...or at least the next best thing! The 44B crew were lucky enough to be treated to dinner by Patrick's lovely parents at 'Dinner by Heston Blumenthal', a three star restaurant in Knightbridge, London that does not serve your usual gourmet fare.
For those unfamiliar with Heston Blumenthal, he is a Michelen-star chef who sees cooking as a science, as well as an art. Notable concoctions of his include bacon and egg ice cream, He likes to push the boundaries of flavours, producing taste combinations that are have either not been experienced before, or are not a part of modern society.
That leads us nicely onto his Knightsbridge restaurant; where Heston may not be the chef actually cooking the food on your plate, but he has carefully designed the dishes and added his own unique twists. Not only is the food predominantly British, but it is British food from times past; the Meat Fruit (see the picture and explanation below!) was a popular addition to medieval feasts. I loved the little touch of the little anecdote banners that wrapped around the menus, such as the original form of ketchup (mustard, not tomato), and the origins of the quintessentially British afternoon tea (in the early 19th century, the Duchess of Bedford was feeling a little peckish before her late-evening meal). For such a quality restaurant in the beautiful grandiose settings of the Madarin Oriental, neither the service nor atmosphere were stifling in the least...after a brief explanation about the historical background of various dishes, the servers pretty much left us to muse over and enjoy the unusual cuisine in front of us.
All in all, it really was a fantastic meal, book-ended very well with champagne and port respectively. A special mention has to go out to the 'ice cream cart', not only providing ice cream, but making it on the spot using dry ice! Amazing to watch the ice floating around the cart, even if we were too full to try any!! Thank you so much, Colleen and Bob; I hope that you had fun on your short trip. Look forward to seeing you in the New Year!
Without further ado, here are some photos that I took on the night. Cleverly, I managed to avoid any pictures from the main course: between us, we had steaks, spiced pigeon and cod in cider. Enjoy feasting your eyes on these!
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| Meat Fruit: unanimously the most popular dish of the night. An incredibly rich, fruity pate that originates from medieval times. Apparently, back in the Middle Ages, disguising meat as fruit was quite common in upper-class feasts. |
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| Buttered Crab Loaf: melted in my mouth...delicious. |
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| The whole gang: (l-r) Colleen, Patrick, me, Rosh, Bob and Dan |
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| Chocolate Bar: with passion fruit jam underneath and ginger ice cream on the side. Delicious! |
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| I thought I was full, and then this scrumptious little apres-dinner desert came along...I found room. |
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