Dinner by Heston Blumenthal – London

After one of the most  unforgettable culinary weekends in Spain, visiting Arzak, Mugaritz and one of the best tapas restaurants in San Sebastian, it was time to go to London. To keep it up to the weekend standard I managed to make a reservation in one of the most hard to get in new restaurants in London: Dinner by Heston Blumenthal and I have to say it lived up to my expectations

This Heston Blumenthal’s first restaurant in London. He is also the owner of one the molecular cuisine mecca: The Fat Duck. Restaurant  probably not at the same level as Alinea or El Bulli, but still a destination restaurant, specially now that people appear not to get sick after eating in it.

Don’t get me wrong do not expect from Dinner a molecular cuisine restaurant, this is a more traditional British food resto, cooked to perfection.

Restaurant is located in the Mandarin hotel and it run by Ashley Palmer-Watts, who we could see from our table next to the open kitchen doing an excellent job.

After some drink in the hotel bar, we finally got sitted. The particularity of the Menu is that the year when the dishes were first discovered appears next to the dish name. BTW, some of my coworker thought those numbers were actually the calories of the dish.

Bread and Butter with salt. This is something that still can not understand, why this good restaurants still use butter, where they could be using extra virgin olive oil, nothing can get better than a good olive oil selection.
Next the Momofuku logo foie

After 5 seconds….

Meat Fruit (c.1500)
Mandarin, Chicken Liver Parfait and Grilled Bread
£13.50

The more photogenic dish of the night, and a dish that it seems it was created by David Chang’s Momofuku. Definitely really tasty but not at the same level of Corton or Eleven Madison Park foie. BTW the leaves were not eatable.

Roast Scallops (c.1820)
Cucumber Ketchup and Borage
£16.00

Hay Smoked Mackerel (c.1730)
Lemon Salad, Gentleman’s Relish and Olive Oil
£14.50

Dish was combined with an anchovy paste, garlic and lemon olive oil. Probably this dish was found in one of the Navy boats that was taken from the Spanish Armada  Very Spanish influenced dish.

Sirloin of Black Angus with bone in (c.1830)
Mushroom Ketchup, Red Wine Juice and Triple Cooked Chips
£30.00

What else I can tell about a perfectly cooked peace of meat.

Ribeye (c.1830)
Mushroom Ketchup, Red Wine Juice and Triple Cooked Chips
£30.00

Amazing, boneless ribeye with butter and the famous Heston’s  triple-cooked chips. A classic that will never get old.

Sea bass (c.XXXX)

Chocolate Bar (c.1730)
Passion Fruit Jam and Ginger Ice Cream
£9.50

Not that good, actually a little bit disappointed. Also in the picture the shadow of Ramiro’s iphone.  Mehhh!

Tipsy Cake (c.1810)
Spit Roast Pineapple
£10.00

This was my favorite dish, the flavors really impressed me at the first bite, since it was something that I was not expecting. The brioche was soaked with pinneaple, sugar and some type of alcohol, so dam good. Order this at the beginning of the meal, and allow 30 minutes to cook.

Overall really good service and well put together flavors, but do not expect other Fat Duck. This is an interpretation of GB classic food. If you want to be impressed in London,  there are better restaurants to go, and probably not as hard to get in as Dinner.