The Fat Duck 2002

[Andy Lynes]

Heston is on at 8.00pm on Wednesday. It was the first show this week. I believe Locatelli will eventually be re-shown on BBC2 in what now must be referred to as the Jamie Oliver slot of 8.00pm on a Tuesday.

[cappers]

crab biscuit IS sensational.... its better than sex.

was the first heston show on vegetables ? If so then isaw it.. Very good. Loved what he did to the cauliflower.

Are you still in a huff with me Andy ? Hope not.

[Gary Marshall]

Made it to the Fat Duck on Friday evening after a surprisingly easy drive from Leeds to maidenhead, despite the heat (more of which later).

On arriving at the FD initial impressions were good, a modern, smart but unstuffy dining room with relaxed staff, which suited as i'm becoming more michael winner-esque in my old age in my unwillingness to get overly dressed up for dinner.

A couple of champagnes to start, a nice drop v biscuity in a bolly/gosset manner, i asked what it was but all i caught was something 'boyer', again something i will return to....

we went for the tasting menu, with the wines. i think these dishes have been debated enough on this board so i won't go into too much detail.

a sherry accompanied the pre-starters the well known lime sour, ok; the quail jelly, interesting; and the mustard ice cream, fine. Problems began here, i didn't think the sherry went well (i'm used to it being served as an aperitif, michael Hjort at meltons in york is a big fan) but the sherry and the combinations of food just didn't sit well with me, i know the combinations are designed to trick the brain, but i think it flooded my small one and it said no -way!

roast scallop was ok, didn't like the cauliflower puree that came with it, wine matched well but the sommelier was so heavily accented i couldn't understand his enthusiastic explanations i think it was spanish. the inability to understand continued throughout the meal, i think they should print the wines with the tasting menu?

the heat of the restaurant also soon became apparent, to be fair it was a hot night but everyone in the restaurant was fanning themselves with cards on the table, the heat also had another undesirable side effect, severe body odour on our designated waiter, after placing the dish and describing it i bent to smell the dish and got the overwhelming hit of BO, v unpleasant especially when you have another 10 courses to go!

the girlfriend sarah had the crab biscuit with foie gras. i was gracious in letting her have the best dish! It was good but not as spectacular as others have said. I had the cauliflower risotto which would have been ok but the cocoa powder dusting severly put me off.

The meat course was poached pigeon with a pastilla of leg, (i would have liked to have tried the lamb slow cooked but it was not on this tasting menu ). Pigeon didn't look appealing, well cooked in terms of execution but looked & had the texture of raw meat. leg pastilla, a small pastry parcel was delicious, again random flavours dotted the plate, pistachio, choccy etc. (though i know pigeon and choc is not new) . Sarah had the sea bass Ok but not revelatory (certainly not as good as guy savoy's sea bass and vanilla). A glass of vacqueras accompanied the pigeon a sauvignon blanc the bass.

Another minor irritation became apparent here, we sat virtually in the middle of the room (my choice so as to observe the other diners dishes

) and the staff consistently appeared behind sarah's back, beaming with delight at the dishes but of course she couldn't see them so i had to keep stopping her mid sentence to let the staff deliver the dishes, they had to walk to the front of the table to deliver mine, why they felt the need to hover behind i don't know? not the end of the world but wouldn't happen at winteringham fields! Again the french waiting staff were very hard to understand, maybe cabrales' is right to speak in french after all as we were struggling.

There were many other small tastes that came through that i can't remember, but my brain/stomach were v confused by this point and spoons of mashed potato and white chocolate discs with caviar on did nothing to calm them.

there were two deserts but as i say the profusion of dishes and flavours made it hard to ascertain what was part of the menu and what was a 'taste'. suffice to say by the time of the chocolate delice, we were beaten. i'd just had enough and sarah was full to burst. (though i did like the spacedust in the bottom of the chocolate!).

I felt bad at the end of the meal because the food was imaginative and impeccably cooked, executed and presented. The staff tried hard, if failed in the few small areas i mentioned.

