Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

I first heard of Heston Blumenthal was while watching cooking shows in London.  In amongst the usual Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall offerings was this guy with an unusual name.  Maybe it's not so unusual in certain parts of the world, but I'd certainly never come across either his first or surname before... well except for Moses (Charlton Heston).  

After watching several of Heston's shows and seeing his slant on cooking, I was keen on eating at The Fat Duck.  Then I found out it was in Bray not London.  Aaah... too far.  Me and Smee too lazy.  So when I heard that Heston was opening his first London restaurant, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, I added it to my mental hitlist of places to chow down.  Unfortunately, it's not a replica of The Fat Duck and did not offer degustation.  Boo.  The menu was more pared down but it was going to have Heston's touch nonetheless.  The running theme at 'Dinner' is that the dishes are inspired by historical British fare and the menu lists the approximate date the dish's origin.   

Smee and I manged to dine at Dinner tonight, months after the initial grand opening frenzy in February.  Not to say it's lost it's popularity - you still need to plan ahead for a table!  Reservations dates are released on the first day of each month for the following month i.e bookings for February can be made from 1st January.  I waited on Australian soil for London time to tick over and - bam!! - made a booking online.  You could try your luck getting a reservation on the day - the restaurant certainly wasn't full when we arrived at 6.45pm - but it's best to book ahead.

Dinner officially has no dress code and suggest that diners be 'comfortable'.  Should I turn up in my pjs and slippers then?  Maybe I should wear the Snuggie blanket?  I'm pretty comfortable in that.  It's a bit of a laff when you look around at the diners who can afford a £70-80 a head dinner.  The restaurant is situated within the refurbished Mandarin Oriental hotel, opposite Harvey Nichols and steps away from Harrods.  Stop fooling yourself - no diner is turning up in a pair of thongs.  

Service was impeccable and maybe sometimes, excessively friendly tipping over to stupidly insincere.  After Smee returned from the men's bathroom, he got a 'Welcome back, Sir.'  Contrary to that, I did not receive such a greeting on my return from the ladies!  *jealous face*  Orrite enough babbling - onto the food!

Stepping into the restaurant, we're given a glass-fronted view into the kitchen.  

Smee and I spotted the pineapple spit, slowly turning, roasting the pineapple to be served with the famous tipsy cake.

Our complimentary bread and butter.  Nothing special here. 

There were several dishes on our must-eat list.  When I first watched the below video, I was fascinated by the meat fruit and was so :D :D :D to see it included on Dinner's menu.  I love liver parfait, pate, foie gras and anything else similar.  This dish was already a winner.  

How cool is that!?!?!

Another must-eat dish was the Savoury Porridge (c.1660) with Snails, Girolles, Garlic and Fennel £14.50. Her's my Meat Fruit (c.1500) Mandarin, Chicken Liver Parfait and Grilled Bread £13.50

So happy to have my meat fruit!!!  Look how real it looks!  It's a real leaf from... a mandarin tree?  Not edible, just there to enhance the illusion.  

Cutting into the meat fruit.  Yummy, yummy chicken liver parfait.  Not enough!  Give me more!

To get an idea of how much Smee enjoyed the Snail Porridge, Smee said if he wasn't in a public place, he would've picked up the plate and licked it.  It was very tasty (so much umami goodness) and I think even the most snail-averse person would've been won over by this dish.  The size was decent for a starter but like Oliver Twist, we wanted more! *smacks lips* 

We opted to share the Wing Rib of Irish Angus (c.1830) which was served with Mushroom Ketchup, Red Wine Juice and Fries (£72.00).  In hindsight, we probably shouldn't have done this.  This was not strategic eating!  We didn't sample as many dishes as possible!  Oh well.  I'll just have to come back :D

Giant rib of steak.  Can't complain.  Triple cooked chips.  Chunky, crispy and fluffy on the on inside.  Just how I like my chippies.  

I should also mentioned that we rounded it out with a mixed leaf & tomato salad.  That wasn't very exciting though.  

Smee and his lovable rib. 

We placed our order for desserts and while waiting for them, Smee couldn't help but bring out the tablet to play Angry Birds.

Dessert was a difficult choice.  So many things I wanted to eat but not enough stomach space.  

Smee chose the Lychee Frozen Ice (c.1590) with Rosehip Jam, Barberrie Granite and Red Currant (£9.00).  I couldn't go past the Tipsy Cake (c.1810) with Spit Roast Pineapple (£10.00).  I actually had to pre-order it with the starters and main because of the 30-40 minute preparation time.  

I couldn't help but be a little ho-hum about the Lychee Frozen Ice.  No doubt a lot of skill went into the dish but I've been eating Passionflower lychee ice cream for years and couldn't help being reminded of it.  My tipsy cake was so freaking awesome though. Fluffy brioche baked on top of a warm vanilla custard.  *gurgle, gurgle*  The pineapple had a crispy, caramelised surface due to the slow spit roasting and went well with the cake.  Smee was a bit disappointed with the tipsy cake (despite gobbling it down) because he thought we were meant to receive an ENTIRE pineapple!  Smee, so silly.  

All diners receive a little complimentary cup of tea after each meal.  Or is it??

No, it's cup of Earl Grey ganache!  Served with a caraway shortbread.  Tea-flavoured ganache!  A small serving but just enough to not overdo the richness.  (On a side note - it wasn't either of our birthdays).  

Well, there's not much else to say except I wanna come back dammit and eat more food.  A few other dishes which tickled my fancy included the Roast Marrowbone (c.1720), Powdered Duck (c.1670) and Brown Bread Ice Cream (c.1830).  Maybe one day, Smee and I will make that extra effort to try The Fat Duck and really gorge ourselves.  But for now, I'll just work on my return to Dinner.