It’s quickly becoming standard operating practice for Michelin-star chefs in fancy white-tablecloth restaurants serving complex and expensive food to branch out into the bistro scene.
The reason is simply that restaurants earning Michelin stars are prohibitively expensive to run. And despite their tear-inducing prices, these restaurants usually just break-even in sales. Thus, it is in the chef’s interest—as well as that of the clientele who neither have the funds nor the months-long advanced planning necessary to reserve a table—to open a small, casual restaurant where one can sample a bit of the Michelin magic.
One of the first to do this was La Tour d’Argent in Paris, which had the distinction of being the most expensive three-star restaurant (now sadly demoted). It opened La Rotisserie du Beaujolais right across from it.
I still recommend La Rotisserie to first-time visitors to Paris because of its simple, hearty food and the view of the Seine.
Casual fine food
And ever since Yves Camdeborde abandoned the race for the rosettes in favor of opening a small bistro (first La Régalade, more recently Le Comptoir du Relais), the haut-bistro has been a thing. There’s even a word for it: bistronomie, the gastonomic bistro, or casual fine food.
Chefs who come from fine-dining and then open only a bistro (or two) will usually serve a creative menu, using the low rent of a less-favored quartier as a crucible for their ideas.
Also, chefs who continue to operate a flagship will not want to eat into their own market share, so rather than serve a watered-down version of their main restaurant’s menu, they usually turn to bistro classics: family favorites, long-simmered stews and, of course, grilled meats.
That’s the case of Akrame Benallal, who runs an acclaimed restaurant in Paris (formerly two stars in the Guide Michelin, demoted to one star in the 2016 edition). His three branches of Atelier Vivanda, also in Paris, have drawn locals and tourists who want a bit of the Akrame magic in the guise of a good steak cooked by Michelin standards.
The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand, a prize given good, cheap restaurants.
Soon there were three in Paris, one in Hong Kong, and, finally, one in Manila— brought in by 13 partners, including Grace Lee and the Palanca family (no relation to this writer).
The marketing team has hyped the chef’s Michelin-star pedigree. However, this is a casual bistro through and through. The servers guide you to the steaks, which are not cheap, but not more expensive either than those in other uppity steakhouses in Manila.
Atelier Vivanda’s menu follows the French “formule,” where one price gets you entrée, mains and dessert. If you want to improve your main course, go with a “supplement.”
Worth it
However, hovering outside the scope of the “formule” is its famous 50-day aged smoked beef, which is like a ham that’s made from beef. The flavors are concentrated in the bright red shavings that emerge from the rotary cutter in the center of the ground floor dining room.
This is one of the best things I’ve ever had recently—worth the price of entry. Not that the menu is too shabby. There is a Holstein beef rib, which is a little intimidating at over a kilogram’s worth. Even if you share this, it would mean eating about 500 grams of beef per person.
I got myself a rib-eye steak and my wife ordered the duck breast, and we both had foie gras to start with.
The beef, which I ordered rare, was truly rare, closer to saignant than à point, which was perfect: I rarely manage to convince restaurants to serve it bloody.
The sides, all variations on the potato, were plentiful and all very good. The best of the lot was the gratin dauphinois (not to be confused with pommes dauphine (croquettes) or pommes darphin (hash browns or rösti), all of which are also available, among others.
And remember the days when it was the ultimate faux pas to order ketchup in a French restaurant? Here, they are, justifiably, proud of its homemade version, and even make it a point to offer it to you.
The unsung heroes of the evening were the other main courses you get from the
“formule” menu, which deserve as much attention as the beef.
Atelier Vivanda is famous for its steaks, but it’s a very crowded marketplace for slabs of grilled cow in Manila. What the city needs is not a new steakhouse, but rather a proper French bistro—not an old-fashioned French bistro (this concept doesn’t seem to get much mileage in town), but a sharp modern bistro like the ones they’re opening in Paris.
If you cut through the Michelin-infused hype, you’ll discover Atelier Vivanda is a casual, bustling place where you can drop in for a set meal at P2,000; with a generous-sized piece of meat and more creamy potatoes than you can ever hope to finish.
As much as I enjoy my four-hour degustation dinners, the short and to the point meals are also fine. And that is what you’ll get here.
Atelier Vivanda is at Forbes Town Center, Bonifacio Global City. Call 8482632