The Fat Duck (***) – Bray, UK

by buttapopcorn

3 Comments

  1. vagrantwastrel

    I love that they made a card game! That’s adorable and would have my nerdy heart very happy. It’s always nice when a fine dining restaurant gives you something to occupy yourself in between courses, like going on a field trip at Blue Hill Stone Barns, reading cards at Atomix, etc. but that’s a whole new level

  2. buttapopcorn

    I visited a number of restaurants during my recent trip to London. First up was the Fat Duck. Initially, I was planning to go to Clove Club. When a table opened up at the Fat Duck, it was no brainer for me. This has been on my bucket list for quite some time, and I was excited to finally be able to visit this legendary restaurant. The menu was the “Sensorium” experience.

    1. Nitroaperetif: A classic at the Fat Duck. Table side serving of liquid nitrogen cocktail.
    2. Aerated Beetroot: Beetroot, horseradish cream.
    3. Yellow Punch: Yellow pepper juice and butternut squash. Fennel and Ginger Ice-cream. True to its name, this dish packs a punch.
    4. Sake: Sake, crab royale, cuttlefish and salami cream. A risotto cooked in sake and parmesan with bites of crab and squid. One of our favorites of the night.
    5. Wine tasting break: we were then invited upstair to the wine cellar for some sensory experience. I don’t want to ruin too much of the surprise here.
    6. Sound of the Sea: Another classic that never left the menu. Halibut and Hamachi Sashimi, grilled octopus, seaweeds and greens. We were told to put on the headphone to really listen to the sound of the sea. Definitely a bit extra but it is the Fat Duck after all. The dish was definitely delicious.
    7. Bread and Butter: can’t complain about delicious bread
    8. Walk in the Woods: the next course came in two sequences. The first was the “forest floor” beet and blackberry, truffle, oakmoss. Second sequence was the venison broth, which we were told to pick out the tree “sap” and put in the tea pot to make the broth.
    9. Grass Fed Beef: Meadow grass, Hay Silage and Grains, Aged Beef.
    10. Cheese and Grapes: we were told many times that not everything is what it seems, and this was a perfect example. The Cheese was actually ice-cream with crumbled biscuit. This was absolutely delicious.
    11. Sake (2): The sake dish came back. The waiter dropped the dish without saying much. At first, we thought it was a mistake. However, we were reassured that this was indeed our next course. What looked like risotto was actually white chocolate cream and sake lease. The sake sequence was my favorite of the night.
    12. Alphonso Mango: Lychee, beetroot, green pepper. Frankly, this went over my head a bit. I was expecting a very mango forward dish. Not sure the green pepper worked.

    Service was great, as you would expect from a three-star place. Our “story teller” engaged with us throughout the evening, asking questions and telling the history behind each dish. Everything was more or less delicious, with some more so than others. Was everything a bit much with the theatric? Yes. Did I mind? No, not at all. It was what I expected and more from an experience at the Fat Duck. It’s one of those places anyone should try at least once.

  3. iAnonymous281

    Awesome! If you’ve been to other well known spots, where would you rank this?

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