dinner by heston blumenthal

weighing up the slim chance of getting into the fat duck in melbourne and passing the 2 month mark to book in the uk, dinner by heston blumenthal was the way to go. holding 2 michelin stars and ranked number 5 in  the worlds 50 best restaurant this year (surprisingly the fat duck came in 47) it didn’t feel like i had settled :) dinner by heston is inspired by historic british recipes where dinner recreates and puts a modern spin.  we came during lunchtime and there were two options: the set lunch (£38 each for 3 courses) or a la carte. none of the set lunch dishes really tickled our fancy so it was a la carte all the way! earl grey tea cured salmon (£16) i’ve seen too many pictures of the meat fruit which has left me drooling and lusting over it for too long. just look at this deceptive beauty with the intentions of the citrus skin looking so real. meat fruit (£17.50) cutting into the mandarin jelly revealed the creamy, velvet smooth chicken liver and foie gras parfait that was the most flavour filled pate i have ever tasted. it is a bit heavy and rich but that didn’t stop me polishing it all off. the waiter offered to bring another toasted sourdough bread when he saw me getting low. yay! duck, just get in my belly. tender, juicy duck that was cooked to perfection with a layer of fat on top that created that melt in your mouth texture. i gobbled this baby up as fast as i could – not a second to waste. drizzled with an amazing sauce with a hint of wine brought everything together. served with giant soft onions and a side of umbles (offals) that tasted like mushrooms – umbles weren’t too weird because i had no idea what they were. powdered duck breast (£34) chicken cooked with lettuces (£32) you had to order the tipsy cake at the start of your meal as it takes 45 minutes to prepare. fluffy, soft and super fresh cake soaked in a sweet, apple-like syrup and is one for the peeps that like subtle, not too sweet desserts. a slice of spit roasted pineapple was juicy and swe

heston blumenthal. these words sound like poetry to our ears, especially as blumenthal means flower valley in german. his restaurants always seemed a tad out of reach for our wallets, but we came across his set lunch menu for £38 at dinner. it might not be dinner by heston but lunch by heston will do the trick.

the first thing we noticed walking into the restaurant was the glass wall displaying the very active kitchen full of testosterone. the absence of women chefs only meant one thing: we’ll be served some very manly dishes today.

while going through the a la carte menu (we had to take a sneak peek), the waiter explained that recipes that went as far back as the 16th century inspired some dishes. already feeling like queens, we thought that feasting without wine would be inappropriate, so we ordered a bottle.

additionally to the set menu, we couldn’t help but order the famous meat fruit (c.1500). a chicken liver pate –wrapped in a layer of citrus jelly– that looked like a mandarin. there is nothing less feminine than disguising pate into fruit. the whole spread was extremely light and slightly sharp. it felt like magic.

the entire set menu was delicate, yet bursting with flavours. the lemon salad, with smoked artichoke, goat’s curd and pickled lemon (c.1730), the roast cured salmon with beetroot purée (c.1847) and the prune and tamarind tart (c.1730) made us travel through time and were exquisite. the bill not so much, but expected.

headed up by dorset chef ashley palmer-watts, dinner by heston is quite an unique take on historic british gastronomy. heston has tried to recreate british culinary history at dinner with recipes dating back all the way to the 1300’s, given an 21st century makeover. brought to life with contemporary ingredients and heston’s signature cooking techniques, this menu is all about taking diners on a journey through the rich culinary history that exists in britain. this carefully orchestrated ‘angle’ is evident through out the dining experience. the menu being a good case in point – it lists the decade that the inspiration for the dish comes from along with a list of the cookbooks that have been used to populate the menu. the menu also had tid bits of insightful information on the sleeve! i really like the concept and the execution – it makes you think about the food in front of you. i wasn’t however the biggest fan of the interiors – i understand that it’s been conceived to be subtle and contemporary but it lacked ambience for me. you walk through the crowded bar before you hit the massive dining room which although was packed when seb and i visited, just lacked atmosphere. the fact that dinner is situated in a hotel becomes obvious when you see the dining room – it’s very plain. the only thing that stood out to me in that room was the wall decorations in the shape of antique jelly moulds and the view of the buzzing kitchen through the glass walls. with a great view of the kitchen, we started off with some bread and some wine.

