flavour hound: August 2012

Having a slight obsession with Heston.... I was very excited when three months out from my recent trip to the UK my friend Steph secured us a booking at The Fat Duck (thanks to Steph whose telephone manner excelled itself - that was no mean feat!)

The Fat duck itself was in an understated old cottage with exposed beams and low ceilings and a tiny front door..built for shorties

Words can not really express what a wonderful afternoon we had in Bray.. close to five hours of eating and drinking.......

We thought we would get started with a virgin mary at the pub next door....the drink was passionately created with freshly grated horseradish and its own secret spice mix that apparently Heston's Chefs would love to get their hands on

I really have tried to keep this brief ...as I don't think anything I write can truly capture the gastronomic brilliance that was rolled out that afternoon... It truly enlightened all of our five senses...and more. So let's get straight into it.

First up a glass of champers and a canape of dried beetroot and goats cheese filling.

These tiny morsels were a wee burst of concentrated flavours...amazing my eyes already began to pop open and this was only a taster of what was to come

Next up we had a tour of the kitchen, which was surprisingly small, there were 12 chefs on this shift and about 30 people dining. We got to meet the head chef and ask him any questions...admittedly I got a bit star stuck and ended up talking about The Hawkes Bay rather than the nitty gritty of kitchen gadgets surrounding us!

The chefs in the kitchen, apparently Heston is still hands on and oversees all of the menus (ironically he was in Australia for our visit)

We get briefed on the menu (we had the tasting menu and wine match) then it is all systems go...we start the meal with a nitro poached aperitif....

This was where the fun started, There was a selection of vodka green tea, campari and blood orange, or a gin and tonic..We chose one of each (it looked to be just an egg white mixed in with the drink, poached in the nitrogen and dusted with blood orange or green tea extract...simple ha!)

Of course I did not listen to the waiters instructions which was to consume in one go I took a bit and the rest of it melted on my plate. It was still delish...for those of you have tried the mojito bubble this is no comparison! Sublime.

Next came the red cabbage gazpacho, with a pommery grain mustard ice cream ...so smooth and uniquely flavoursome

The attention to detail of each dish inclusive of the plate choice, cutlery shape and size really make each course extremely special, so much thought has gone into the presentation and each course really is its own work of art.

Out taste buds were well and truly awakened and ready for the next course.....

We weren't prepared for what came next.....The oak moss was grown in a customised box. It arrived on our table with three little films....

Fat Duck Film...yes you are not mistaken it is like the listerine strip but infused with the essence of oak to prepare your taste buds...genius (I will be trying to re-create at home)

An atomiser was sprayed awakening our senses with a forest like aroma and was quickly followed up with a teapot pouring liquid on the moss and then a foggy mist flowed gracefully across the table...Wow....

Our eyes then focused on the jelly of quail, crayfish, chicken liver parfait, oak moss and truffle toast.

I was a bit stunned and was well and truly transported to the forest floor under the oak tree where truffles are harvested...I think even the unimaginative would have been taken to another place

This course came with instructions....make sure you eat all four layers at once. This time I obeyed the instructions and consumed all three layers of the jelly/parfait at the same time....in between taking mouthfuls of the delicate truffle toast....small bits of caviar were lined are up across the toast with three delicate slices of mini radish placed along the top of the toast....unbelievable...the whole dish was a umami taste explosion!

This was a hard act to follow....next the famous snail porridge, which was a bright green porridge with Iberico ballota ham, shaved fennel and very very slow cooked snails.....

Mmmmmm snails

Roasted foie gras, barberry, braised konbu and crab biscuit

An hour and a half in and we hand not even go half way down the first page of the menu....time for the mad hatter's tea party (c.1850) mock turtle soup, a pocket watch and a toast sandwich.

The pocket watch is a consomme wrapped in an embossed gold leaf. It takes the chefs ten days to make this part of the dish

Like the rest of the dishes the soup was perfectly seasoned and all the individual components were so delicately balanced.

The consomme ever so delicately dissolves in the water to make a tea which you pour over the soup ingredients which consisted of a reformed egg

Perhaps one of Heston's most famous dishes the sound of the sea was up next. A shell arrived with headphones and then a dish that really did taste like the sea...abalone, seaweed, shitake tapioca and a foam broth...

In my greed I unfortunately had a big mouthful of foam with out anything else...which gave me a shock almost like I had been dunked by a wave!

This course was matched with daiginjo masumi nanago sake from the Miyasaka Brewery in Japan. This was crisp, dry and of a perfect temperature to truly bring out the flavours of the dish...perhaps my favourite beverage so far.

End of page one of the menu.... Just when you thought it was time for dessert... the duck arrived.

Powder duck was a slice of rare duck, blood pudding pureed so smooth it was mayonnaise like in texture, umbels and apache potato purée.

Last but not least on the savoury menu we had the salmon poached in a liquorice gel, with asparagus, vanilla mayo and golden trout roe.

Again this was amazing, small giggle to self, I thought the trout row was blood orange pearls...lucky we got a menu to take away

So we are about three hours in by now..I was full but not so uncomfortably full that I couldn't fit in dessert!

Before dessert we had a small break for the hot and cold tea....this really is indescribable its a teas that is hot and cold at the same time....mind blowing.

At last dessert....macerated strawberries, with an olive oil biscuit, chamomile and coriander jelly with an ice cream cornet.

Coriander jelly and ice cream cornet, so petite and equally as cute (lets face it everyone loves something that is mini!)

I really am finding it hard to pick a favourite dish, but this dish was just gorgeous, it was designed to be a picnic. With a silky white chocolate table cloth so thoughtfully draped though across the dish...of course it was beautiful as well, the dessert wine was a Sicilian passion di pantelleria.....has just taken over the sake as my favourite tipple so far....although at this stage all three of us were double parked!

Plated up were macerated strawberries, with an olive oil biscuit, chamomile

It's time for the "BFG" Black Forest Gateau.... Pictures again can only describe this one which is paradise for a chocolate lover.

Before...not quite sure I can fit it in....

During....managed to find room....lets just say there was no need to show the after shot...there was nothing left on the plate

Next up was a global tour of whiskey wine gums... Amazingly enough the wine gum gels had magnificent flavour release you could taste the smoky notes from the Scottish whisky and the peaty notes from the Irish....loved how they even had Jack Daniels on the tasting menu...

My gums started to melt before I got my chops around them...on a nerdy note it's a food technologist dream, to get such good flavour release from a gel

To finish the afternoon we were taken back to the theme of the meal "like a kid in a sweet shop"

I couldn't help myself but started tasting the selecting in the cute pink stripy bag before went left the restaurant...we all wished the beautiful Sophie Conran plate was also to take away

The whole meal was genius...a work of art. So much detail, thought, style, craftsmanship and love has gone into making all the dishes, you can tell by the atmosphere of the restaurant that the staff love their jobs and receive great pleasure by seeing the delight on diners faces. The restaurant staff were gorgeous, not pretentious just genuinely wanting to make sure we had an unforgettable afternoon.

Thanks to Steph and Johnny for making the afternoon so special...next time you are back in Melbourne...I may just try to recreate our own Heston inspired feast...well at least have one course involving liquid nitrogen!