在全球最奢侈的連鎖餐廳用餐,是一種怎樣的體驗

L’Atelier de Jo?l Robuchon may be the world’s most expensive restaurant chain. Each time I ate in the newest one, which opened across 10th Avenue from Chelsea Market in November, I listened to people around me compare notes on which of the 11 other locations they’d visited. Tokyo was popular, as were Las Vegas and, of course, the original in Paris.

L’Atelier de Jo?l Robuchon（喬爾·侯布雄法式餐廳）或許是世界上最奢侈的連鎖餐廳。每次去切爾西市場(Chelsea Market)上第十大道對面那間11月份新開張的餐廳用餐，我都會聽周圍的人交流自己對去過的另外11家餐廳中某一家的評論。東京那家很受歡迎，拉斯維加斯那家也是，當然了，還有最先在巴黎開的那家。

As they reeled off their Atelier achievements, these people always sounded contented. And it must be soothing to know that as you travel the world you will find an Atelier waiting for you to climb up on a comfortable red leather stool, watch the cooks dressed in what look like black pajamas, admire the slightly supernatural colors of the vegetables and fruits submerged in water inside glass vases, recline into a menu filled with Robuchon classics and small variations on the same key ingredients (eggplant, quail, squab, lobster), all at prices that most people can’t afford, but you can.

在談論自己的L’Atelier進餐成就時，這些人聽起來總是顯得很滿意。要是告訴你，在每次環遊世界的時候，你都能找到一家侯布雄法式餐廳，等着你爬上舒適的皮質紅色高凳，讓你看着衣着好似黑色睡衣的廚師，欣賞浸在盛有水的玻璃瓶中的果蔬略微有些超自然的色澤，埋頭看一份寫滿了侯布雄經典菜品和對同樣的主材料（茄子、鵪鶉、乳鴿、龍蝦）稍作變動的菜單，看着這些菜品上標着大多數人吃不起但你卻可以的價格，一定十分舒心。

Lulling familiarity was not Jo?l Robuchon’s aim when he built the first Atelier almost 15 years ago. Having won just about every honor the French gastronomic world offers at his first restaurant, he had officially retired, and when he came back it was only to knock the whole system on its side. His idea was a restaurant where the food, made to his excruciatingly precise standards, would be served not at tables but at a U-shaped counter. The format may have been borrowed from Japan or Spain, but in France the effect was radical, as were the late-night closing hours and no-reservations policy.

在15年前創立第一間餐廳的時候，喬爾·侯布雄(Jo?l Robuchon)想要的並非平淡無奇的熟悉感。在憑藉自己的第一家餐廳贏得法國美食界幾乎所有的獎項後，他本已經正式退休了，他的迴歸只是想把整個體系打倒。他設想的是一家能以他極其精準的標準制作食物的餐廳，並且進餐的地方不是餐桌，而是一座U型吧檯。這個形式或許向日本和西班牙有所借鑑，但在法國有着不同凡響的效果，他們持續到深夜的營業時間和不接受訂位的策略也是這樣。

The proof of L’Atelier’s success is how un-shocking this sounds today.

要證明L’Atelier到底有多成功，只需想想這些在今天聽起來何其平常。

Early on, as R.W. Apple reported in The New York Times, the prices could be modest “if you avoid caviar and foie gras.” This was less true by the time of L’Atelier de Jo?l Robuchon’s initial New York run, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Midtown from 2006 to 2012, where Frank Bruni awarded it three stars. I remember feeling distinct pain there each time I paid the check.

不久之前，R·W·艾普爾(R.W. Apple)在《紐約時報》上報道，“如果不點魚子醬和鵝肝的話”，餐廳的價格還算適中。可在2006年到2012年期間，當L’Atelier最初在紐約中城四季酒店(Four Seasons Hotel)開張，獲得弗蘭克·布魯尼(Frank Bruni)的三星評價的時候，情況並不是這樣。我還記得每次付錢的時候那種清晰的心痛感覺。

I also remember a stunned awareness that I’d do it again. I had had no idea anything could taste as good as the simple combination of a langoustine and a basil leaf inside a see-through wrapper of fried brik pastry, or the far more complex glass of sea urchin suspended in lobster jelly under a quarter-inch of cauliflower cream that was like an insanely luxurious Jell-O salad.

