London Cray !!! Dinner By Heston Blumenthal at The Mandarin Oriental
The Lowdown
Restaurant Name: Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
Cuisine: British
Average Price per Person: £50 to £150 or $65 to $195 USD
Location: Hyde Park, London (see map below for details)
Recommendations: Meat Fruit, Triple Cooked Chips, Lobster & Cucumber Soup, Lamb & Cucumber, Tipsy Cake, and SambocadeRatings (out of 5)
Taste: 5
Creativity/Authenticity: 5
Atmosphere: 5
Service: 5
Bang for Buck: 4Crayscale !!!
I’ve been obsessed with cooking shows for as long as I can remember. Before food TV really hit its full stride, my brother and I would stay up late watching Emeril Lagasse, Mario Batali, and the OG Japanese version of Iron Chef. One of my all time favorite celebrity chef personalities is Heston Blumenthal. He wasn’t around during my childhood, but my husband (boyfriend at the time) and I, would pretty much “torrent and chill,” which almost always included an episode of “Heston Blumenthal: In Search of Perfection.” I was always mesmerized with his innovative cooking techniques, his passion for food, his meticulousness, and his innovative ideas.
Heston Blumenthal’s restaurants have been sitting on my to-eat list for a minute. Thanks to my friends at The Mandarin Oriental, I finally had the chance to hit up Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in London. Dinner opened up shop about five years ago and almost immediately gained a Michelin Star and rose to the top of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, ranked fifth. Since then, the award-winning restaurant has retained a spot on the list, currently listed at number 45. Heston may be the mastermind behind Dinner, however, he couldn’t have done it without help from his right hand, former Fat Duck head chef Ashley Palmer-Watts.
Inspired by British culinary history, Dinner’s menu educates its diners on the roots of British cuisine (yesss there’s more to British food than fish n’ chips and potatoes!) The menu consists of historical British dishes, which were researched by food historians and through the British Library. The menu in itself is a full-on history lesson. On one side, the menu appears to follow the same traditional menu format, sectioned off into starters, mains, and desserts. On the flip side, the sources of origin are listed for each dish, highlighting the original recipe from cited cookbooks dating as far back as 1390!
Together, Ashley and Heston take these 13th to 19th-century recipes, reinventing them with an innovative approach and modern cooking techniques. The famous “Meat Fruit” is the perfect example, a 15th-century chicken liver mousse that had been transformed into a mandarin orange filled with chicken liver parfait with a mandarin orange jelly.
Meat Fruit c.1500 (£17.50 or $22.82 USD). Here it is, Heston’s legendary “Meat Fruit,” served with a side of garlic bread. The mandarin orange is filled with velvety chicken liver and foie gras parfait and the “peel” is made of mandarin jelly.
Lobster & Cucumber Soup c. 1730 (£25.00 or $32.60 USD). The lobster was flawless, perfectly cooked lobster topped with lobster salad, smoked onion, rock samphire & sorel, finished with a refreshing cucumber soup.
Cod in Cider c. 1940 (£34.00 or $44.35 USD). The cod was delicious, paired with chard, baby onions & smoked artichokes.
Lamb & Cucumber c.1830 (£40.00 or $52.00 USD). The lamb was one of my favorites! Tender and flavorful AF short saddle of lamb with cucumber heart, sweetbread, borage, and mint.
Triple cooked chips (£6.00 or $7.85 USD). This was crack. SO CRISPY.
Tipsy Cake c.1810 (£14.50 or $18.90 USD). The tipsy cake was to die for, fluffy and moist AF brioche drenched in a brandy cream sauce served with a spit roast glazed pineapple.
Sambocade c.1390 (£13.00 or $16.95 USD). I was actually feelin’ the sambocade more than the notorious tipsy cake. The sambocade is a goat’s milk cheesecake served with elderflower & apple, perry poached pear & smoked candied walnuts.
Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London, 66 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7LA, United Kingdom
Located in: Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London
w: mandarinoriental.com
p: +44 20 7201 3833
