bluebereft

I'm singaporean, and when i first encountered singapore noodles in a restaurant in london's chinatown, my friends and I were aghast. What sorcery is this! I've since found that Singapore noodles really vary from place to place. Curry powder does seem to be a common denominator. The nicer ones I've had use vermicelli, or a mix of that and a yellow noodle. That said, I do feel that you'd be better off trying out one of the many other noodle dishes that Singaporeans eat, which are infinitely nicer than any of the Singapore noodles I've tried.

i was here on my birthday, and loved the meal. my girlfriend doesn't eat foie, and somehow that translated itself to no foie for either of us. but the dishes were lovely nonetheless. we split the wine pairings, and the wines were great too.

Steve Cuozzo is also rather miffed over the book. Mr Bastianich isn't making many friends!

I'm still digesting a delightful lunch at the Fat Duck today, will scribble some quick comments! It was my first time dining here. While I had read about the experience a couple of years back, the only dishes I recognised/remembered were 'Sounds of the Sea' and the Hot & Iced Tea. I just skimmed through the old egullet threads, and yes, much of the menu has changed. Further, while some dishes seem to be the same (oakmoss, sounds of the sea, etc), there are slight changes in the components (possibly reflecting seasonality?) - so the flavour profiles are slightly different. E.g. beetroot, artichokes for my meal vs asparagus etc in others. The flavours were good, solid on a whole, but assertive (especially with the use of umami components). Also, very complex. I wouldn't go expecting a delicate piece of fish. Plates often have many components, some of which you may not casually put together, but somehow work because of a third 'bridging' ingredient. Something I didn't expect was how asian some of the flavours felt to me (I grew up in Singapore). So there was a kind of nostalgic, familiar instinct when I had expected none of it. I'm in physics, and have worked with liquid nitro, which meant that the whole impact of liquid nitrogen at the table doesn't have a large impact on me. But those dishes weren't gimmicky, they tasted great too. All in all it was a fantastic sensory experience. Definitely something different. Like a previous poster said, a meal at this price point is definitely not something you'd call value for money. But if you have the money to spend, this place is well worth a trip.

I wouldn't call them difficult, just very spicy. Most dishes don't present themselves as something with a kick. There's a reason why one of the above posters called it numbing-spicy! Even though I prefer refined Cantonese cuisine, I love Sichuan food. It's assertive, pulls no punches, but very, very flavourful.

This is my last year in london, and I finally managed to get reservations at the Fat Duck in Jan! I must have read through a zillion blow-by-blow accounts over the past few years, but have abandoned that for a good few months, such that the only thing I vivdly remember descriptively is sound of the sea. Thanks very much to the OP for the price breakdown - FD seems to be substantially costlier than the Michelins in london!