In such an establishment i'd usually go to the kitchen and pester the chef with queries but didn't as i felt couldn't go and be honest that i really hadn't enjoyed it. Maybe the a la carte without the extra tastes would suit me better, it's the only meal out of many that has really left my head/stomach in limbo.

It's worth a trip just to see what they are doing, and make your own mind up, but for the money (and it wasn't cheap £278 for 2 no coffee) i'd be in petrus, locatelli, rhr, embassy any day of the week. maybe i'm a saddo french classicist at heart (i think i'd have loved in it its early days as an upmarket bistro!) but to me, in a nutshell it was fusion cooking gone mad.

ps i remeber an earlier debate about a chocolate desert 'inspired' by M Bras, it does now have a credit, if it didn't before.

[cappers]

interesting.... i never have any trouble understanding the waiters.

Im going there for lunch on Friday. Is anyone else going ? What can i expect at Lunch for the du jour menu ?

thanks.

[cappers]

Excellent all round.

Had the Du Jour Menu

1. Snail porridge - Beautiful, creamy creation with lots of garlic... An excellent starter. Beautifully executed.

2. Belly of pork with black pudding broth - Perfect. Lots of flavour and amazing dark, rich creamy broth.

3. Rhubab creation with chocolate banules - for someone who dislikes rhubab it was a lovely mix of iced rhubab and a creamy topping.. hard to describe but nice.. and the chocolate banules were GREAT. little hot chocolate filled branches. lovely.

Enjoyed the sardines on toast ice cream and the rest of the pre starters were as normal. The green tea and lime sour was nicer this time. tasted more creamy.

Well done Fat Duck.

[peterpumkino]

Anybody know the names and, preferably, the contact number of the restaurant in Bray Marina affiliated to the Fat Duck as I would dearly like to have lunch there.

I've eaten there before but Michael Winner says they have the best chips in the World and you all know how much I hang on everthing he says.

Thanks

[Lord Michael Lewis]

The following is the Fat Duck emailed news-letter. Given that my opinions on Blumenthal's creative paucity are well documented, I'd like to know what others think.

"Nostalgia Foods

Nostalgia has provided us with hours of amusement over the past few years. Sounds of the 1980's, bad haircuts, and children's television shows-we seem to be continually finding new topics on which to base a nostalgia programme. As smell, followed by taste are the strongest memory jolters of all the senses, I thought that it would be a great idea to come up with nostalgia dishes.

I saw recently the beginning of the 1960's TV show, The Pink Panther. I instantly remembered the Pink Panther chocolate bar. My taste memory of this was vivid, but I couldn't put my finger on it. After some research, I discovered that it was a strawberry flavoured white chocolate bar. The reason that it did not strike me as being particularly reminiscent of strawberry was that some 30 years ago flavourings were far less realistic. I eventually managed to get hold of the flavour itself. The instant I smelt it, memories came flooding back!

This would not have had the same impact if it were a really authentic strawberry flavour. The same can be said about another childhood favourite, butterscotch Angel Delight. Making butterscotch with butter sugar and cream would not replicate that authentic flavour of the original product; it would have to be that particular butterscotch flavour.

I have recently started to serve sardines on toast sorbet where, for me the taste of tinned sardines on buttered toast (it has to be Mothers' pride) is captured in the sorbet. This was a childhood taste of mine.

The one problem that became evident with trying to incorporate the odd nostalgia dish was the fact that one persons' flavour nostalgia would not necessarily be that of another.

With this in mind, I thought I'd do a bit of research on foods that evoke childhood memories be it Heinz tomato soup, boiled egg and soldiers, rice paper-wrapped chocolate cigarettes, coconut tobacco or sherbet dib-dabs! If you'd like to participate, just fill in the form below

Everyone who participates will get a copy of the results, and I'll try to come up with some dishes or tastes that will evoke childhood memories - with a smile.

Newsletter Survey

If you would like to contribute to this survey, please complete the form below and I will publish the results on the site.

If for any reason the form is not displayed corectly, please click here

Your age Group 10-17 18-21 22-27 28-33 34-39 40-45 46-51 52-57 58-64 Over 65

Gender? Female Male

Email Address:

What country do you live in?

