The Fat Duck

[Flying Fox]

What??? Don't listen to him!
We both had about six slices of bread... it was so good, and the butter!!! wow.
I'm jealous... I want to go back.

I must confess that I did have a couple of slices.

Interesting that you were able to book online. When mrsOpusman & I went a few years ago it was telephone bookings only, which is not the best from Australia...

Yes the internet booking thing is much better for us on the other side of the world. It did have ups and downs for me. I initially got a time displayed and when I clicked on it, it was already taken. Kept trying for another 10+ minutes and had a second time appear and clicked on that, typed like the mad man that I am and bingo, confirmation arrived. I count myself lucky.

Forest is popular food these days... plenty of it when I went to Noma in May!

Ha ha, must be the trend these days.

 

[VPS]

Looks fantastic and thanks for the info - couple of questions - was it good enough that you'd want to do it again or was it a great experience and the memories are enough - rough idea of the cost and did you think it was good value - great photos and think this is going on my wish list

 

[mannej]

Looks fantastic and thanks for the info - couple of questions - was it good enough that you'd want to do it again or was it a great experience and the memories are enough - rough idea of the cost and did you think it was good value - great photos and think this is going on my wish list

Here is a rough estimate of price

The Fat Duck Tasting Menu

 

[Flying Fox]

Eighth Course – Mad Hatter’s Tea Party – Mock turtle soup, Pocket watch and toast sandwich

This is another course that has many components.

The glass tea pot sitting on top of a glass bowl.

The gold leaf covered tea pocket watches presented to the table. The box ticks to give you that real pocket watch experience.

 

[Flying Fox]

The pocket watch in now placed into the hot water and as you swish it around, it dissolves to form a soup 'littered' with gold leaf.

You now pour the gold leaf soup into the bowl underneath.

And you end up with this

 

[Flying Fox]

Here are the sandwiches

The whole combination of theatre and food was great. It was fun to play with your food and then eat it. The tea/soup reminded me of a Japanese Chowanmushi (its the closest thing that I can compare it to). The sandwiches were terrific with a great filling and a beautifully crunchy filling.

 

[PLANT]

Mmmmm $450au meal.... Think I'll see if I can a bulk 7 day/night special price....

 

[Flying Fox]

Ninth Course – Sound of the Sea

Probably one of Heston's signature dishes with a few components.

Conch with iPod and head phones. Only one sound track - sounds of the beach with crashing waves, sea gulls and rolling surf. Its turned up fairly loud. More like your head in the surf and less like walking along the beach. Once you are listening, you can't hear anything or anyone in the restaurant.

Everything on the glass is edible. The seafood was clean, fresh and beautiful. The foam and 'sand' were salty. When you eat the seafood with some of the foam and sand; combined with the sounds in your ears, the dish becomes amazing. Your senses all become aligned and everything tastes even cleaner and fresher.

 

[Flying Fox]

Tenth Course – Salmon Poached in a Liquorice Gel, Artichokes, Vanilla Mayonnaise and Golden Trout Roe

This dish was a little confusing for me at first. The liquorice gel coats the salmon (similar to a 2mm layer all over the salmon) that I can only guess has been sous-vided (vac sealed in a plastic bag and cooked in boiling water). The salmon was so soft and moist. Once I allowed myself to stop thinking about the meal, I really enjoyed the tastes. At this point, I also realised that the little drops of gels, pastes and fruit bits all go together to change the overall taste of this dish.

Its really important to taste each component individually and then combine everything for a completely different taste.

 

[Flying Fox]

Eleventh Course – Lamb with Cucumber, Green Pepper and Caviar Oil

Time to be honest. I don't like lamb (I don't mean to sound un-Australian). I don't order it at restaurants and generally avoid it. However, in order to challenge myself and not be closed minded, if there are shared plates, I will always try the a bit of the lamb on offer. Strangely enough, I will have a lamb yiros every now and again (I know; I'm a complex individual who's life is spotted with incongruence).

I was totally blown away by this lamb dish! One of the top three lamb dishes that I have ever had and when I think about it, probably the best lamb dish that I have ever eaten (my other two top lamb dishes are Restaurtant Orana - Adelaide and Qantas First Class from their degustation menu).

The lamb wasn't game-y (which is probably the factor that puts me off lamb) at all and super soft and tender to the point of melt in your mouth (never had that with lamb before).

One of my highlights of this menu!

The dish came with lamb marrow and don't remember what the crunchy biscuit type things were but it was so delicious. So maybe this is course 11.5 or 12... now I'm even losing count.

 

[dodgeyhack]

Mmmmm $450au meal.... Think I'll see if I can a bulk 7 day/night special price....

The service charge works out to be quite a bit too

Worth it though, I still remember our waiters name - Dmitri. He made a comprehensive list of restaurants and wineries to visit on Santorini for us. We visited the winery and mentioned he'd sent us and got a dozen glasses of wine free!

 

[Flying Fox]

Twelfth Course – Hot and Iced Tea

A totally amazing course. The staff bring it to your table and place it in front of you. You are instructed to not turn it; instead you are to simply pick it up and drink it fairly rapidly as it is presented to you. Oh, and don't take too long to do it.

