The 3rd choice by Annette in the Michelin Club was the 2 Star Michelin restaurant DINNER by heston blumenthal – since I really wanted to see what Mr Blumenthal is all about even though I am well aware that this is a very different restaurant to the Fat Duck.
DINNER is part of the exclusive Mandarin Oriental Hotel and we therefore started the evening at the next door Mandarin Bar, where we had some very nice cocktails. Got a bit surprised when we realized in the end of the evening that we had paid more for a normal Gin & Tonic than any of the cocktails (which were not cheap either) but except for that it was a nice start to the evening. Waited a little bit to get picked up for our table – but were pleased with the location we got in the restaurant and the spacious round table, which made the evening comfortable.
For the first time in ages we got to pick the food from a A La Carte menu, so that was nice for a change but of course made the choice a bit more difficult. The menu was quite interesting in the way that all dishes were related to a specific century and there was an explanation to the sources of origin at the back of the menu. One of their signature dishes is the ‘Meat Fruit’ starter, which both Carlos and I went for and which was a true delight. Beautiful served like a mandarin with a delicious chicken liver & foie gras parfait. Unfortunately Ingrid was less lucky with her ‘Hay Smoked Mackerel’, which was not to her taste palette at all. In fairness to the restaurant we didn’t pay for the Mackerel in the end – so thought that was reasonable managed by them. We all had 4 different main courses, which were all nice but nothing outstanding. For dessert we probably made the mistake of not going for their other signature dish the ‘Tipsy Cake’, which was highly recommended by the waiter, but had to be ordered from the beginning because of the long preparation time, which put us off a bit. Again the cheese board and our desserts were nice – but we were missing the same WOW factor, which we got from the ‘Meat Fruit’ starter.
The service was nice and discrete but was missing the final attention to details, which we have found at other 2 star Michelin restaurants.
Carlos and I also had the usual kitchen tour, which we got before the desserts were served and therefore still saw the kitchen in full action. Here we got a proper explanation about their signature dishes and how they were made and also got to know about the different functions in the kitchen. Even though the kitchen is fully visible through a glass wall from the restaurant – we both still found the kitchen tour really interesting.
Overall everyone had a really nice evening and the atmosphere in the restaurant was nice and exclusive.
