the relaunch alongside Robuchon executive chef David Alves, has worked at the two-star sister L’Atelier in Paris and more recently Robuchon Shanghai, which also holds two stars.
The restaurant will serve a number of Robuchon’s classic dishes, including his famous purée de pomme de terre, which, with a two-to-one potato to butter ratio, has been described as the best mashed potato in the world.
Other dishes harking back to Robuchon’s high-end days in the kitchen include a sea bream carpaccio, dressed with lemon and chives, and roast quail with foie gras. Cofini will make his own mark on the menu, too, bringing in influences from his time in Shanghai, the restaurant group said. The likes of a dessert trolley, as well as one dedicated entirely to cheese, two common features of Robuchon’s restaurants, will also make a comeback.
New to L’Atelier London is a bar area at the front of the space that will serve a pared-back menu alongside live music and DJs.
Robuchon, who earned 32 Michelin stars over the course of a glittering career, operated restaurants in three continents and in 1990 was named “chef of the century” by the France-based Gault et Millau cooking guide.
The chef also mentored Gordon Ramsay, who memorably wrote in his autobiography that working for Robuchon was like being in the SAS.
