The Fat Duck (very long)

As promised, here's a report on our meal at the Fat Duck tonight. Sadly Jacquie (my OH) still had a migraine, so our party was reduced to three. That's better than two parties, who having booked there simply failed to turn up at all. (I'm delighted to say that they still had to pay a considerable proportion of what they'd have paid for the meal).

We were welcomed very warmly by the young maître d'hôte, and seated in the small dining room (about 45 covers maximum). As we'd had a sherry beforehand we refused aperitifs, so passed directly on to choosing which menu. Both menus, the chef's tasting menu and the table d'Hôte, were at the same price of £97 and so, as all at the table had to have the same, we chose the former. My brother & I both decided to have the chefs suggested wines and my sister in law, who was driving us home limited herself to one glass of wine, and wasn't disappointed with the Kiralyudvar Tokaji Furmint 2002 that I picked out for her. We started with four amuse bouche courses.

Nitro-green tea and lime mousse. This consisted of an egg white mousse, infused with green tea and lime, together with some vodka, all shaken up in a whipped cream bomb, and piped into a meringue shape which was quick frozen at the table in liquid nitrogen. Fascinating texture crunchy crisp at the outside and soft inside, with a green tea attack, finishing with the lime. Lovely, and not badly matched by the Barbadillo manzanilla sherry "En Rama" (unfiltered), though the wine was so bone dry that the slight sweetness of the mousse was accentuated. The sherry itself was lovely, bone dry but full of flavour and character. We were then served a surprise. Two little jelly squares, one orange the other red, described as orange and beetroot, with strict instructions to try the orange one first. I couldn't get any flavour of orange on it hesitating between mango and shellfish! The red one was hugely powerful, and I quickly got it as a blood orange jelly. It turned out that the orange jelly was made from golden beetroot. That slightly teasy element often appeared through the menu. Heston Blumenthal doesn't take himself or his guests too seriously though his food is itself extremely serious.

After this little excursion, we returned to the amuse bouches proper, with oyster, passion fruit jelly and horseradish cream and lavender, The oyster was a "Native" from Colchester. I loved it, finding it meaty and delicious, Tony & Gay were unenthusiastic, but then, they don't much like oyster. The combination with the jelly was very interesting, more successful than other sweet ingredients with oysters I've had. The horseradish cream was delicate and delightful and accompanied the oyster well. The match with the sherry was OK, but no better IMO.

Then came a Pommery grain mustard ice cream served surrounded by a lake (all of 8 cms across) of red cabbage gazpacho. The Gazpacho was a delight (bread went into it somewhere) served with the mustard ice cream in a little spoon moulded dollop in the middle. The ice cream has practically no sweetness, and the flavour of the mustard sort of crept up on you. We all thought the gazpacho was a triumph. Wine match was poor.

The last of the amuse bouches was the most way out. Jelly of quail, on a bed of pea puree, with some langoustine cream on top, and on top of that a "parfait of foie gras". Being good boys and girls, when the waiter told us to take single mouthfuls containing all four elements, we did! the effect was simply magic, with each contributing to make a harmonious whole. Simply delightful. That said, I can't say I noticed the presence of the langoustine in the cream. Gay doesn't agree!

Now came the first course of the meal itself. Blumenthal's famous Snail Porridge. Served with 2002 Savennieres Vieux Clos - Joly. A splendid wine from a difficult year, where the challenge was to get enough balancing acidity. Thanks to his espousal of biodynamics and to ruthless yield reduction down to only 15Hl/Ha, he succeeded admirably. A lovely bone dry wine with the honeyed finish typical of a Savennieres, The name of Snail Porridge is designed to tease and challenge, and in fact I don't think there was anything TOO way out about the dish. Closer to a risotto in texture than a porridge, the grain was heavily flavoured with a puree of parsley, and the snails (petit gris, sourced locally) simmered for 4-5 hours till tender and arranged on top, with some finely grated slivers of Joselito ham mixed into the risotto, and the whole topped with shaved fennel. The dish was delicious, with all elements marrying harmoniously. The wine went wonderfully well with it. As a counsel of perfection, I'd have preferred it if the snails were a little more positive in flavour though they went very well with the other ingredients. The ham, on the other hand was pretty well eclipsed. I don't think I was able to detect its presence, but perhaps the dish might well have been lessened without it.

