After working out that a trip to The Fat Duck in Bray was
not feasible for our one week stay in London, we decided that Heston
Blumenthal’s other restaurant Dinner By Heston, would be a lot easier to get to.
Thankfully we booked well in advance (February) and were able to get a
reservation. Dinner By Heston is located in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in
Knightsbridge.
On our visit to Dinner By Heston, the day was spectacular,
sun shining, bright blue skies. Not what you expect for a British summer’s day.
Our walk was very pleasant indeed.
The restaurant is located through the lobby toward the Hyde
Park side of the hotel building. Large expanses of glass let in light and
afford a great view of Hyde Park.
Custom-made porcelain light
fixtures modelled on antique jelly moulds are a quirky touch to the walls,
vaulted ceilings enhance the height of the rooms and lots of large mirrors, wood,
leather and ivory paint is used for walls and furnishings. Floor to ceiling
glass separates the diners from the kitchen where the feature is the pulley
system used to rotate the spit.
Dinner By Heston has dishes inspired from historic British
gastronomy. Each dish has a year date indicating the period in time the original
recipe was formulated.
I got a little confused and thought we had been given the
dinner menu instead of the lunch menu, until Vikki reminded me that the restaurant
was named Dinner. We decided on the 3 course set lunch menu with matching wines
(all up £147 approxAUD$256). As there were two choices per course it was just a matter of deciding
which of us wanted what more than the other.
I
love snails so I had to have the dressed snails(c.1884), parsley, beetroot,
salty fingers and red wine sauce. This was matched with a Schiopetto, 2010 Pinot Grigio from Collio in
Italy.
Vikki
is not in to snails( she thinks they should only be trodden on when found in
the garden) so she chose the Salamagundy (c.1720), smoked tomato, celery,
buckler sorrel and lovage. This was matched with Weingut Loimer, 2012 Gruner
Veltliner ‘Lois’ from Kamptal in Austria. I was quite surprised when I tried a
bit of the tasty heirloom tomatoes enhanced with a light touch of smoke.
For mains I ordered something I haven’t tried before,
roasted ray wing & admirals sauce (c. 1826), sea aster, shallots, peas,
brown butter and capers. This was matched with Ata Rangi, 2012 Sauvignon Blanc,
Martinborough, New Zealand. Sea aster is a plant that grows along the coast line
and has edible leaves.
Vikki opted for roast quail (c.1590) with cabbage, onion and
smoked chestnut. The quail was taken of the bone for plating and sat high on
the mound of cabbage, onion and chestnut. This was matched with a Casale Dello
Sparviero, 2009 Riserva Chianti Classico from Tuscany in Italy.
Desserts
saw us have a little tiff over who got the Millionaire Tart (c. 1730),
crystallised chocolate, with vanilla icecream (so smooth!!). This was served
with Domaine de la Tour Vieille, NV Banyuls Reserve from Roussillon in France.
The tart was a nice crumbly base with a rich chocolate topping with little
‘gold’ nuggets on top. Vikki won that one.
I had the Shrewsbury Gooseberry Tansy tart, gooseberry, rose
and caraway. This was matched with La Spinetta, 2012 Moscato d’Asti Bricco
Quaglia fro Piedmont in Italy. This tart was light and lovely. The crust from
caramelisation was just right and the moscato was the perfect wine to go with
such a light dessert.
A post dessert was also bought out. It usually comes with
the coffee but Vikki and I seldom order coffee after a meal, so it came out any
way. A little glass cup of dark chocolate ganache with a crisp wafer. Thank
goodness we walked back to our hotel.
A great lunch to go with a great English summer day. Next time we might have to stay a bit longer in London so we can make the trip to Bray.
