I have been a massive fan of Heston Blumenthal since he burst onto the cooking scene years ago with his magical food wizardry and weird concoctions and have been totally captivated by his love of theatre and nostalgia often seen in his TV programmes.
You can therefore imagine how excited I was to go to his first London based restaurant as a treat with Mat (in honour of how hard he had been working) - Dinner.
We began our evening in The Library bar in the Lanesborough Hotel with some yummy gin based cocktails, and even though they were the most expensive cocktails Mat has ever drank (£15 each, which I explained is typical of fancy London hotel bars) he seemed to like the three tier tray of posh nibbles that accompined them. We were trying not to eat too many as we were saving ourselves for dinner but the olives, nuts and posh twiglets were too moorish to resist. We sipped our cocktails whist sitting in an opulent fake library in high backed chairs surrounded with chesterfield sofas, wood panelling and faux walls of books whist a a baby piano was being played next to us. It should have felt stuffy but the staff were lovely and the atmosphere light and friendly.
We then took a stroll along Knightsbridge high street and looked at Harrods all lit up at night before heading in for a late sitting in The Mandarin Oriental, our table wasn't quite ready so we sat at the bar and Mat had the most expensive beer he has ever had and I went for a hugely expensive Hendricks and tonic, which thankfully came with a slice of cucumber. The bar would have been quite nice but as it was 9.30 on a Saturday night was full of quite loud, obnoxious drunks, which did ruin the atmosphere slightly but as we were shown through to the restaurant, the drunks disappeared and we amongst the bustling atmosphere of Heston's Dinner - ice creams were being created at tables so the fog of liquid nitrogen rolled across the floor and the kitchen was incased in floor to ceiling windows so you could see all the action and the pineapples (for the Tipsy pudding) roasting on spits.
The menu is inspired by long lost recipes and each dish is accompanied by the year it is from, but they obviously all have a Heston twist. We argued over who was going to have the most famous dish - the meat fruit, Mat won as it was his treat (and I was promised a large bite). The perfect looking satsuma (or mandarin as it was called on the menu) was delivered on a rustic wooden board with some grilled bread - it looked so much like the juicy fruit and it was odd to cut into it and reveal the smoothest chicken liver parfait. You could also eat the rind which spread easily like a fatty orange-d flavoured jam with the parfait - it was gorgeous and do rich I had too have two large bites to help Mat along. In stark contrast I went for a light and fresh starter of scallops and cucumber, the cucumber came in so many different ways - pickled, foamy and pureed. Perfect with the delicate flavour of the scallops.
Mat thad the powdered duck with fennel and umbles (which I think are offal of some sort). Again really delicious but so rich I think Mat was going to struggle to have a dessert. I went for the Spiced Pigeon and Ale, slightly pink in the middle and melted in the mouth as easily as the creamy mashed potato we shared as a side. Best mash ever.
We just had to have pudding and even though I really wanted the ice cream which is prepared at the table with liquid nitrogen, it takes two and Mat wanted chocolate. He again managed to pick the richest thing on the pudding menu - the chocolate bar with gold leaf was a dense bar of dark chocolate with a passion fruit jam and ginger ice cream - it beat him though and he could not finish the whole thing. I demolished my brown bread ice cream with salted butter caramel, pear and malted yeast syrup - it reminded me of peanut butter so I loved it.
After all that I still managed to find space for the little shot glass of a smooth chocolate ganache served with a shortbread studded with fennel seeds, reminded me of a posh Choc Dip.
The meal went the same way as the drinks and became our most pricey meal out ever, but I think it was worth it as a treat. The food was great and so different to anything I have eaten in a long time - the staff were fine (nothing to complain about or shout about either), the setting was the same, I like seeing the kitchen and the vintage jelly mould lamp shades were a nice touch but quite bland other than that. Here it is all about the grub, and it lived up to the hype. Maybe, The Fat Duck next....