During the introduction to the meal, the Maître D had explained that if any of us had a marked aversion to any of the dishes, we should say so and that they would be flexible in their response, although they would only serve the Tasting Menu to the whole table, As Gay hates snails she was given a choice of the carte, and chose a dish of seared scallop with a roasted cauliflower puree and oloroso jelly. Magnificent. One of the best scallop dishes any of us have ever tasted.

Next came another of Heston Blumenthal's "signature dishes". Roast Foie Gras with almond fluid gel, cherry and camomile. A little rectangular block of fresh foie gras about 3 cms by 3cms in cross section and about 5-6 cms in length, served with two lines of a cherry sauce, a swirl of an almondy mousse, and tiny cubes of amaretto jelly, This was served with the same wine as Gay had, Tokaji Furmint

It's hard to say if all the components were essential to show up the quality of the foie gras, or whether this would have shown better on its own or what. The foie gras was barely warm - it had been poached at 55C in advance, and then seared on all sides for a few seconds before being dished. No criticism of the presentation, foie gras like that is delightful. Tony and I, on the other hand, both agreed that we had eaten better duck liver, though we were assured by the Maître D that it was the very finest, sourced from the Gers in south west France. While accepting without hesitation that it was what he said it was, I remain unenthused about the foie gras itself. The dish, taken as a whole was fascinating, and very successful, but not necessarily better than the escalopes of fg I've had in other places - or cooked for myself, for that matter.

Next came Heston Blumenthal's experiment in Umami. "Sardine on toast Sorbet". Ballotine of mackerel 'invertebrate' marinated daikon. The mackerel was boned, and reconstituted before being sliced across into a 1/4" slice across the body. The sardine was served as a little olive shaped ice cream (not really a sorbet, IMO) and the dish was accompanied by a Sake, Tainetsu, Taksago, Junmai Ginjo. Immensely savoury, I was expecting to dislike this dish, not being a great fan of raw fishes, but in fact, I liked it very much indeed. I can't say I picked up on the 'toast' but the rest was spot on. A lovely dish, which was again perfectly complemented and brought into focus by the sake.

Next came the fish course. This was "Salmon poached with Liquorice". Simple name for a complex dish! The salmon was beautiful, very lightly cooked, but subtle and delicate. It was served enrobed by a very heavily set liquorice jelly, that was just a little sweet from the liquorice, and some liquorice root grated over it. The large plate was "seeded" with little pips of pink grapefruit and dots of proper balsamic vinegar and had two grilled asparagus spears as garnish. I quite liked the jelly, though Gay didn't at all. What was interesting was that fishiness of the salmon was very much in the background, with the dominant flavour being the "salmoniness", though again that wasn't as big as most salmon I've eaten - very muted.. Again, a delightful dish, perfectly complemented by the wine. I have to eat my words. I had a big red wine, with relatively low acidity that went wonderfully well with the fish. 2001 La Grola IGT from the Veneto, made by Allegrini. The dominant grape was Vermentino, (I think, though I have just been met with blank stares when I asked for confirmation). Anyway this was a lovely full comforting wine, that almost tasted as if it had some sweetness, virtually without tannins, it was a delight and a discovery for me.

Next came "Poached breast of Anjou Pigeon pancetta" Served with a "pastilla of its leg, cocoa and quatre épices". Served with Domaine Duclaux Côte Rôtie 2002. The wine was lovely, much more forward than I'd expect of a 3 year old Côte Rôtie, though Tony & I agreed that it would have been showing better in 3 or 4 years' time, Prunes, cherries and truffles on the mouth and nose. Very long. The pigeon was lovely and the marriage excellent, The breast was very pink, tender and tasty, with the legs very tender being cooked a long time under fat, and wrapped in a crispy triangle of filo type pastry. The dish was garnished with what looked like little caramelised pistachios coated in quatres épices but which were in fact a mixture of them and bits of cocoa beans. Lovely & subtle.