Its a boring looking dish but the amazing thing is that the left hand half is warm to hot whilst the right hand half is fridge cold. So as you drink this, the left hand side of your mouth warms up and the right hand side cools down. The tea itself is light and refreshing with a hint of sweetness. Having no expectations, this drink confuses the brain and blows your mind.

Its ultimate effect is to amaze and delight whilst acting as a palate cleanser! Brilliant if you ask me.

My theory is that the kitchen places a divider in the cup when filling both sides at the same time with hot and cold tea. The divider is removed and the tea served quickly after that.

 

[Flying Fox]

Thirteenth Course – Macerated Strawberries, Olive Oil Biscuit, Chamomile and Coriander Jelly and Ice Cream Cornet

The most intense strawberries and cream like dessert that I have ever had. The red and white 'cloth' is actually white chocolate and goes beautifully with the dish.

 

[Flying Fox]

Fourteenth Course – Botrytis Cinerea

Probably my favourite dish of the night (then again I'm a sweet tooth) and love a great dessert wine.

To put it simply, its like eating an amazing dessert wine like Noble One.

The dish is made up of ice creams, crushed biscuits and crunchy grape shells made from what I can only guess is sugar (the cracked grape like thing in the middle) with gel balls as well (such as the second ball from the bottom of the photo). Totally loved this dessert for its flavours, textures, different temperatures and sweetness!

 

[Flying Fox]

Fifteenth Course – Wisk(e)y Wine Gums

Heston's spelling on the dish.

The gels are very soft. Much softer than a jelly baby. Each gum has a distinctive flavour of the whisk(e)y that its made from or based on. If you are a whisk(e)y fan, I'm sure that you would love this dish. I liked the experience but it wasn't my cup of tea.

Mrs Flying Fox didn't like this course but she isn't a drinker. Others around the restaurant also didn't enjoy the dish.

 

[Flying Fox]

Sixteenth Course – ‘Like a Kid in a Sweet Shop’

This is your take away bag (should you choose). Mrs Flying Fox took her's home as she was full by now.

Inside, you get the following -

First up - A chocolate ball that has a hard chocolate shell (probably tempered chocolate) filled with a light airy chocolate and mandarin gel/jelly (similar to a cross between a malteser and aero bar). Best chocolate ball that I have ever eaten; then again I do love the chocolate & orange combination.

Inside the wax sealed envelope was the following - printed white chocolate card that would melt in your fingers/hand.

The last item was toffee - like a super fantail. I don't like fantails so this didn't tickle my fancy. If you like fantails, this might be your thing!

 

[PLANT]

Fantastic review and pictures... How many other dinners and how are the seating arrangements?
Full house? Time started and finished?

 

[Flying Fox]

Looks fantastic and thanks for the info - couple of questions - was it good enough that you'd want to do it again or was it a great experience and the memories are enough - rough idea of the cost and did you think it was good value - great photos and think this is going on my wish list

Yes it was fantastic. I have asked myself a few times as to whether I would do this again. Firstly, it was super expensive as far as I was concerned and a meal of a lifetime and I'm very glad that I did it. I did think long and hard about whether it was simply a waste of money but I'm am very glad that I have had the experience.

I decided that if I couldn't get a table whilst we were in London, it wouldn't be the end of the world but if I did get a table (I have many friends who have tried and failed) then it was meant to be.

If and when we get back to London, I don't think that I would do it again. However, if I could get a table in Melbourne for The Fat Duck when it has its six month stint, I would go (subject to cost).

Mrs Flying Fox isn't a drinker. I would only have a glass or two of wine with a meal if I didn't have to drive but since I was driving in a foreign land, I didn't drink. Dinner cost for us was £195.00 each but I believe it has gone up to £225.00 each as of Sept 2014. They also add an optional 12.5% tip which adds up to a reasonable amount if you earn in AUD. They do provide unlimited bottled and sparkling water at no additional cost.

If you are inclined, there is a matching set of wines for each course for an additional cost. They also have a wine bible (much more than a menu and about 2 or 3 inches thick) with wines going up to about £5000.00 per bottle if you care to indulge.

So dinner cost me about $800 (for two of us) plus approx $110 for the hire car.

Thanks for the photos comment. I love taking photos and I'm glad that I can share them. Mrs Flying Fox does get embarrassed when I am constantly taking pics with my DSLR but photos are what I bring back from my holidays as I'm not a trinkets person.

 

[boomy]

Great photos, looks like an amazing meal!
Now to try and score a table in Melbourne...

 

[Flying Fox]

Fantastic review and pictures... How many other dinners and how are the seating arrangements?
Full house? Time started and finished?

Thanks so much.

With bookings so hard I'm guessing that they are always full for both lunch and dinner six days per week (I think that they are closed on Mondays).

They max out at about 50 people.

They have a mix of tables with the largest table being 6. A few tables of 5, 4 and 3 but most tables were for 2 people. From memory, all tables were rounds.

Timing - excellent question. I think first table is 7pm but our booking was 7:30pm. Walked out the door at approx 1am. Courses were well paced without being too fast or slow. There were still people eating when we were leaving. Drive back to the Kensington Hilton and car drop-off had me in bed at approx 2am.

Mrs Flying Fox didn't enjoy the evening as much as I did because she got quite tired by about 11pm or so. She is glad that she did it and said that it was an amazing experience.