Lunch in November at the 100 day ‘pop-up’ collaboration between two of the world’s most influential and revered chefs, Alain Ducasse and Albert Adrià. Not perhaps a marriage that screams out ‘made in heaven’ in terms of collaborative styles. Odd, I think is the word that I would use to describe it. Having said that, I had a very enjoyable lunch with great company but certainly not food that I would go rushing back for. And while the service was good, it was of course plainly evident that this was definitely a temp gig, and lacking the seamless ballet that you would expect from either of the chef’s own restaurants. I’ll copy in the below opinion from an unnamed but far more qualified source than myself. I feel his or her’s pain but am too cowardly to post such brutal words from my own mouth.
“This is the ideal place if you are a fan of sea cucumbers. Everybody else has to know that Mr Adrià and Mr Ducasse together are not nearly as good as they think they are. Ingredients here are cheap to low level, some dishes fall victims to curious technique. Our cabillaud for example had a mealy consistency. Nothing wrong with the fish, this was a byproduct of the technique. Considering the price of 380 Euros for a lunch, plus almost 200 Euros for some half empty glasses of rather warm Dom Perignon, the absence of products is disappointing. Service like in a brasserie by people who do their job, but not a tiny bit more.
During my visit on a Sunday evening, only five tables were occupied. When I enquired about the lack of clients, the Maitre D’ told me this was because the French want to go to work on Monday sober and fully rested. Why didn’t I think about it? All the country is famous for this attitude.
All in all it seemed to me that ADMO explores the topic of culinary stupidity: How much are people ready to pay for big names? How intimidated are reviewers going to be? How deep is the bottom of the barrel for sub-standard ingredients?”
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