DINNER by Heston Blumenthal

Recently, I was lucky enough to be taken to eat at Heston Blumenthal's restaurant in London at the Mandarin Oriental.

I reckon it is probably impossible for anyone who takes an interest in food not to be aware of Heston's rise to fame, but of course being a slightly obsessive foodie and having watched all of his TV shows I have been dying for the opportunity to try his food for myself to see what the fuss is all about! It is clear that his cooking has an element of performance to it, which is what has brought him into the limelight, but I have to say that I always wondered whether without all the showmanship if his food would be half as popular.  It is undeniable that his rather scientific approach to cooking produces technically superb food, but I rather sceptically assumed that judged on taste alone that it would not stand the test...
I happily admit I was wrong!

Not only was the experience of 'Dinner' a once in a lifetime, but the food was undoubtably some of the best I have ever eaten.

I was treated to the nine course taster menu (which took a good 4 hours!), and even had the privilege of sitting at the 'chef's' table. As you can imagine it was an incredible evening!

So I thought I would share the menu and some pictures with you, because it might be of interest to some people who, like me, were hesitant to believe that one man could have got it so right!!

Lobster & Cucumber Soup (c.1730)

Poached lobster, lobster salad, onion & sea rosemary

Roast Marrowbone (c.1720)

Snails, parsley, anchovy, mace & pickled vegetables

Meat Fruit (c.1500)

Mandarin, chicken liver parfait & grilled bread

Roast Turbot (c.1830)

Leaf chicory & cockle ketchup

Chicken cooked with Lettuces (c.1672)

Spiced celeriac sauces & oyster leaves

Spiced Pigeon (c.1780)

Ale & artichokes

Tarte of Strawberries (c.1591)

Macerated strawberries, chamomile, orange blossom cream & strawberry sorbet

Tipsy Cake (c.1810)

Spit roast pineapple

Nitro Ice-cream Trolley

Whilst the food served was not as 'out-there' as the menu at the Fat Duck, it definitely makes for a unique dining experience but without becoming tasteless (excuse the pun!)


The Meat Fruit was truly exceptional, and I absolutely loved the Tipsy Cake with spit roast pineapple, but then I do have a very sweet tooth and it might have been a bit sickly for some people. The only dish that I found didn't quite live up to the rest was the Chicken cooked with Lettuces. As compared to the other dishes it just didn't have the same depth of flavour and wasn't particularly exciting to me. Nonetheless, the attention to detail in every element of every course was second to none, I saw individual seeds being strategically placed onto the plates with tweezers! Even the boards that you eat off had been lightly rubbed down in a hazelnut oil, just to add a trace of an extra dimension to the taste. But it all paid off, the balance of flavours was superb and exciting.              


I would definitely recommend eating at this restaurant to anyone (although as you can imagine, it's not cheap!). Obviously going for the taster menu was incredible but the food is special enough to make it worth going for just a course or two.

Here's three very happy customers!