The Royce

Pasadena, CA

Although we've only been in Pasadena for six weeks, from our previous fine dining experiences, we've already regulated Southern California fine dining inferior to what we used to get up North. The Royce, inside the Langham hotel, was celebrating their first anniversary, so we decided to give it a try. Our first impression of the restaurant made us feel like we were in Vegas. It was very luxe, beautifully designed, with fancy huge clear glass walled wine room with automated sliding doors, pretty awesome. 

amuse bouche

Upon being seated, we were almost immediately served a plate of amuse bouche consisting of a roasted pepper with grated parmesan, a trout puff pastry and tomato soup. All very playful and good. 

We enjoyed the $95/five course fixed menu because we had a choice of three dishes from each segment, all the favorites from the past year. The wine selection was also vast, but Chu-Toro opted for a class of champagne and although there were no beers on the menu, they did get me a draft Chimay from the bar, classy.

seared okaido scallops, kale puree, rampant spinach, smoked garlic froth

Chu-Toro started off with a perfectly cooked scallop, sealed and seared wonderfully while maintaining a pink, barely cooked interior. A perfectly executed prep. The smoked garlic froth was also a fun, creative addition.

tuna belly, with argan oil ravigote, green apple, 62 quail egg

I'm convinced that raw tuna just can't match that of a sushi chef, regardless of how high class a restaurant is, but the use of it in this dish was well done. The contrasting textures of the fish to the thin, crisp vegetables and apples made for a tasty appetizer. The vegetables were actually the standout on this dish, and its hard to dislike a quail egg.

slow poached lobster, coleman's farm butter lettuce, sweet onion, pomegranate hot and snow

Chu-Toro's slow poached lobster was a unique and tasty salad consisting of large chunks of lobster meat. Unfortunately, the lobster meat wasn't as tasty and sweet as I hoped for, but the flavor profiles of the dish as a whole worked well.

foie gras royale, buckwheat crêpe, cress-concord grapes

Just looking at this dish already makes me miss the availability of foie gras. With a new law banning it, this may have been one of the last foie dishes for me in a while. But we went out with a bang, because the two pieces of foie were superbly cooked and the addition of the crepe and chestnut filling made it extremely unique. Even Chu-Toro enjoyed this dish because of the balance it carried. My favorite bite of the meal.

turbot fillet a la plancha, cauliflower mushroom, sea urchin mustard, raw leek salad

Our fish courses were up next, mine was a meaty well cooked piece of turbot. The Asian inspired course was solid but not mind-blowing. I was hoping for more from the sea urchin mustard. 

cod, squid ink spaghetti, autumn greens, romano squash, citrus dashi broth

Chu-Toro wasn't impressed by the execution of the cod, which she found bland. She did however enjoy the citrus dash broth and romano squash purree. 

skinless roasted guinea hen, chestnut milk, domestic caviar, spinach leaves

Our final savory course consisted of roasted guinea hen, which they ran out of by 8 PM, and the waygu rib eye. Chu-Toro wasn't keen on the caviar atop her hen, and overall the hen was good, but not great. She was less impressed when she found out there was even a supplement for this dish. 

wagyu beef rib eye cut, biased turnips, marrow, carrot, bordelaise sauce

My waygu beef was well cooked and tasty, but the dish was a poorly presented mess. I just couldn't figure out the unity behind the overall dish, although I've had dishes with the exact same components before, this one was just disjointed. Tasty, but not fluid. 

crusted camembert, quince paste, ishya persimmons

We were stuffed by this point, but had already decided that we missed cheese courses, so we opted to share the crusted camembert, which ended up being a very glorified cheese stick.

melon granita

petite fours

The pink peppered macaroon was excellent, the closest I've had to LaDuree in Paris. The crust on the cheesecake bite was also delicious.

barlett pear and chocolate,  hot and cold, caraway craqueline

gravenstein apple tart "roti" vanilla-calvados ice cream, roquefort papillon

I'm sorry to say that I was sorely disappointed in both desserts, especially the apple tart which I thought was pretty bad. The pear and chocolate dish tasted okay, but not what I would expect from a high end restaurant. They should really get this part of the menu revamped.

chocolates

Overall we did enjoy our meal but can see a clear difference in precision execution from a michelin starred establishment up north. But anytime I can get a few memorable dishes from a meal like this one (foie royale and scallop) and have a great time like we did, its a successful night in my book. It's a place I would recommend and would come back to.

Rating 7.5/10

November 19, 2011