heston blumenthal

Heston Blumenthal's London Restaurant Takes Fine Dining Back In History

Filed under: Dining

Chef Heston Blumenthal has dazzled diners at his restaurant the Fat Duck since 1995 and unlike many acclaimed chefs he has been slow to expand. His other two venues, the Hinds Head and the Crown, are also in the village of Bray, west of London. But Dinner by Heston Bluementhal, the new restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park changes all that. Bloomberg reports that Blumenthal cut the ribbon on the restaurant this week. Let the feeding frenzy begin. The restaurant seats 130 and took 6,000 bookings in the first day. Diners will have to make a reservation months in advance.

The restaurant is a British brasserie serving historically inspired dishes. The menu has a unique feature, it lists not just the food but the date of the dish. The oldest is Rice & Flesh, a starter with saffron, calf tail and red wine that can be traced back to other items. Other starters include roast marrowbone with parsley, anchovy and mace and picked vegetables that dates back to 1720 and roast scallops with cucumber ketchup and borage that dates back to 1820. Main courses take you back in time with powdered duck, smoked fennel and potato puree from 1670 and spiced pigeon with ale and artichokes from 1780 among others. Dessert is a time travel as well with items such as the Taffety Tart from 1660 which comes with rose, fennel, lemon and blackcurrant sorbet and baked lemon suet pudding with lemon, caramel and jersey cream from 1630.

The restaurant will also feature a three-course set lunch for 28 pounds ($44.60). For now dinner remains a la carte. A chef's table which can seat up to six people directly overlooks the open kitchen. There is also a private dining room is available for up to 10 people which has a wood beamed ceiling, rust colored leather-clad walls, cobalt blue dining chairs and an antique oriental rug.

Tags: dinner by heston blumenthal, heston blumenthal, mandarin oriental hyde park

Finally Some Good News For Gordon Ramsay

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

It certainly hasn't been the best year for either Heston Blumenthal or Gordon Ramsay, two of England's most famous chefs. Blumenthal endured a food poisoning scare that shut down his famed Fat Duck restaurant and Ramsay flirted with bankruptcy. But now both chefs have some good news to celebrate: they were voted the two best chefs in UK according to the Good Food Guide. Blumenthal took the top slot earning ten out of ten points for the second year in a row for his Fat Duck restaurant. Ramsay was given nine points for his Restaurant Gordon Ramsay on Royal Hospital Road, in Chelsea, London also the same rating as last year. No other chefs scored as high.

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Heston Blumenthal To Open London Restaurant

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Famous chef Heston Blumenthal will be opening his first London restaurant in 2010. Blumenthal, who runs the three Michelin-starred The Fat Duck and a gastropub, The Hind's Head, both in Bray, England, will be opening a new restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge. Blumenthal's new restaurant will explore his passion for the history of British gastronomy, and the restaurant will be three times the size of The Fat Duck. While it's great to see Blumenthal moving into a more central location we hope he doesn't spread himself too thin a la Gordon Ramsay.

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Tags: heston blumenthal, HestonBlumenthal, london, restaurant, the fat duck, TheFatDuck

Heston Blumenthal Wants To Improve Hospital Food

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

England's hospital food is getting a boost from a famous chef. Chef Heston Blumenthal of "The Fat Duck" is working with the NHS to pep up patient menus. As he told the Cheltenham Science Festival: "Mealtimes should be something to be celebrated in hospital." He's a year into a project with the NHS which is looking at ways of improving the flavor in the food and making hospital dining a more pleasant experience. Between this and Blumenthal's menu for the Little Chef restaurants it seems like the chef, who is famous for unique food like snail porridge and egg and bacon ice cream, seems to be becoming more mainstream. But he is in good company, many chefs including Jamie Oliver and Ferran Adria have also taken a crack at improving hospital food.

Tags: heston blumenthal, HestonBlumenthal, hospital food, HospitalFood

Famous Chef's Diner Fare Draws Raves

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Designers do cheaper lines for fast fashion and some chefs are now getting into faster food. One of the world's best chefs wants to open a pizza place and now another, English chef Heston Blumenthal, famous for his molecular gastronomy stylings at The Fat Duck has had sucess with a menu for Little Chef, a chain of roadside restaurants in England.

