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Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester: not crispy, not crackling

7/5/2011

20 Comments

 
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'And what's that on top' we enquired of the lardo looking slice that sat atop the lamb. 'Crispy crackling' our waiter replied. Our already so-so meal changed gear, accelerating away from both us and the restaurant, the errors compounding and layering, as if the lunch was now in a hurry to deliver the car crash that we had already accepted was inevitable. The only question became just how big that car crash was going to be. The maitre d' trying to put things right only managed to make things worse. In the end, he gave up; he might have been tired already, the table next to us had complained about their food also, it really wasn't his day. 

To the manager's credit, when the bill arrived, he had entirely removed food costs and service. We said that we would like to contribute for service but the maitre d' suggested we have no more arguments, that seemed his best suggestion of the day and we acquiesced. We left the restaurant thoroughly miserable, barely speaking to each other even, there's no joy in getting a bad meal, even when comped; this is not the day we had wanted or expected.    

                                                          * * * * * *

Most readers will be aware that Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester has not been received without issue. AA Gill for example marked it just one star out of five in 2008. We ate there in 2009 when it had two (Michelin) stars and the meal was fine enough but far from memorable. There's been talk that the restaurant has more confidently entered its stride since then and we were keen to try again.

We thought we should give the kitchen full opportunity to express itself and so opted for the tasting menu. A pyramid of Gougeres arrived at the table first and was arguably the most tasty food of the day. A fair selection of bread followed but it was disappointing that it was cold and generally had little merit.

Opening the menu was 'Warm Scottish crab, delicate royale'. Strangely it is served in a porcelain eggshell. We asked the waiter why crab was being served in an eggshell. He said he didn't know, he suggested that Mr Ducasse might have just been fond of this particular piece of china and thought it looked nice. While described on the menu as 'warm', it was in fact room temperature which added to a broader sense of insipidness with the dish. Crab foam sat on top of a watery crab bisque with some brown crab in or around the area. The extent to which it had a 'delicate royale' was confined to a small number of small cubes of custard at the bottom of the dish that for all purposes might not have been there. Too delicate perhaps. We're underwhelmed but it's early.

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Gougeres
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bread, sadly served cold
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Warm Scottish crab, delicate royale (served in an eggshell?)
Foie gras, peppered jelly and pickled vegetables followed. There's no real need to describe this dish in any detail because it's simply a piece of foie gras on the plate with a few pickled vegetables.

After that, we return to 'Saute gourmand of lobster, and truffled chicken quenelles' which came with a Cognac sauce. The lobster was cooked well and the truffles came through in the quenelles, but they were otherwise quite watery; the sauce too was bland rather than rich. And having already been served crab, the return to lobster seemed unnecessary and lacked imagination in our view.

At best, I might describe the lobster dish as being 'quite nice' but then you think, this is one of only four 3 Michelin starred restaurants in the UK, every dish should be brilliant, not 'quite nice' and not at these prices. One can make comparisons too: at 3 star The Waterside Inn, their dish of 'pan fried lobster medallion with a white port sauce and ginger flavoured vegetable julienne' is a simply remarkable expression of food, bordering on perfect. As a dish, it is everything that today's offering isn't. For a picture of The Waterside's lobster click here.

When we think too of the depth of flavour's in the jus and sauces of Osteria Francescana, the blandness of flavours here is mind numbing by contrast.

Nothing yet has also been seasoned properly in our opinion, flavours are shallow, not deep and the essence of ingredients seems to be lost. Then there's texture, or rather, absence thereof. Crab, foie, lobster, there's no contrasts here on or between dishes.

The next course does nothing to change this, seared sea scallops, peas and asparagus, light green jus. The scallop was absent of all flavour, not even caramelised on top and the only real flavour to come through the dish is raw pea. Single Michelin starred Martin Wishart in Edinburgh delivers a scallop dish that from sight alone excites ten times the passion in us than this limp offering.