meat fruit and spiced pigeon are the historic revivals of none other than heston blumenthal, a chef who has adopted science into his kitchen and advocates multi-sensory cooking.

the restaurant presents you with the bizarre and confuses your taste buds, you take a bite from a tangerine and are confronted with chicken liver. the pigeon was incredible like a rich gamey chicken and even the sourdough bread they bring to your table is something to rave about. for afters i went for the taffety tart which looked so good it was a shame to cut into. they also have a machine that instantly makes ice cream by mixing custard with liquid nitrogen.

bottom line: try and snag a booking to sample this tasty madness for yourself.

dinner by heston lands #5 in the world's 50 best restaurants this year (two spots up from last year) and i have to commend staff for making it the experience that it is. the food, albeit less of a display of heston's famed edible trickery at the fat duck (#47 on the list), fares really well and the service is really and truly outstanding.

plaid boy and i went for lunch before his evening flight. we took advantage of the set lunch (at £38 per head) and ordered a few bits in between so we can try more than our fare share of meals.

you get complimentary bread, but i suggest you keep your belly space for the meal proper.

we ordered heston's signature meat fruit (£17) separately as it does not appear on the set menu (and rightly so, as it is too exquisite and deserves its own spotlight). it's essentially chicken liver and foie gras parfait encased in a mandarin jelly peel, shaped and made to look like a clementine and served with grilled sourdough bread.

i saw plaid boy's eyes twinkle with amusement as this came to our table. it's definitely snapshot-worthy, and pretty darn good. the parfait is light, creamy in texture and full on with flavour. it's rich, but the mandarin jelly perfectly cuts out any over. perfect on grilled sourdough.

plaid boy ordered another signature dish, rice and flesh (£17). it's a decadent plate of risotto flecked generously with saffron and topped with red wine braised calf tail pieces. the vibrant colours is a feast for the eyes and the aromatics are strong enough to whet your appetite. all elements were cooked nicely, but i do think it's slightly too rich for my liking.

palates teased with pretty darn good flavours, we were ready to embark on our set lunch.

we both started with the pressed octopus salad. served with a small fennel and pea shoot salad, it was fairly refreshing. i'm quite partial to fennel but the little drops of vinaigrette jelly cut through the aniseed flavour i often dislike. the octopus itself had good texture. refreshing.

for mains, i went for the roast cured salmon and you can just about see how perfectly cooked it is from the outside. served with pickled candy beetroot, which i thought worked harmoniously with the fish and sea vegetables, this was a nice light dish.

plaid boy took the meat route and went for the pork belly with minted peas. slow-cooked for hours, it was delicately tender and melted off in my mouth. think of it as the royalty of sunday roasts.

surprised myself by choosing the prune and tamarind tart over the chocolatey millionaire tart. it was really good. the brulee was firm and had good flavour but the prune and tamarind filling was quite a revelation. there was just enough of it to boost the tart's flavour profile and it worked with the thin pastry base.

unsurprisingly, i ate most of the millionaire tart too. i was in awe of how glossy the crystallised chocolate was. it was rich, dark, and very appealing to every chocolate fiend. the vanilla ice cream was okay, but i'd happily do without.

what really impressed me is the service which is impeccable. the servers seemed genuinely passionate for you to have a grand time. the maître d' and his army of servers have been generous and attentive from explaining the years and concepts on the menu to asking if they could organise more toast when i've finished the sourdough bread halfway through my meat fruit (#noshame); from offering more wine and asking if we were comfortable to even accompanying us to the powder rooms. i've had experienced dining at restaurants who look amazing on the surface but a let down on food and service. i definitely think they could learn a lot from dinner - there's greatness in humility and putting the customers first.

overall, it was a pleasant experience and i can't wait to take people here again. i would've wanted a bit more variety/excitement on the set menus but what's good is that it's been priced reasonably for you to order a few extra bits. it was definitely pleasant.