If UK, what county / area?

What foods evoke childhood memories?"

[Gavin Jones]

Well the mine of 50's & 60's nostalgia which has partially fuelled Thomas Keller's cooking has been documented elsewhere.

And you could certainly take a more high-minded template to hot-wire the brain back to formative tastes - without unnecessary bandying around of Proust.

It does strike me that the tone is a little more low-concept - 'Step back in time to the awful tastes of yesteryear that you secretly love.'

I can still remember vividly the dissolving chocolate buttons (in my mouth & on my hands) and rowntree's fruit pastilles both of which my granny used to buy for me (& no not recently).

How pleased I would be to fork out £40 a head for the pleasure of a waiter smearing me with Cadbury's chocolate is another matter.

[Paul Bell]

Firstly feel free to tell me off if I am using the wrong thread but there are so many for the Fat Duck now.

Final post of the week and final meal of last weekend was sunday lunch at the Fat Duck, and like so many others I am not certain I get it. the last time we went there was when it was still a 'bourgeois bistro' or whatever Heston Blumenthal called his previous style.

This time we had the a la carte (preceded by the worst Kirs I have ever had, ordinary white wine with 10p's worth of Cassis in it, I know this cos it said so on the bill!). So we had lime foam (good), mustard ice cream with red cabbage gazpacho (v good) quail jelly, pea and crayfish cream (or something) (enjoyable if a little strange), starters of Crab biscuit (not my thing although the crab biscuit was technically very good) and Cuttlefish canneloni of duck (clever, tasty but not as good as a similar thing done with beef at Le Champignon Sauvage), main course of the shared pot roast best end of pork (this was very good but the problem with low temperature cooking is the food is cold before you have finished it, and it was no better in terms of quality, or size than the starter of pork belly at the Capital), desserts Chocolate delice (v good, although the popping candy didn't add anything, fun though) and tarte tatin (very good especially the almond foam).

A very good bottle of alsace riesling (well priced) totalling £200 for lunch, (not so well priced).

Overall we enjoyed lunch but no more than say the Capital. There was some very good cooking and some very clever cooking, but overall we felt that much of it was trying to be inventive for its own sake at our expense. (and I was still hungry so had a chinese takeaway when I got home)

(Apologies for rambling, but its Friday afternoon and I have lost it)

Paul

[Jon Tseng]

to be fair

a) suspect costs in Bray are as high, or higher, than central london... smack in the middle of the london stockbroker belt, access to the river and all that.

b) sounds like they went for the degustation - there's a thirty quid lunch which is would have at least halved the bill.

c) waterside inn = converted pub, ferme de mon pere = converted farmhouse... its not what it was converted from that counts; it was what it was converted into...

ttfn

J

[Lord Michael Lewis]

to be fair

a) suspect costs in Bray are as high, or higher, than central london... smack in the middle of the london stockbroker belt, access to the river and all that.

To be yet fairer:

a) Stockbrokers don't live in converted pubs.

b) The other pubs in Bray aren't charging £100 a head.

[Paul Bell]

In some ways I was not too concerned about spending £200 on lunch outside of London, in the sense that while London is more expensive location does not really come in to my judgement of value for money, it is solely what is on the plate and sometimes the service (usually when it is bad), there are other places as expensive e.g Gidleigh Park. I am however not certain that what was delivered was worth £200. It was good but no better than any other two star restaurant I have eaten in, oh and I forgot to mention in my earlier post, the service was abysmal, it made The Square look like the best three star in Europe, I chose the wine, the sommelier showed me the bottle then disapeared for twenty minutes I had to go and find him! we continually add to ask for our wine to be poured, we had to ask for bread twice (it appears you are only allowed bread before your starter and after the gazpacho and quail jelly).

We did not have the tasting menu (that would have made it £250) we had the a la carte £60 each plus service, wine, coffee and two kirs. The set lunch menu for £30 is not available on Sundays, which is when we went.

