For my mum's 50th, we treated her to lunch at The Fat Duck, a three-Michelin star restaurant in Bray owned by Heston Blumenthal. If there's one thing you need to know about Heston Blumenthal, it's that he is more so a food scientist than a chef, and his recipes are often out-of-the-box and wacky.
We'd already been to his neighbouring restaurant in Bray, The Hind's Head, which has one Michelin star, so we knew that the food would be good. Nonetheless, this lunch was more than the food; it was advertised as an experience and that's exactly what it was.
Just getting a booking at the Fat Duck in itself is difficult as bookings open on the first Wednesday of each month at midday and sell out shortly thereafter. I joined the waitlists for several dates, meaning that if anybody cancelled their reservation on one of those dates, I would receive an email (along with everyone else on the waitlist) and have the opportunity to make a booking. This is on a first-come, first-serve basis and usually is taken within minutes. The first time I received an email regarding a cancelled reservation, I accessed the booking page within 7 minutes and it had already been taken. Luckily, I happened to be on my phone the second time I received an email from them and so I nabbed the reservation immediately. This was on Wednesday 19th May for lunch on Saturday 22nd May, but the experience was definitely worth the cancelled plans.
Although the experience was pricey at £1,300 for 4 people (excluding the drinks and service charge), I would definitely recommend going at least once just for the experience. The service was impeccable; our coats were taken to the cloakroom on entering, all of the dishes were explained beforehand, we were offered a taxi at the end of the meal, the drinks were constantly refilled throughout, and the sommelier was very knowledgable. Each table even had a light above it which changed colour, notifying the staff of the course that was being served.
As it was the 25th anniversary of the restaurant, there was a new menu every 3 months and we had Volume 1 of the Anthology menu:
As you can tell by the menu, the dishes were wacky and extravagant and there was a book on each table explaining each course. The elaborate dishes included liquid nitrogen, a floating pillow, and edible sweet wrappers. Although the set-up was very awe-inspiring, it was truly the experience itself that was memorable; for example you would have one spoonful of something, open the book and look at a specific colour, then have another spoonful of the same thing but the taste would be completely different. Similarly, often I'd expect one flavour or texture but instead get something completely unexpected. This isn't to say that the food is the best I have ever tasted; more so that the experience was so unique and otherworldly. I feel that reviewing each course individually wouldn't do them justice and would ruin the magic of the restaurant; instead, this is an experience that is best attending without expectations.
At the end of the 4-hour lunch (12:30pm until 16:30pm), we took a 'sweet shop bag' home with us, alongside a personalised keyring, which was a nice touch and I couldn't recommend this experience enough!
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