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Dinner at the Fat Duck

Note: you need to know that we have purchased the degustation wines to go with the meal. We had some fantastic wines a sake with the fish dishes, which worked very well, but I started to get quite happy and forgot to take some photos.

The dinner was a holiday trip from Heston’s Childhood. It was a series of events and meals leaving home, having breakfast, playing on the beach, having lunch, visiting a forest and having dinner. Then bed time and the dream was the sweetshop. I have a few bits and pieces I will send you.

Predinner (or pre-trip) Drink was frozen in Liquid nitrogen and then eaten in one gulp. Choice of 4. Pina colada, Vodka and lime, paloma and a Campari one. Beetroot puff with horseradish filling as an amuse bouche. I liked it even though I do not like beetroot – it was mostly horse radish.

Then the breakfast cereal arrived in a pack which we poured onto a blancmange looking jelly which was in layers. The cereal tasted of things like tomato, sausage etc and the layers were bacon and eggs. Our cups coffee and tea were both hot and cold, very unusual experience. The cereal pack also contained a toy which was a money box. We were give a coin to be used later…….

We then went on to Mid-morning at the sea. Palette cleanser two “ice creams” the first was a 3-slice salmon avocado and horseradish and the next a crab and passionfruit “99”. Then we were given seashells with earphones for our next course. The earphones played sounds from the beach children playing seagulls and the sea. We listened to this as we ate the beach dish which had slices of octopus and I think scallop, I do not know what the gravel was but it had a lovely seaweed type taste and it was delicious, the sea had a white chocolate foam on top of tuna (my favourite dish I think). The last course was the rockpool it came out with a lovely Cornish crab shell a hot stock was poured on to melt it making the soup that then contained smoked caviar Golden trout roe and seaweed vegetables

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Lunch was in the forest, starting with a liver pate “Gaytime”. They knew we were Australian as we had to answer a short questionnaire before we came. We had snail porridge or fish soup as a first course in the forest. I had snail porridge a bit snotty!! I do love snails though.

Then Mushroom beet and blackberry scented with fig leaf, meadowsweet, melilot, oakmoss and black truffle. The photo does not do it justice as it is fussy. The food tastes were interesting the table had a pine forest in a jar which had dry ice poured over it to give the smells of the forest across the table. The smells were wonderful and the taste interesting (my least favourite dish.

Mock turtle soup with a touch of Alice in Wonderland. I loved this. The fob watch was put into the tea pot with hot water to make a gold leaf consume when it was all melted it was poured into the teacup which contained the rest of the mock turtle soup. We were given a tiny club sandwich with cucumber, fishpaste and I forget. Delicious.

Dinner started with a small toast with avocado and tomato (an avocado smash for the Aussies). Starter was a sweet little loaf (brioche) with a horseradish cream fraiche and jam, I liked this a lot. We could choose fish or chicken for mains and so 2 of both can to the table Cock au Vin with baby mushroom and onions and lardons Ros said it was lovely. My fish was John dory: memory gone about how it was served, but it was lovely.

The after-dinner drink was a travel around Scotland whiskey jellies very nice although the Jim Beam as expected was sweet. My favourite was Highland Park everyone else liked Oban an Glenlivet.

Bedtime was a desert which came on a floating cushion amazing.  A lovely milk meringue. Served with malt and orange blossom tonku and a crystallised white chocolate with pistachio

I finished with a white tea

And last but not least with the money from our money boxes we were allowed to buy some sweet from the sweet shop, a mechanical shop which worked when the money was put in it. The money caused the drawers in the shop to shoot in and out until it stopped at our sweets we got a few different varieties, caramel in edible wrapper, queen of hearts card which was a jam tart in chocolate and oxchoc - layers of nougat, shortbread and caramel a chocolate beef reduction, the sweets we took home being too full to eat any more.

All in all, an amazing fabulous meal. Something for every sense taste, smell, hearing and touch as you would expect from Heston.

Would I do it again probably not. Am I glad I did emphatically it was a marvellous experience not to be missed

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