In terms of justification for the prices they charge, do restaurants, work in the way you suggest, I think the fat duck charges the prices it does because it can and because it has two michelin stars, they look at prices in London in two star restaurants and charge the same. In terms of cost of materials etc you get a lot more for your money at The Square, Capital, Gavroche etc and their rents (or whatever) must be considerably higher.

We were glad we went because we wanted to try some of things on the menu, we would possibly go back because we want to try the items on the tasting the menu, however after that I suspect we would not then visit for some time, the food is good but not that good, it is however interesting and inventive, worth the money, probably not and certainly not compared to any number of other restaurants.

Paul

[Steve Plotnicki]

Had lunch there today. Didn't think the meal warranted a new thread. Started with the Green tea/lime sour in a large shot glass. A nice way to get your palate all zippy feeling. Other tables had it frozen in a small pot of liquid nitrogen. That was cool looking as it looked like a science experiment. But when I asked about it they said it had to be ordered in advance. Then the red cabbage gaspacho with grain mustard which is too small a portion considering how delicious it is. Then a glass with three jellies/purees which wasn't as interesting as the fist two amuse.

I started with the risotto with caramelized cauliflower and chocolate shavings I believe. When they served it, the waitress had a pastry bag with cocoa powder in it and she gave it a shake over the plate ad it was magically coated with a thin layer of cocoa powder. Lovely presentation. As for the dish, I didn't quite get it. The cauliflower was lovely. But I didn't find the combination with the chocolate to be all that interesting. It didn't offend me in any way. It just didn't make me jump out of my seat. My dining partner had the crab biscuit which came with some sauteed foie gras and some salmon. The one bite I had was stunning and I found the foie/salmon combo to be surprisingly good. We then split an order of the roasted scallops with caramelized cauliflower sauce. Scallops were good, but the sauce was about as outstanding as it gets. My god they should sell it in jars like fluffernutter to spread on things.

For our mains, after a mishap with an order of the salt baked sweetbreads (which were breaded so I had to send them back,) I had "Best-End of Pot Roast of Pork" and since it was being served with a gratin of macaroni and balck truffles, they brought me mashed pommes instead. Beautiful slices of pork that were as moist as I've eve seen pork get. And cooked sort of just this side of medium rare. Thre was aso about a bar size chunk of braised pork belly that was fabulous and it was topped with a glaze that the waitress told me was "double reduction of the pork juices." I tried to press her for the secret ingredient that made the sauce sort of sweet, but she returned from the kitchen saying it was just a reduction. There were also some melt in your mouth mushrooms. Quite enjoyable, and quite normal comfort food that was superbly prepared.

We drank a 1992 Kabinett from the Maximum Gruenhauser vineyard in Germany and all I can say about the wine is that it rocked. It was so perfect. I could hardly stop drinking it. And since it weighed in at a paltry 8.5% alcohol, I kept sipping it like it was water. All in all an excellent lunch. And an excellent place for a sunday lunch in England. My main complaint is that the starters were served at slightly warmer then room temperature. I'm not sure if it's intentional or not BUT I HATE THAT. Hot food please. If I want room temperature food I can order a sandwich. I also wish the place served a legitimate tasting menu. I mean they have something on the menu called tasting menu but it is really jut a set menu of four courses. I mean one of those twelve course job that you get at a place like the French Laundry etc. I would like to taste most of the things on the menu, and I also don't necessarily need to eat full size portions of them. But in spite of those few nits, I shall return.

[Matthew Grant]

We paid our first visit to the Fat Duck for Lunch yesterday (Friday); it definitely won’t be my last. I should declare that I will be spending a couple of days in the kitchen here in December (I don’t want to be accused of bias).

Firstly, I really like the dining room, the combination of the modern and old worked very nicely for me, tables were nicely spaced and I imagine that evenings here could be very romantic.

We chose the tasting menu with accompanying wines by the glass.