The trial menu, launched at one restaurant in Blumenthal's hometown of Tyneside, has been so popular that the company is planning to roll it out to the chain's 175 restaurants. The Guardian linked to the PDF last November which describes dishes that span a range from standard diner fare like macaroni and cheese and hamburgers to fancier options like braised ox cheeks and coq au vin most for prices under £10.

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Tags: heston blumenthal, HestonBlumenthal, little chef, LittleChef, menu

El Bulli Is The Top Restaurant Yet Again

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Once again the molecular gastronomy stylings of chef Ferran Adria have pushed Spanish restaurant El Bulli to the top of another world's best restaurants list. El Bulli won the top slot in the San Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants 2009. The list is the result of a poll of more than 800 chefs, critics managers and others done for Restaurant Magazine.

According to the AFP, Adria is quoted as saying it was an important night for Spain (in addition to El Bulli, two other Spanish restaurants, Mugaritz and El Celler de Can Roca were in the top five). He dedicated his award to Heston Blumenthal, whose restaurant, The Fat Duck was in the second position. Adria praised Blumenthal for his honesty. Blumenthal closed his restaurant briefly over a potential food poisoning scare earlier this year. Restaurants in the top ten from the U.S. were Thomas Keller's Per Se and Grant Achtaz's Alinea in the US.

Off the list this year was Gordon Ramsay's flagship London restaurant. Bloomberg reports that it was in 13th place last year but didn't even crack the top 100 for 2009. He did squeak onto the list in slot 91 with his restaurant Maze.

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Tags: el bulli, ElBulli, ferran adria, FerranAdria, fine dining, FineDining, heston blumenthal, HestonBlumenthal, restaurants

Will A Food Poisoning Scare Keep People Away From The Fat Duck?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Even the world's best restaurants can have their troubles. The Fat Duck in Bray, England, is one of the finest places to eat in the world. Its innovative cuisine has included items like snail porridge, mustard ice cream with red cabbage gazpacho and the Sound of the Sea, a seafood dish served with an iPod, and has propelled chef Heston Blumenthal into celebrity chef territory. But recently the Michelin-starred restaurant was shut down due to a food poisoning scare. Around 40 diners reported feeling sick and even though initial tests came back negative Blumenthal decided to shut down as a precaution.

According to the Independent ,the decision to temporarily close may have cost around £100,000 in lost bookings but the publicity from the news could also have a long term financial effect. Eating at The Fat Duck is an event that people often save up for (the tasting menu is around $185) and plan for months in advance. Blumenthal, who is famous for running a very tight ship, referred to the decision to close as being "incredibly emotional." Will one scare put diners off The Fat Duck? It seems unlikely and if some are foolish enough to surrender their reservations there will likely be eager diners ready to take their place.

Gallery: Ten of the Toughest Restaurant Reservations

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Superchef to Publish Superbook

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Heston Blumenthal from world-renowned The Fat Duck in Bray, England is known for his expensive and innovative cuisine and now one of the world's best chef is creating one of the world's priciest cookbooks. He is partnering with the jewelry company Asprey to created a limited edition £1,000 luxury leather-bound book. The book will also come with two surprise 'silver gifts' from Asprey. The Independent reports that in spite of a weakening global economy luxury books are still big business. We've certainly seen more than a few, check out some examples in the gallery below.

Gallery: The Pricey Tomes

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Tags: asprey, book, cookbook, expire-images2009-4-19, fat duck, FatDuck, heston blumenthal, superbook

Fat Duck Brings iPods To The Table

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Fat Duck, one of the world's finest restaurants, has added a new layer to their tasting menu experience by adding an iPod to the proceedings. The Sound of the Sea is a seafood dish that is served with an iPod so that you can listen to the sea while you eat the food. Chef Heston Blumenthal has created the dish which includes shellfish juice made into a foam served along side a mixture of tapioca, fried breadcrumbs, crushed fried baby eels, cod liver oil and langoustine oil topped with abalone, razor clams, shrimps and oysters and three kinds of edible seaweed. The dish comes inside a glass-topped wooden box containing sand and seashells and is served with a glass of seaweed extraction and mirin. The 17-course meal also includes offerings such as a silver rose bush with edible petals and afterdinner whiskey gums.

[via Wired News]

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Tags: england, fat duck, FatDuck, heston blumenthal, HestonBlumenthal, ipod, sound of the sea