We must also note at this point that dishes are being returned to the kitchen with half the food left on them (and these are tasting sized plates) but no one has yet enquired if there is a problem.
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Foie gras, peppered jelly and pickled vegetables
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Saute gourmand of lobster, and truffled chicken quenelles
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Seared sea scallops, peas and asparagus, light green jus
And now it's the turn of the lamb. Before we even start the dish, the jus here can be seen to be fatty. Whatever other issues we might have had with Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, they are always technically perfect. In the first picture below is the lamb at Alain Ducasse, in the second picture below is the venison at Gordon Ramsay, the difference in the brilliant lustre of Ramsay's jus versus Ducasse's is simply staggering. 
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Milk fed lamb, new potatoes, turnips and carrots
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Venison at Gordon Ramsay - compare the jus with the the picture above
The issue came to a head with the 'crispy crackling'. It can be seen from the picture below that it is not crispy in any way. While I used mine to demonstrate the properties of a Mobius strip (getting very greasy fingers along the way), the maitre d' finally came over and asked if everything was ok. First we asked about the crispy crackling, he told us it wasn't crispy crackling, we told him that the waiter said it was crispy crackling, he told us his waiter was wrong. Shouldn't waiters know what's on the plates they're putting before customers?

It also left the question, if it's not crispy crackling, what is it? Just part of the skin apparently. We wonder what it's doing on the plate and what we're supposed to do with this greasy chewy piece of skin. Leave it strikes us as the obvious answer. 

We talk to the maitre d' about the rest of the meal. We're not happy and the conversation isn't going well. He suggests a replacement course, we ask him to suggest a plate of excellence from the kitchen: we agree to the turbot ('matelote', potato gnocchi and country bacon). This is Ducasse's upmarket version of matelote, a French fish stew made with red or white wine, but in this case, with the traditional eel or pike replaced with turbot on the bone. The turbot again lacked any flavour. King of all sea fish? It wasn't even the king of this plate. The gnocchi was gummy and the bacon, while tasty, has only a cameo role and could never salvage anything by itself.

At this moment the disappointed maitre d' suggested we didn't understand Ducasse's cooking so making it our fault. What we didn't understand was how Ducasse had managed to get three stars at The Dorchester. 

The maitre d' asked us if we wanted to carry on or just go home. With cheese next we thought we couldn't go too far wrong and the restaurant is 'famous' for desserts so we thought we'd see it through. Cheese was fine while the dessert (exotic fruits contemporary vacherin) was terribly unbalanced, at times both over sweet and overly tart depending which element you had on your spoon. The petits fours were excellent though we wouldn't advise going through so much for so little in this respect.
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Crispy crackling or not?
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Turbot
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exotic fruits contemporary vacherin
A critical view of a restaurant almost always has elements of both absolute judgement and relative judgement, but whether it is an absolute or relative view we take, Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester fails on both counts, badly. In our view, each and every 2 Michelin star restaurant in London has delivered us a better tasting menu than the one we ate today. And not just a bit better, but much better. Many one star restaurants such as Apsleys and Martin Wishart also delivered substantially better meals. 

And given the price point that this restaurant charges, it should be amongst the very best, but in our view, it's nowhere near: the plates have no interesting textures, are not essentially visual delights, ingredients are underseasoned and dishes overall have little impact or flavour. And as for service, while they technically did mostly the right things (though failed to enquire about left food and lacked at times knowledge of what they were serving), in our view there was also no joy, waiters going through the motions because they had to, not because they wanted to. 

The Waterside Inn in Bray is, as the crow flies, only 24 miles from Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester but in every other respect, it is a million miles away. It is our view that if you want to know how brilliant a 3 star French restaurant can be, you'll need to make the journey to Bray because on the basis of our experience today, you'll leave The Dorchester not just disappointed, but downright miserable.


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Related posts: The Waterside Inn

 
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20 Comments
Felix Hirsch link
7/5/2011 10:25:03 am

Interesting that you didn't like Ducasse. Some of the dishes are pretty brilliant from what I've experienced on numerous occasions. BUt tastes differ.