但我也記得那種想要再來一次的震撼心情。我從不知道用透明的油炸蛋餃包裹着的一隻海螯蝦和一片羅勒葉這個簡簡單單組合竟能如此美味，或是複雜得多的那份懸停在龍蝦醬之中、蓋在一層大約6毫米厚的花菜奶油之下的海膽杯，就像奢華無比的果凍沙拉。

Nothing on the menu at the new Atelier spun my senses around like those two dishes, not even the langoustine, which is on the menu there, too, but seems to have lost the juicy sweetness I remembered.

這家新開餐廳的菜單上沒有哪樣能與那兩道使我感官眩暈的菜餚相比，就連這裏也有的海螯蝦，彷彿也沒有我記憶中的那樣甜美多汁。

The kitchen, directed by Christophe Bellanca, shows impressive discipline. (It serves not just L’Atelier but a second restaurant, Le Grill de Jo?l Robuchon, which sits up front overlooking 10th Avenue.) Not one dot of sauce, and there are many, is out of place. But some crucial connection has been lost, the spontaneity and directness that was, I think, the point of the Atelier experiment.

由克里斯托弗·貝蘭卡(Christophe Bellanca)主管的廚房展現出了出色的紀律性。（這裏不止負責L’Atelier，俯瞰第十大道的Le Grill de Jo?l Robuchon燒烤餐廳的菜品也出自這裏。）那麼多醬汁，每一滴都是規規矩矩的。但一些重要聯繫——即興與直接——不見了，而我認爲那纔是L’Atelier實驗的意義。

Out of three dinners, my first was the most patchy. A $44 pair of mini-burgers topped with foie gras were more like an expensive caterer’s trick than a Robuchon brain wave. A vaguely spiced mush of eggplant under a runny boiled egg, for $32, was so unappealing I couldn’t finish it.

在我吃的三次晚餐中，第一頓是最良莠不齊的。44美元兩隻堆疊着鵝肝的迷你漢堡，更像是一個昂貴的宴會承包商耍的把戲，而不是侯布雄的靈機一動。在溏心水煮蛋下放着隱約有點辣味的茄子糊，收費32美元，乏味到最後沒吃完。

Things got better from there, and sometimes much better, though rarely much cheaper. Those two dishes were what the menu calls “small tasting portions,” and as you’d imagine, the appetizers and main courses come with higher prices. Three tasting menus, from $145 to $325, are not particular bargains. (Taking some of the edge off, service is included.)

之後的體驗有所好轉，有時還有很大好轉，雖然在價錢上難有下降。這兩道菜都是菜單上的“小份品嚐”，可想而知，前菜和主菜的價格更高。三份價格從145美元到325美元不等的品嚐菜單算不上特別實惠。（稍微安慰一點的是，這裏麪包含服務費了。）

Mr. Bellanca and his crew are at their best with careful refinements of classic French cooking. Slabs of roasted duck breast with cracked pepper and kumquat preserves, which I had in a main-course portion for $64, did everything you’d want canard à l’orange to do, and did it with style and confidence. There was a handsomely improved $42 blanquette of veal cheeks with tender-crisp vegetables and a little disc of buttered rice pilaf.

貝蘭卡和他的團隊在竭盡全力精心改良經典的法式菜餚。烤鴨胸肉塊搭配胡椒碎和金桔蜜餞，滿足了你對法式柑橘烤鴨的所有想像，而且充滿格調和自信。這道菜例牌價64美元。還有一道42美元的白汁燴小牛臉，經過充分的改良，搭配嫩脆的蔬菜，以及一小團黃油抓飯。

The beef tartare is chopped to little pieces but not beyond, smoothed with egg yolk, dressed with enough mustard to make it stand out in a crowd, and served with the fries that McDonald’s sells only in my dreams. It comes close to being a model of the form in every way except the price, $52.

