The second of my foodie dream meals! Upon realising that making it to The Fat Duck really wasn't within our budget, but certainly not willing to sacrifice a date with Heston, we "compromised" with a booking at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in the fancy end of London. The restaurant is within the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and we had doormen holding doors open for us with many a sir and madam references, which was very different to what we were used to! They even insisted that they took our coats... So we sheepishly handed over our attractive rain jackets to be housed amongst the Gucci and Burberry jackets of the fancy folk.
Service here was THE best that I think any of us had ever experienced. Despite it being very obvious that we were not made of money, we weren't treated like second class citizens and had multiple staff members legitimately interested in our travel plans and what we were doing. Heck, Brim was even assisted with removing his flanno and placing it on the back of the chair!
So a round of cocktails to begin.... Expensive but the list was too amazing to resist. Mine was the tall thing which was sake and gingerbeer and lemon grass etc.... A kind of mule spin off. Brim had the thing with the spoon of jam which was cognac based and Matt was a cherry something and probably the tastiest of the lot. We also splurged on a bottle of Spanish red which I think was the best wine I've had in my memory... And even got the tick from non-winelover Matt!
Starters - I had the meat fruit and would happily live off of this for the rest of my life.... Even better than I had hoped! A deliciously silky smooth blend of duck liver and foie gras, encased in a slightly sweet, mandarin flavoured gelatine case that melted the second it entered your mouth. Matt had the octopus, which was super tender in slightly a smoked sea broth. It came with cockles and samphire, the perfect combination. Brim went for the bone marrow (after holding onto his meal envy of my starter at St. John) which came filled with snails. It had a very smooth garlic flavour and looked so beautiful with the baby pickled veg on the side. The pickled cauliflower was a taste sensation in itself.
Mains - I had another starter which was lamb broth with a soft hens egg and veal sweetbreads. It's always fun when the liquid isn't actually in your bowl and is poured from a jug on arrival to the table! Matt decided on a tender piece of halibut, again coming with more cockles and samfire. The fish was cooked to perfection and had a deliciously herby sauce. Brim had the pork chop with a barley ragout and braised veg. All very good again! I had a side of kale which was delicious and we managed to get a side of triple cooked chips even though they shouldn't have been available - divine!
Dessert - I had the brown bread icecream which came on a bed of salted caramel and some kind of biscuit. Matt had the tipsy cake which was a boozy brioche baked to order with spit roasted pineapple. Brim had quaking pudding which was a pannacotta of sorts with poached pear and a warm spiced syrup poured on at the last minute. Again all amazing! Then there was little freebie of chocolate ganache with orange and Earl Grey and a caraway biscuit.
We left feeling extremely satisfied although disgustingly full (I wished that vomitoriums still existed!), and went and played with the squirrels in Hyde Park.
And a thank you to my lovely parents who funded the dream with some birthday moneys!
