Menus & Dishes
Two menus are offered each service, both nine courses, both rewritten daily. Understanding how they are constructed makes the difference between eating a long dinner and reading an argument.
By The Reservation Desk Editorial Team · Published May 13, 2025 · Last updated · 11 min read
The Chef's Tasting Menu and the Tasting of Vegetables run side by side every service. The vegetable menu is not a substitution exercise; it is written as its own composition and is frequently the more interesting of the two.
Everyone at the table does not need to order the same menu. Mixing across a table is routine and the pacing is handled so that courses land together.
No ingredient appears twice across a menu. That single constraint drives the daily rewriting, the size of the garden, and the unusual variety within a nine-course sequence.
It also means that if a course contains an ingredient you love, you will not meet it again — a deliberate design that keeps attention high across three hours.
Oysters and Pearls — a sabayon of pearl tapioca with oysters and caviar — and the salmon tartare cornet are the two constants. They open almost every meal and function as a signature rather than as a course to be reinvented.
Everything after them changes. Expect vegetables at the height of season, a fish course, a meat course, a cheese course and two desserts, with canapés and mignardises framing the whole.
Truffle, caviar and wagyu supplements appear seasonally at meaningful additional cost. They are genuinely good and entirely optional; the menu is complete without them.
If you intend to add one, decide before you sit down. Deciding mid-meal, with wine already in play, is how a budget becomes a surprise.
Portions are calibrated so that the pleasure of a dish never declines within the dish itself — a few bites at peak intensity, then the next idea. Nine courses of that add up to a full but not heavy meal.
The arc rises through the middle and eases deliberately at the cheese course. Guests who pace their bread and wine reach dessert in far better shape.
Allergies, intolerances and vegan requests are accommodated with notice — 48 hours minimum, several days for a full vegan menu. State the requirement at booking and confirm by email.
The kitchen will not simply remove a component; it rewrites the course. That is why notice matters more here than at a restaurant cooking to order.
The Reservation Desk Editorial Team — Independent research and editorial team
Our editorial team researches fine-dining access, booking windows and menu formats across the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group. Every guide is compiled from restaurant-published information, official reservation platforms and first-hand dining notes, then re-checked before each update.
This guide is compiled and checked against our verification process and editorial policy.
Availability at Thomas Keller's restaurants moves quickly. Check what is open now, then use our guides to prepare for the release.