韃靼牛肉被切成了小塊，但也沒有過小，用蛋黃拌勻，撒上足夠多的芥末，它就脫穎而出了，和薯條一起上桌，薯條的味道是我夢想中麥當勞能夠提供的。這道菜非常接近本菜式的典範了，除了52美元的價格。

The $34 beet salad was full of adventure, starting with a throat-catching scoop of green-mustard sorbet and continuing with some of those famous Robuchon dots, each of which turned out to be a perfectly delicious sauce made from, say, green apples or avocado. But not many other dishes seemed interested in startling anyone.

售價34美元的甜菜沙拉充滿了冒險，從一勺刺激嗓子的綠芥末雪葩開始，再加上一些著名的侯布雄小圓球，那些小圓球實際上是用青蘋果或牛油果做成的美味果醬。但其他很多菜似乎並不打算給人意外。

The most spectacular thing I ate did not come from the kitchen but from the bakery downstairs. Tetsuya Yamaguchi, who has been tending yeast in Mr. Robuchon’s empire for two decades, is now stationed in the basement on 10th Avenue. His masterpiece is called the escargot, a swirl of savory brioche dough with olive oil between its many warm and flaky layers. He also bakes baguettes that seem to be shrunken versions of full-scale ones; at that size they could be all crust, but somehow he keeps the crust in proportion with the rest, and they are a joy to eat.

我吃到的最美味的東西並不是來自廚房，而是來自樓下的麪包店。在侯布雄的帝國裏負責酵母處理已有20年的山口哲也（Tetsuya Yamaguchi，音），現在在第十大道地下室裏工作。他的傑作被稱爲“蝸牛”，是一種美味的奶油蛋糕卷，許多溫暖而鬆脆的卷層之間塗着橄欖油。他也烤法棍，但它們看起來像是縮小版的，這個大小的法棍可以完全是脆皮了，但他以某種方式讓它鬆脆的部分與其餘部分保持合適的比例，吃起來很享受。

Meanwhile the pastry chef, Salvatore Martone, is making some of the finest and airiest chocolate soufflés in the city, like dark-chocolate vapor tricked into solid form. He disguises a tarte Tatin as a shiny red Snow White apple; in another optical illusion, he fashions a replica of a lemon out of blown sugar, then fills it with lemon sorbet, and while I wished it tasted as much like lemon as it looked, it was a good dessert.

與此同時，麪點大廚薩爾瓦多·馬託內(Salvatore Martone)正在製作城中最好、入口即化的巧克力蘇芙蕾，就像是化爲固態的黑巧克力霧。他將一個法式蘋果撻僞裝成了閃閃發亮的白雪公主的蘋果；在另一個視錯覺作品中，他用吹糖做出了一個檸檬的複製品，然後將其中填滿檸檬雪葩，我希望它能像看上去那樣足夠有檸檬味，但仍不是爲一道上好的甜品。

Those are Mr. Martone’s excellent chocolates that show up around the same time as the check, and his kugelhopf that will be waiting for you in a Robuchon shopping bag by the coat check in case you want to start the next day with a custard cake, and why wouldn’t you?

馬託內出色的巧克力幾乎是與賬單同時出現的，他的咕咕霍夫奶油圓蛋糕(kugelhopf)會在衣帽間的一個侯布雄購物袋中等着你，這是考慮到萬一你第二天想以一個蛋糕開啓新的一天，爲什麼不呢？

The service strikes a rare balance of charm and formality that was missing from the uptown location. There will be smiles when you get there, and smiles later when you whisk your kugelhopf off to wherever it is you go with your kugelhopfs.

餐廳的服務難得地在魅力和規矩之間取得了平衡，在上城這一帶，這是很難得的。你到達那裏的時候會見到笑容，在你快速拎起咕咕霍夫前往某地時，也會看到笑容。

Whether this is a restaurant for you is first of all a question of money; there is no way to eat a satisfying meal at L’Atelier without spending a lot of it. If the prices don’t bother you, then neither should my nagging sense that the cooking is not as exciting as it could be. Nobody goes to chains, even expensive ones, for new sensations.

這個餐廳是否適合你的首要問題是錢：在L’Atelier就餐，不花很多錢是不可能的。如果對你來說價格不是問題，那麼我的這些關於烹飪還差點意思的絮叨也不需要在意。大家去連鎖餐廳，即便是昂貴的連鎖餐廳，都不是爲了獲得新體驗的。