Phat Duck
Getting a dinner reservation at The Fat Duck, Heston Blumenthal's world renowned 3 Michelin starred restaurant is akin to winning the lottery. Having someone else treat you to the experience is like staking your lottery winnings on a 1000/1 outsider and seeing it romp home to an easy win at The Grand National.For the vegetarians and conscientious objectors out there I will not go into the details of the 17 (yes seventeen courses), sufficed to say though 8 animal varieties made appearances, over 25 plant species and at least 3 of the courses were 'cooked' at the table using liquid nitrogen (at minus 170 degrees)!
This is not so much a meal as a gastronomic extravaganza, 4 & 1/2 hours of carefully planned and amazingly prepared taste sensations unlike anything we had experienced before. It is easy to see why this has been voted the best restaurant in the world, more than once.
My stomach came away satisfied but not full, my taste buds amazed and delighted, my wallet unscathed and myself a very happy boy.
A big MERCI to Monsieur H for this truly amazing experience!
4 comments:
Ohhhh Mi GoD! I love the FAT DUCK, and have been lucky enough to go there on no less than 3!!!! occassions. It's my fave resturant and you can see/taste why it was voted 'Best Resturant in the World' in April 2005!
I have met Heston , as he often wanders thru the dining area - and he is a honey....really down to earth, and Completely Passionalte about what he does...He is sooo my hero! And ohhhhhhhhh goodness, the cheeseboard, have you ever seen so many cheeses, ooooo the smell...ooooo the flavours! Did you have the orange/blood red jelly taste trick to start! weird!
A post about amazing food, very close to my heart. Thanks for that Cuttsy.....So glad you enjoyed it, and isn't the to die for
The Fat paulaBxx
Just looked at your amazing Travel blog Cuttsy....I went out to Marrakesh in May 2004...wonderful city, and as for Plokton and Scotland, done those too! so nice to see the photos, brings it all back. Amazing blog by the way
PaulaBxx
hey P,
3 times to the fat duck - lucky lady!
the cheesboard made an appearance at the next table and my french friend and I were plotting and devising ways to liberate it to the car.
The taste trick to start was a king of mint tea merangue which was boiled/frozen in liqued nitrogen at the table.
and thanks for the nice words re travel blog, that's what got me into blogging and i think is a nice way to remember trips (when I'm old and grey, well older and grey anyway)
~cuttsy~
I went to the Fat Duck with the missus and a group of mates to celebrate a birthday about 5 years ago. Only one of us knew what to expect, the rest were anticipating standard bistro fare. The first indication that this would be different came from the presence of former MP and well known foody ‘Woy’ Jenkins.
We had a particularly obnoxious waiter who demonstrated a terrible mix of stereotypical British service (i.e. lack of) and French surliness. He impressed on all who would listen - not once, but THREE times – that the butter was made from the milk of goats. Not just your ordinary goats either. These had been searched for and found in the Loire valley, no less. This was just one of many unnecessary comments that he snarled during the course of our evening. I’m not sure if this was his usual demeanour of whether he’d overheard a less enlightened member of our party mention whilst spooning congealed pigeon puree down his throat that he wondered if the chefs were playing Jacks in the kitchen. You know the game, but it’s normally drink related. First jack provides the ingredients, second jack the recipe, third jack has to cook it up and the fourth jack has to serve it up to the customers with a straight face. He then went on to point out that as he was paying for three covers, he could have had a week in Corfu for less.
The cost was high but not unmanageable, the food flavours were adventurous and good, the wine cellar unable to source our first three choices and the portion sizes lacking such that at least two of us had cheese on toast back home. This all sounds rather surly and ill-educated especially in light of Mr B’s meteoric rise to fame, but had the service been less irritating I’m sure that more attention would have been made to the food; the main event. Looking back, most of us agreed that we’d enjoyed the experience of the food but wished that we’d entered the restaurant with our expectations set correctly.
As a postscript I’d suggest that the recent BBC food show highlighting this scientific approach to cooking is only marginally interesting. What it demonstrates more is the pomposity now surrounding the search for ‘ideal’ menu items that are totally unique even if they purport to be bangers and mash as in episode 1. We were advised to stuff the homemade sausages so full as to avoid air pockets and therefore explosions when cooking. Surely this is the reason that bangers got their name. I try to be open-minded but perhaps this demonstrates that I am just a cookery Luddite at heart. Give me Hugh F-W any day.
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