One thing that I have a problem with is the jus. There are many ways of cooking a jus, and one of the most tasty is called "jus gras". This is what the jus you had looks like. Instead of binding it with butter, oil or flour as it is done on the picture of the venison at RHR, you let it "pearl" so that the fat separates from the rest of the jus. It is simply a different way of doing things, and no technical error.

Just to clarify that.

Best,

Felix

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Alex link
7/5/2011 10:30:37 am

if this is 3 star cookiing, where are my 3 stars?

this is so sad to behold, sorry to hear that your experience simply reflects nearly all others before it.

I like the look of the foie dish, simple however notice that the foie has not been cut with the laser like precision expected at this level of cookery, example whilst at Noma this year, chefs were crucified for not cutting onions in half exactly through the centre, and the non perfect were simply resigned to stocks or staff food.

The lobster, whilst the ingredients are more luxurious than an average meal, the presentation looks from the picture like above average prison slop (maybe you should try 'the clink' next, at least their presentation looked appetising.

I would comment on the 'ahem' crackling, but a picture paints a thousand words, so I won't.

The only good thing by the sounds of it was the bill, however one has to question Michelin here, I can see why they took a stance with Noma this year, simply not being influenced by what a majority of the paying public want, but to give ducasse three, when all I have seen written reflects the opinions above, whoever decided that should really be opening his or her P45 by now.

Everyone makes mistakes, even in the greatest meals I have had elements which I know could be better, scallops cooked more, more precise seasoning but these when small are forgivable as human error within a whole that is generally well executed. The problem here really seems that there are many more errors than is fair to allow, and beyond human error to allow them beyond the pass.

Thanks for sharing this, and I truly hope it can get better there, not for Ducasse, but for all the chefs who work there, who have to read reviews that there food is that poor, but the decisions for the food leaving the kitchen are management ones. And they should be answerable for their decisions.

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Mickael link
8/5/2011 01:46:06 am

Regarding the jus gras, no quite agree with felix there.
The issue with lamb Jus Gras is that lamb is just too fatty so always remove some of the fat before serving.
"Jus Gras" translate literally as "juice from the roast", so if you make it from the roast, leave the juices to rest in a bit, the fat will come to the surface, remove some and serve, a bit like your gravy on Sunday.

If your making Jus Gras for a restaurant this is in my opinion the best way do do it,
Make a decent stock before hand, cook your meat, while your meat is resting (for a 1 portion about 10 minutes should do)
Remove some (not all) of the fat from the pan, deglazed with a touch of alcohol or water, pass through a cloth, return to a clean pan add your well made stock. Using a spoon stir gently as to not bind.

This looks more like a badly made stock to start with, yes might have been finish using the jus gras technique, but the stock within the jus looks dirty and cloudy rather than clear and shinny. the jus gras should be silky, rich jus with speckles of the fat from the meat or oil.
Another point,
You do not have to bind your sauce with butter, oil or flour to make your sauce silky, shinny, rich and smooth, what it requires is a bit of attention while making your stock.

And that is a technical error.

I agree with Alex; hard to always have a great day, but it seem to me they are having a few too many, the real culprit here is the michelin guide, who seem to be giving away star like they are falling from the sky.
The guide is not what it use to be, the star use to be few and far between but to win the popularity contest they started to give them away, lots of 2 should have 1 and lots of 1 should have none.
they need to react as the guide is rapidly becoming a french joke.
au revoir!

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Sped98 link
8/5/2011 08:34:50 am

"The maitre d' asked us if we wanted to carry on or just go home"

Tell me you`re winding us up ?????

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An American in London link
9/5/2011 05:48:34 am

A group of us (food bloggers) were invited as guests to Alain Ducasse a few months ago, and even with the restaurant's being on best behavior, all of us left feeling indifferent, at best, about the food.

Which is all to say - I definitely do not think that Alain Ducasse is benefiting from uniformly-positive reviews. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a positive one.