Green Tea and lime sour – this was lovely, it is very light and refreshing. Mustard Ice Cream and Red Cabbage Gazpacho. – I thought this dish was amazing, I’m not sure what I was expecting but it wasn’t this. Orange and Beetroot jelly – Nice little trick on the brain. (Alvear Montilla Fino)

The first starter was the Roast scallop, caramelised cauliflower puree, Jelly of Olorosso Sherry – The puree was beautiful, the jelly, although extremely small was incredibly flavour packed, a small amount with each mouthful was plenty. The scallop was large and cooked to perfection, the best scallop I have had in a long time. (Vin De Pays de la Cote Vermeille – Domaine de la Rectorie 1998)

Snail Porridge - despite its name, there is nothing too offensive about this dish, unfortunately, it was over seasoned and was the only disappointing dish off the meal .

(Poggio alle Gazze Sauvignon Blanc 1999)

I then had the Crab biscuit with Roast Foie Gras, Crystallised seaweed, Marinated Salmon and Oyster vinaigrette. It was a large piece of Foie Gras that went well with the small amount of salmon. The Crab biscuit added a nice crunch to the dish and was, once again, full of flavour, there was a lot of sweetness in the dish that combined well with the Foie Gras, I’m not sure where it came from. (Riesling Kabinett 1997 Robert Weil Rheigau)

Rachel ate the Cauliflower risotto, Carpaccio of Cauliflower, Caramelised Cauliflower cream, Chocolate Jelly. From my brief taste of this dish, I thought it was a star. The chocolate added a nice bitterness to the dish. (Pinot Gris Spätlese 1997 Wili Opitz)

We then moved onto our main courses, I had the Poached breast Of Anjou Pigeon. The pigeon was again cooked to perfection, perfectly pink throughout, the pastilla of leg was superb, although the pastry looked a little dark (this didn’t affect its taste). Pistachio and chocolate worked well. (St-Joseph 1998 Les Royes Courbis)

Rachel ate the slow cooked lamb (which the staff happily substituted even though it wasn’t on the tasting menu). This dish has been much talked about; I was suitably impressed, especially with the pieces of tongue. (Casa Lapostolle- Merlot Cuvee Alexandre 2000)

Next was the spoon of Potato Puree with Lime – as previously described, pleasant but not mind-blowing. Parsnip Cornflakes were next, we were laughing by this point, the meal was really good fun as well. Then came the Caviar and chocolate, I’m quite partial to the salt/sweet combinations so this worked well for me though not so well for Rachel who dislikes white chocolate and Caviar , combining the two didn’t change her mind.

Mango and Douglas Fir Puree, bavorois of lychee and mango, blackberry sorbet, beetroot and green peppercorn jelly – Fantastic. First of all was a spoon with a small ball almost invisible to the eye, indeed, so small that when Rachel came to eat hers she discovered it wasn’t there, it was replaced very promptly. The ball had an intense fir flavour, this married reasonably with the rest of the dish, although, I thought it a little superfluous. The pepper flavour came through nicely and added a pleasant bite to the rest of the dish, there was so many flavours going on here (in a good way) that I had to call the waitress back and ask for the description a second time. (Goldackerl Beerenauslese 2001), Willi Opitz)

Red Pepper lollypops and Beetroot jelly were next, closely followed by the chocolate Delice that was so good and so funny we couldn’t stop laughing, The Cumin caramel accompanying this was super, definite taste of cumin but in a positively sweet way. (Maury Vintage 2000, Mas Amiel)

Coffee and Petit Fours followed (an extra £3.95) Smoked Bacon Tuile should possibly have come earlier in the meal, Tobacco Chocolates provide a real kick long after you have swallowed them.

As a small aside, I think the tasting menu should at least indicate that you will receive extra dishes. From reading the menu, you could conceivably think that the tasting menu consists of just 5 courses and that the carte is £15 less but that you get more. I also wonder whether it might be more fun to be told what each dish is after eating it? Total cost, including aperitifs, cocktails and service was £286, it is a lot but you get a lot for your money.

The thing that struck me about the meal was how much fun it was, aside from the incredibly concentrated flavours, beautiful presentation and superb technique, there was plenty of humour that I had thought would put me off. In the end it won me over.

One of the best meals I can remember eating, I can’t wait until December!