I’ve lived in London all my life and eaten in a vast amount of restaurants, but in the last couple of years one has been picking at my intrigue for a while and I finally took the time to visit – Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental hotel. Dinner by Heston currently holds a whopping two prestigious Michelin stars and has been voted No.5 in The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants list.
The restaurant is headed up by the talented Ashley Palmer-Watts, who is the former head chef of Heston’s other restaurant, The Fat Duck. Interestingly enough if you search for Ashley’s name on Google the first result coming up is people enquiring to his salary – weirdly. The idea and ethos behind the menu here is about recreating British culinary history. Recipes (according to the website) date back as far as the 1300’s but have been given a thoroughly modern makeover. It’s a very interesting concept which I can see the idea behind, but when we dined here dishes felt too familiar already – either that or everyone else is copying them?
I came to this restaurant with completely no idea of what to expect. I’d ignored reviews and shied away from photos as I didn’t want anyone elses experience to get in the way of mine, but from the moment we arrived everything seemed a little relaxed and a bit clumsy. With two Michelin stars and commanding high prices such as here – they need to create an experience. The bar for example, where you enter lacked atmosphere and felt as cold as an airport waiting lounge with garish hotel lobby tables and a bleak 90’s styled bar. When time to dine arrived we also had to prompt someone we were still here. The dining room did have some nice features such as the centre kitchen area with chefs cooking away and some sublime views over Hyde Park, the rest of the room however was nothing spectacular. We chose to eat from the set-menu, something I’m told was a mistake (NOT by staff of course). A starter of hay smoked salmon c.1730 with smoked beetroot, pickled lemon salad, parsley and sorrel was a perfectly lovely dish to start, although perhaps a little small in portion size (I should reveal I’m actually quite small). Hay smoked salmon seems to be the in trend across London right now – maybe Dinner by Heston Blumenthal kicked it off, who knows? Either way it felt too familiar and I was expecting to come here and eat more of history.
A ragu of pigs ear on toast with anchovy, onions and parsley was finally something which got me excited – it sounded unusual. Not unusual in its flavours, but more its textures, the mixture of them and cooking techniques. Pigs ears were I’m sure cooked slowly as they had a very soft, glutinous jelly like texture which melted in the mouth upon entry (that sounds wrong). The flavours were very rich, deep and concentrated and seasoning could not be faulted, the balance was simply perfect. However – the bread was a little soggy. Intentional or not – I didn’t enjoy it this way. The temperature of the food was tepid at best, something no food should be. Hot or cold – no excuses.
Now you may think I’m going in to too much detail or you love this restaurant more than I do – so hate me already but this was my experience from my personal meal and no one else’s. We moved on to the mains and dishes such as this roast quail c.1590 was yet another tasty dish which failed to get us excited. Again the temperature was lukewarm (I hate that word) at best and the portion size was abysmally small – they could have at least told me I’d be needing a side.
The most accomplished and definitely the best dish we ate here at Dinner was this c.1954 roast pollock with a buttery parsnip puree. Again it was by no means breaking any boundaries or providing a different dish experience which I’d struggle to find elsewhere but I will say this – the cooking of the pristine white fleshed fish, the seasoning and the puree were faultless. I think my main concern was simply expecting too much. With two Michelin stars behind its name – I thought there’d have been more originality to the dishes here. Were these rather ordinary dishes because I ate from the set-menu? Personally it shouldn’t be the reason and one restaurant can not rely simply on its two signature dishes – meat fruit and tipsy cake – both of which I did not try.
A silky smooth chocolate pre-dessert later our second best dish of our meal ended up being this millionaire shortbread c.1730 – finished off with crystalized chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Stunning ice cream too. The dish had just about everything going for it from its picture perfect presentation, right through to its rich and glossy well-tempered chocolate, all the way thorough to its crumbly biscuit base. This is how you do dessert and make every bite a joy to the palate. The tamarind prune tart was also a faultless beauty in terms of its cooking but for me the prune element too discreet – I really wanted to taste it.
It was almost time to finish up here, but not without sampling the theatrics of liquid nitrogen instant made ice cream right before your eyes. Again a little eye watering with its pricing you can’t forget the time and effort which goes into creating this small experience, which actually still sticks in your mind days after. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal was certainly an experience I’m glad I had, but for now I’ve not been left with any longing to return anytime soon. If Dinner by Heston Blumenthal want to serve a set-menu that’s fine – but if you’ve got two Michelin stars and ranked the 5th best restaurant in the world then perhaps a sub standard menu like this one, shouldn’t be served.
7/10
Very interesting review, I feel like this has become the pervasive attitude to the restaurant in London, I suspect much of their clientele comes from abroad or dines more to be seen and say they went than for enjoyment of the food. More so I doubt they have much repeat custom which probably doesn’t matter to them. It’s a shame though as this is meant to represent the best of the best in London. I think perhaps Heston has just worked out the formula to get stars and employed that here without really challenging himself or his team. Also it shows you just need to follow your own nose and trust what you love and to disregard some of the worlds best and michelin hype that surrounds so many poor restaurants. Though of course there are some amazing ones too on those lists!
I wish I had read this review and comment before booking the restaurant for early November. I was expecting for a quality dinner but it was not to be. Starters for our group of 4 were all ok but the quantity of food on the plate was ridiculous – we did not expect to have big portions but this was just a joke. I wish someone would tell me what is so special about the meat fruit – rather standard chicken liver pate made look as a mandarin with plastic (!) stem and leaves. Main courses were slightly better – but nowhere near the 2 Michelin star standard in France or Spain. You leave this restaurant hungry and maybe that is why they keep on filling the bread basket in the table. Also, we had specified beforehand that one of our party was on a low carbohydrate diet – the waiter proudly brought him gluten-free bread…Yes, this still apparently is a Michelin star restaurant. Service was quite slow and we were completely forgotten towards the end of the meal. We were thinking of having a drink at the bar after the meal but changed our minds very quickly when we walked through it – I will just say that I should have perhaps known better; the hotel clients are wealthy international businessmen..
As far as the restaurant is concerned I have to agree with Tom – if this is one of the best London has to offer, it is time for us to stop trusting the “official” ratings. Very disappointing.