Impressed the restaurant comped your meal, though, even if you're still left with a depressing experience.

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Felix Hirsch link
16/5/2011 08:57:19 am

Mickael,

You might want to check your French. Jus gras means "fat-juice" to have a literal translation. Why should lamb be too fat for that? It is not much of a difference if you make one with beef or anything of the kind. All that matters is that you do it properly.

For sauces, you might want to have a look at Ducasse's books. I doubt that anyone (give or take a few exceptions) makes better sauces, or has better recipes. In fact, the vast majority of chefs simply copied his way of going about it.

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Thecriticalcouple
16/5/2011 09:43:08 am

Felix,

Though you suggest Mickael might want to check his French translation, Mickael is in fact French. He has for the past 10 years been the head chef at a major London restaurant. His credentials on food matters are impeccable.

Regards

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hungry in cardiff
16/5/2011 10:03:54 am

i'm yet to read a review that justifies the three stars it has. michelin seem intent on loosing all credibility of late.

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Mickael link
16/5/2011 10:38:12 am

Felix,
I agree for literal translation. but literal doesn't always apply. I should not have use the word "literally" but the words "best translate as"
Jus gras translates as "fatty juice" agree.
At its simplest it's the dripping and gravy in the bottom of a roasting tin; which is what I meant for translation ( easier for the customer to understand), it also sounds a lot better than, "your lamb will be served with fatty juices".
Lean cuts of meat don't produce very much, like chicken, beef, depends also on the cut.
It captures the essence of a basted roast. the flavour stays in the mouth for a long time after the food has been swallowed.

if your juice is too fatty just remove a bit, it happens a lot with lamb that's all i'm saying.
We all make mistake and get criticised, what we do after is what matter.
listen, learn, correct and move on.
As a Head chef I wish I could always be in the kitchen but that is just impossible. staff will not always produce what you want them to. So sometime things will go wrong. it's good to get a kick in the arse sometime rather than a pat on the back.
Back to Ducasse sauce, we all make things the way we believe is best, but some else can always do it better.
As a chef we strive to improve, I'm always willing to learn from others, so I will get Ducasse's sauce and try them.

Reply
Felix Hirsch link
17/5/2011 08:50:49 am

Mickael,


Good good. You see that sounds reasonable. But, one thing that I don't agree with is that lamb is more fatty than other meats. If you serve the de-boned and "naked" so to say loin of the beast, it is probably even less fatty than a good beef fillet. Or not very different, would you not agree?

As you say, it captures the essence of a roast. That is what is so brilliant about it.

What I was thinking about Ducasse is that his sauces are incredibly concentrated, layered and complex. Like a great wine. And like a great wine, they take a lot of effort to make. A few days probably if you follow the recipe to the letter.

Try it and I'm sure you'll love it.

Reply
mickael
17/5/2011 09:45:40 am

felix,
i will try is sauce for sure.
My veal jus/ stock takes 2 days and that is just the base.
i'm not saying that lamb meat is more fatty (please read previous notes. it does as i and you point out depends on the cut and on the piece that day. but you do have to rectify the amount if to much at the time to able continuity of the dish presented (3* is all about standards)
also if you use Jus Gras, little sauce is required due to the intensity of it, the lamb is swimming in it @ Ducasse or at least on that day.
please check my basic recipe for jus gras recipe:
link bellow
http://bit.ly/mjIliA

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Felix Hirsch link
17/5/2011 09:52:19 am

HUngry in Cardiff,

Here's one positive review:

http://www.qliweb.com/food/Ducasse_Dorchester

And another one:

http://www.andyhayler.com/show_restaurant.asp?id=412&country=UK

Just in case.

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nick_crackers
21/6/2011 06:21:35 am

Well either way - that's not by any stretch of the imagination 3 star food - recipe for jus gras with standing!

I find it saddening that Michelin stars are being handed out willy-nilly to celebrity chefs as some sort of PR exercise for Michelin it's self rather than being handed out for quality, creativity, consistency and blinding service which is what it's all about.