plaid boy and i went for lunch before his evening flight. we took advantage of the set lunch (at £38 per head) and ordered a few bits in between so we can try more than our fare share of meals. you get complimentary bread, but i suggest you keep your belly space for the meal proper. we ordered heston's signature meat fruit (£17) separately as it does not appear on the set menu (and rightly so, as it is too exquisite and deserves its own spotlight). it's essentially chicken liver and foie gras parfait encased in a mandarin jelly peel, shaped and made to look like a clementine and served with grilled sourdough bread. i saw plaid boy's eyes twinkle wit

i am a big fan of kitchen wizardry. i can’t get enough of food frozen by liquid nitrogen. it’s just so unnecessary, and thus, great. so you won’t be surprised when i tell you of my love for heston blumenthal. the man is fantastic. he makes dinnertime more exciting than playtime. he makes food that looks like other food that it isn’t. wow. i’ve wanted to eat at the fat duck since the dawn of time (or since i heard of its existence) but unfortunately until i sell a kidney i’m unlikely to do so. i settled for dinner by heston at the mandarin oriental instead. a worthy compromise. restaurant the restaurant is beautiful, as to be expected. dim lighting, polished everything, loads of that ambience all swirling about the place. there’s some rather interesting design features too, notably the lampshades which aren’t even lampshades at all – they’re jelly moulds. mental. dinner menu the menu is pretty, isn’t it? every dish is inspired by cookery books of times gone by, all of which are listed o

my sense of heightened anticipation on knowing i was going to dinner by heston was astronomical. i was so excited to finally be sampling the cooking of a gastronomic master. perhaps this was part of the problem and the restaurants ultimate downfall in my opinion.

i'm a firm believer as i have said previously and in all other reviews that restaurants should be rated like for like. in this case as it is heston blumenthal it deserves to be rated alongside the likes of alain ducasse and gordon ramsay and other great chefs.

the restaurant itself is fairly dark but with nice decor and an oddly intimate feel for a large space. the jelly moulds that serve as lights on the walls are an interesting and quirky feature, something i would expect from a brain like heston's. having said that it does seem to lack personality when you consider the chef involved.

before you even consider looking at the menu for dinner, be aware that your wallet will be seriously invaded. with starters ranging between £15 and £20 and main courses ranging anywhere between £25 and £80 you are not getting something for nothing at this restaurant. sadly in some cases it feels like you're getting nothing for a very big something.

as an overview i would say that this is a very normal fine dining experience which is what is so disappointing when you consider that the chef is heston blumenthal. going to this restaurant with the expectation that you will sample mind and taste buds confusing that the lights, the food that looks like one thing and taste like another, or something completely mind-boggling, will only disappoint as it did me. yes, this restaurant does have meat fruit the famous pate that looks like a clementine on the menu, but that is about as far as the mind tricks go. this restaurant is very clearly hestons very pricey version of a normal cuisine. there was some exquisite pieces of culinary expertise displayed throughout the meal most notably the chicken oysters, the octopus, and this seabass. however when incorporated into the meals, the lack of flavour and texture combinations failed to well and the amazing cooking technique was lost. again as an overview, because so many aspects of our meal were cooked in a water bath, or su vide as is the correct term, we left feeling that we had not had a hot meal. everything was of warmish temperature. the overriding feeling was one that you were not satisfied.

from start to finish then: the bread was normal and yes they had a gluten-free which was different from normal rice based store bought, but fairly unimpressive when considering other gluten-free bread i have experienced at other high-class fine dining restaurants.

my starter the octopus, i must say it was a real wow. the cooking of the octopus itself was exquisite, very soft, and the flavour was smoky and delicious. however the broth and it's accompaniments failed to live up to the octopus itself. our other starter was the chicken oysters which again themselves were absolutely exquisitely cooked. delicious. however again the meal as a whole failed to impress as much as the individual elements.