After this came a little interlude. First we had Mrs Marshall's Margaret Cornet. Mrs Marshall was a pioneer in ice cream making in Victorian times, and the ice cream was an apple ice cream with ginger, served in a little cornet. Delicious, Then followed "Pine sherbet fountain". This was exactly that, a sherbet, with a tube of what seemed to be hollow vanilla pod, served in a little cardboard tube, just like the sherbet fountains of our youth, What set it apart was the quite pronounced pine flavour, as you get in retsina but not as rough as in that. The waiter explained that this was to prepare our palates for the next course, which followed.

Mango and Douglas Fir Puree, with a bavarois of lychee and mango, blackcurrant sorbet. Served with a 1989 Scharzhofberger Beerenauslese from von Kasselstadt. The wine was magnificent, with just the acidity that a wine from the Saar should have in a great year. Again, I had to abandon another couple of my preconceptions, which are that one shouldn't accompany an ice with wine, and that top german wines are best served on their own!! Two shibboleths in one course isn't bad! The dish was oddly named, in that there were two tiny blobs of mango and douglas fir, with a decent sized portion of a two layer bavarois, and a fair sized olive of a magnificent blackcurrant sorbet. However unlike some previous attempts I've tasted which failed to marry up tropical fruits, this one succeeded admirably, The match with the wine was superb, the dish was a wonderful pallet of tropical fruits with the douglas fir element showing nicely in it.

We then moved to a tiny between course nonsense, which consisted of a little square jelly of beetroot, very concentrated and sweet but with good balancing acidity, and "Carrot and orange tuile", served like a lolly on a stick!! there wasn't much of it, and it was hard to see what it had to say either about carrots or anything else. It wasn't unpleasant, perfectly nice in fact, but one failed to see what role it was supposed to play.

Another added fantasy appeared, that wasn't on the menu. Playing on the idea of the following course, which was that of "breakfast bacon and eggs", they served us the Fat Duck's cereal. This was served out of little cardboard "cereal boxes", and consisted of wafer thin flakes of crispy dried parsnip, to which we added "parsnip milk" (milk infused with parsnip). A delightful nonsense.

We then moved on to another of Heston Blumenthal's signature pieces, "Smoked bacon and egg ice cream with pain perdu and tea jelly", but in addition they had added a little olive shaped salt butter caramel, to make a trio on the plate. The ice cream tasted of smoked bacon and egg, and worked remarkably well. The pain perdu was a delight, with the brioche being soaked in custard, before being cut into rectangles fried on all sides and then dipped into powdered caramel. Gorgeous. The salt butter caramel was very good, sticky and concentrated. This was served with what was described as a 2002 Vin Santo Sigalas from Santorini, though the Italian waitress said it shouldn't really have been called vin Santo! The grapes were air dried in the sun (rather like a recioto, but out in the open) before being vinified. Little or no hint of volatile acidity which one often gets in such wines, and a great mouthful of nectar with a hint of caramel/toffee. Nearly mega yummy. Excellent match again. The green tea jelly was lovely and was sharpened with something, which I thought was lemon, but to tease, the waiter didn't tell us! Might have been lime.

Finally, (yes all good things have to come to an end) we had the "hot and cold tea with violet tartlets. This was just that, A glass of very cold earl gray tea jelly cut in half from top to bottom and the other half heated and poured back in! It was carefully aligned in front of us so that in drinking it, we simultaneously had both hot and cold tea in our mouths at the same time. Amusing. The tartlets were filled with what seemed like the same caramel as we'd had in the previous course.

Whew. We enjoyed the meal enormously, but this would never please someone who doesn't enjoy thinking about their food and having their conceptions challenged.

One of the most notable features of the restaurant was the excellence of the staff. The service was wonderful, with attentive well trained staff. The Maître D told us that every Sunday, they have to arrive an hour early for tasting and training. We counted at least 6 different nationalities. All they had in common was an amazing level of knowledge about both the food and the wines, a genuine desire to please & to welcome, and a slightly mischievous pleasure in teasing us with the novelty of the dishes and the combinations. We had a great time, and would be happy to go there again - though possibly to try the A la Carte menu this time to see what they could do with more "mainstream" preparation and presentation. It is worth pointing out that everyone in the place was taking the chef's tasting menu, however. Clientele was mixed with very few people who were obviously there to be seen at the "in" place.

All the best Ian (who'll probably be out of touch until Saturday)