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S Lloyd link
27/7/2011 07:08:14 pm

I'll be visiting London for the 3rd time this year in December and was planning to pay a visit to Alain Ducasse. The only Alain Ducasse I know are the one in Paris (Plaza Athénée / went there twice) and the one in Monte Carlo (that I have visited on numerous occasions). This will be my very 1st Alain Ducasse experience outside of France, and your article prepares me to this future visit there. I'd be curious though to get the Maitre D' elaborating a bit more about the fact that ''you didn't understand Ducasse's cooking. I don't see what needs to be understand. It's not as if this a cuisine concept. It's classic cuisine and I don't see what he needs you to understand.

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marxistfood
30/8/2011 04:10:17 am

Was really interested in the Alain Ducasse review. Our food experience was not a 3 star experience We were left somewhat disapointed. However on ordering red and white wine we asked that the wine after the initial serving be left for us to pour ourselves. The waiter said he would have to go and ask permission for this to be allowed...permission eventualy granted and we proceeded to drink at our own pace.During the course of the meal the Maitre D' came over and in rather dramatic fashion said "you have broken my heart" on enquiring why we held the power to make this man distraught (allegedly) he said because we chose to pour our own wine he had been unable to have the honour of serving wonderful wine to us. and left, no doubt to go and weep in private.This prompted a conversation with people on an adjacent table, who said they felt too intimidated to ask to pour their own wine despite wishing to do so. They like us find the constant topping up of wine irritating and sometimes intrusive.We have eaten at a fair number of starred/ top end Restaurants and have never had a problem with our request. Would be interested in your views as perhaps not everyone would agree with us.

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Thomas Green
7/10/2011 03:06:56 pm

I would be so, so angry if you'd been to my restaurant and had the temerity to criticise when you clearly have a knowledge of the subject that is all upside down. Bread is correctly served cold, that's all there is to it, and if you don't understand why that is is so then you have no business casting judgement on what is, from your excellent photographs, clearly outstanding food. What a wonderfully understanding maitre d'hotel you were blessed with. Hang your heads in shame!

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Tz Lai
4/5/2013 03:42:53 am

The "jus gras" is also called "jus perle (pearl juice)" sometimes. Jus perle was an innovative signature of the late chef Alain Chapel, who mentored the young Alain Ducasse at the now defunct restaurant in Mionnay near Burgundy. Joel Robuchon, the other giant, also uses jus perle extensively.
I agree completely with Thomas that this "review" is ridiculously amateurish. The pictures are pretty bad quality too. However, people are entitled to free speech, I guess.

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Jon Tseng link
3/8/2013 03:08:47 am

I would agree that the jus gras is as it should be. I recently did a bunch of research on Alain Chapel (google him and my piece will come up quite high on the search results). As Tz Lai points out, jus gras/jus perle was one of his signature innovations, along with the cappuccino frothed soup and a bunch of other things (as a side note jus perle is basically the same thing as "flavour encapsulation" with modernist chefs like Heston bang on about. Just Chapel figured it out twenty years earlier...). Therefore it's not surprising that Ducasse, who trained at Mionnay uses it at his restaurants.

I also agree that its wrong to believe bread must always be served warm in haute cuisine restaurants. Although I personally prefer warm, some restaurants serve it cold out of choice - I remember there was quite an involved discussion on the OA board about this back in the day. The more important thing is that the bread has been freshly baked; good restaurants will bake twice a day once for lunchtime and once for evening service.

Hopefully that makes things clearer!

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Keith
14/6/2017 04:24:34 am

A pity you found the lobster and truffled chicken dish tonne lacking. When I had it five years ago it was, and remains today the single most memorable dish I've ever had. The only time I have ever actually been so moved by how good something was that my eyes welled. I couldn't put into words how perfect it was.

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hhh
15/2/2018 11:54:06 am

perhaps a second visit is required

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