my main course was the seabass, and it was hands down the most perfectly cooked a piece of fish i have ever had. it is so sad to say it was ruined by a large portion of what i think was the lovage underneath the fish. as it looks like spinach i took a large mouthful and physically had to remove it from my mouth it was so unpleasant. whatever possessed them to put such a large amount of such a strong flavour with a delicate yet robust fish is beyond me. it completely ruined what was a phenomenal piece of fish. how are the main course was the powdered duck which we ordered with fries. powdered meant smoked and the duck was pleasant but warm and not hot, and was not a patch on the duck we have previously enjoyed at city social by chef jason atherton. both of us wanted to continue eating the fries as they were the most satisfying part of the meal due to their temperature.

for desert we ordered the chocolate bar and the special ice cream which is made with liquid nitrogen at your table. something you would expect from heston as you have probably seen it so many times on the television.the chocolate bar with caramel inside and passionfruit flavour was rich and indulgent but the ginger ice cream was not to my taste in fact i found it unpleasant. the ice cream that was made tableside with special toppings and it's little cone was delightful but unremarkable.

coffee came up with a small glass thimbleful of ganash, which was very nice.

there were some lovely touches in the experience. surrounding the menu was a small paper card, which when opened contained historical facts about food. lovely touch.

something slightly concerning for such a fine dining establishment, were little marks of etiquette that were overlooked. when we asked to retain the wine list for further contemplation this somellier removed it and returned it later. also when we did order red wine, it was presented in a white wine glass. these things. by no means ruin an experience, and it would seem that i am being very picky, but in an establishment such as this, these things should be presented properly.

all in all, i am very glad we tried it out. however, i would not recommend anyone go to dinner, when there are so many great places to experience beforehand. and at a lower price. a very disappointing experience. it has not however put me off experiencing the fat duck, which i hope very much will live up to my expectation of heston.

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i had a really good time here.the restaurant's interiors are pleasant and styled in a new age appeal with the appropriate amount of sophistication .the seating arrangement is well spaced and the service is as per standards even a little more friendly. the price range is pretty appropriate for a michellin star restaurant but also pocket friendly. and the food? truly lip smacking!
i would suggest you try the hay smoked mackerel and the taffety tart. both if them are unique and out of this world!

this restaurant just blow my mind.

better food is impossible. in one of the most beautiful hotels of london, next to hyde park, has that perfect english vibe. 

just a few words... tasteful, perfection, porn, delicious.

if i could i would go there every week and ask all the dishes that they have.

in my second time... i tried the lunch menu and once again! perfect...flawless... and to bo even better the price of the menu is great.

the food here is great, wonderfully cooked well presented, and flavourful. the variety is amazing, and everything prepared with a twist. everything was so delicious, and the meat was really good. the place has a nice decor too, simple yet tasteful.

i will agree with the other reviewers and will surely give a 'go ahead' if you are doubtful about trying this place.
i visited it recently and i was certainly impressed! the food as well as the service, everything here was top notch. exclaiming to the staff that it was my anniversary, i was surprised to learn that they had prepared a complimentary dessert platter for us!
really good place!

this place is generally buzzing with people, but we managed to reserve a table in time and reached there a couple of days ago. we ordered for the set menu which served a variety of dishes culled from the british history and were prepared brilliantly. surprisingly, each and every dish that we tried was superbly flavored and tasted absolutely delicious. we also called for some wine which tasted amazing, and made that day a truly great one.

this place is on the expensive side so if you can afford that i think this is a great place to enjoy premium meals at. the quality of food on offer is just fantastic and waiters are knowledgeable enough to suggest some incredible dishes. the sommelier too is fantastic with his wines.
the food is in fact so good that you will feel a certain pain on completing your meal. but i highly suggest one tries the impeccable salamagundy and the ribeye. to finish off an awesome dinner definitely try the pudding!
what an amazing time spent!

wow. blown away. speechless. amazed. don't know how else to rate one of the best dining experiences of my life. was lucky to get a reservation on my trip to london and have always been a fan of the stuff heston does.
signature dish was the meat fruit. looks like a mandarin orange, smells like a mandarin orange but is in fact foie gras and goose liver. the complexity of the cooking is what is striking, a relatively simple dish comes out looking wow and tasting even better. main course was the "powdered duck" again an awesome dish. lost for words. have an opportunity in your life take it to dine in one of heston's restaurants and you will never regret spending so much money on one meal.