Ever since arriving in London almost two years ago, I knew that I had to dine at one of Heston Blumenthal’s restaurants. Since Fat Duck temporarily relocated to Melbourne, it was no longer an option. But there was still Dinner. Last week my boyfriend surprised me by arranging dinner here and we had a wonderful evening.

As you would expect from a restaurant of this caliber, the service was excellent right from the start. While we were waiting for our table, we sat in the bar area which was buzzing and were promptly given drink menus. Our table ended up being ready before our drinks arrived but since the waitstaff knew what they were doing, they informed us that they would bring them over to us.

Here is a photo of one of their beautifully crafted cocktails, I’ve forgotten its name 🙂

The main dining room of the restaurant was large, bright and airy with beautiful wood furniture and oozed sophistication without being pretentious. Our waiter was prompt, helpful and friendly and was happy to answer any questions we had about the menu.

Now to the food. We both had three courses and for my entree I had the Salamagundy which consisted of chicken oysters (waiter explained it was the most tender part of the chicken), salsify (root vegetable similar to parsnip), marrow bone & horseradish cream. I’m not a massive fan of anything with horseradish in it but I thought I’d try it anyway. The dish was gorgeous, the chicken was tender and the marrow melted in my mouth. The horseradish and salsify and endive leaves brought the two meat flavours together and rounded off the dish nicely.

For my main I felt like fish so I chose the Roast Turbot with Mussel & seaweed ketchup, salmon roe & sea rosemary. The fish was firm yet so delicate and the fresh flavours of the salmon roe and sea rosemary really awakened the senses. It was a substantial amount, for me anyway, but as we had already ordered our desserts I had to power on 🙂

Our waiter had highly recommended the Tipsy cake as a dessert which I ordered. It was my favourite meal of the night! He said that it takes 40 mins to prepare and I can see why. The brioche was baked to perfection, so light and fluffy with the right amount of brandy and syrup underneath. The side of pineapple created a little explosion of pleasure with every bite and I was just sad when there wasn’t anymore. Word of warning, if you have chosen this as a dessert, do not mix your palette by sharing and tasting someone else’s dessert. I did this and it was not good, do not interrupt this slice of heaven you are in while devouring this!

I was stuffed by the end of it, three courses with table bread prior to that. You wouldn’t leave hungry trust me!

This place is great, with it’s relaxed ambience and semi-formal dining, it’s easy to see why it’s so famous. From our dining table we could see the kitchen where about ten chefs were working their magic. It added to the professionalism of the dining room.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, 66 Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 7LA
http://www.dinnerbyheston.com/