After a short break, back to writing some reviews :) I hope you find them interesting.
After a short break, back to writing some reviews :) I hope you find them interesting.
Member since:01.05.2003
Reviews:47
Members who trust:11
The Fat Duck, Bray, Berkshire ======================== One of only a handful of 3* Michelin restaurantsin the UK, Bray is blessed by having two such illustrious establishments. The Fat Duck is owned by chef Heston Bumenthal, a creative, and some might say, inspired genius who has built up the reputation of the Fat Duck since 1995, having bought it as a 450 year old pub.
I decided to organise a once in a very-long-while treat for my wife and I in 2006 to celebrate, Birthday, Valentine's day and a love of good food and wine.
The trip was to be a competition (or at least a comparison) - The Fat Duck versus The Waterside Inn (the other 3* Michelin establishment in Bray). You can see my other review of the WatersideInn for the comparison.
Booking ------------ All I can say with this is good luck. I called over Christmas to find the record message that they were closed until January when they would be taking bookings for the next two months.
First lesson - they pupport to book only two months in advance. Naturally, for such a popular destination, this results in a massive rush to call on day 1 of the booking period.
I failed miserably to get through all day 1 - permanently engaged. The speed dial button was worn out at work. Day 2, after much trying I finally manage to get through to the booking line at around 4:30pm where I have to wait a further 20 minutes before being connected to a very nice lady.
Second lesson - 'Saturday dinner books up first, as do Fridays' ….. I can, however, go onto the waiting list. The tone suggests I have more change of winning the Euro Millions lottery than getting a table at this point.
I retire to consider my options.
Some weeks later, after several heavy blows to the head, I have a brainwave. Plan B - Lunch! I call back, initially to check whether Saturday dinner was still unavailable. Sadly no fatalities have freed up a table (which did engender some laughter from the nice lady), so to Plan B: "any chance that you have a table for 2 on Saturday next for lunch?" . Yes - they have a table for 2 for lunch at 12:30pm . This is a mere 5 days before the date in question. I book and am required to hand over my credit card details. Failure to cancel within 24 hours of the booking incurs an £80 per person charge (so I am politely told). My turn to laugh at this point.
Finding The Fat Duck ----------------------------- Close to Maidenhead, and close to the M4 motorway, Bray is easy to find providing you spot the sign post on the main (A308) road. The restaurant is on the right as you pass through the pinch point in the road. You cannot miss it. A pleasant shade of green to match the corporate livery with an old sign hanger displaying a pristine modern Fat Duck logo.
Parking ----------- Almost as difficult to find as as reservation. The Fat Duck has no parking whatsoever. You might try across the road in the Hinds Head hotel (also owned by Heston Blumenthal) but there is no indication that they will regard this well. Alternative parking is at the village (free) car park, just before the pinch point in the road, coming into Bray. Better to stay locally and walk - that way you can enjoy the wines and linger more fully.
Dress Code ------------------ Finally - a top restaurant that cares not what you wear. No dress code !!! I decided to sport a pair of jeans, shoe like trainers and an open collared shirt to test this out. No one batted an eyelid. I suspect that they might protest if you turned up shirtless.
A nice touch - no suit or tie to distract you from the experience.
Ambience ----------------- Entering The Fat Duck starts well, you open the nice modern front door to be greeted by a
funky glass screen to your left and front, shielding the diners from the chill and prying eyes. To the left there is a rack of assorted, giant test tubes - to take your umbrella. Neat idea. A vertical beam to the right forms the post to the screen. You turn right to be greeted by a waiter who takes your coats and escorts you to your table.
This is where the impressions change - you are greeted by a stripped out pub room, white washed on all but the beams, with a knocked through section at the back (supported by large, white washed concrete beams). On the walls are some long, and narrow funky modern art pictures to add a bit of colour.
The tables are carefully placed utilising every bit of space (there is not much of it). White linen covers the tables to the ground with a cream coloured undercloth that hangs to the floor. Narrow serving trolleys and stations are made from a hardwood are dotted around. Access to the tables is easy and not too restricted. In the far left corner are the stairs to the toilets, next to the display of some liquers and wines.
What struck me was just how few tables are in the restaurant - by my reckoning only 15-16, carrying sizes from 2 to 6 people. It is certainly 'intimate' in overall size, but the tables are arranged in fairly close proximity so conversations do carry.
Lighting is by small concealed lights in the ceiling and a few floor standing lamps. Generally this adds a white cast to the white wash walls and white table cloths. Perhaps a little austere for a dinner establishment, but okay for lunch.
We were ushered to our table under the stairs. As a big man I was able to bend over and manoever myself into the chair under the stair base. Not too close but definitely utilising space 'efficiently'.
The overall effect is one of simple, clean and uncluttered. Luxury is not the word that springs to mind.
Seating ----------- Tables vary in shape - ours was a nicely sized square that left plenty of room for plates and drinks.
Seats are a beige leather type and moderately padded. I certainly did not feel uncomfortable during the meal (lasting 2.5 hours).
The tables have a simple flower arrangement in a glass vase (quite elegent), a small wooden block (what for? I wondered), glassware and your napkins.
The Maitre'D brings you your menus and leaves you for a short while to choose. He enquires whether you have any specific allergies (a first in my experience) and also, more curiously, if you like spicy food. We assumed this allows a tailoring of your menu a little.
In the meanwhile, a carefully prepared champagne trolley hoves into view and you are offered an aperitif. There is a heavy push on having a champagne glass to start. Every table receives it's visit and the huge, single Tattinger cooler holds 4 bottles of fine Tattinger champagne. There are no prices, and unless you have guessed and clued up or brave enough to ask, you are into a serious bill already. In my view, this is pushy and intimidating for the uninitiated. They could and should ask you before sending over the trolley.
As a refined lady of good taste, my wide naturally chose the finest vintage pink champagne - Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Brut Rosé 1996 (125ml) - at £28 a glass before service charge (that's £31.50 in total!). That gulp you just had is not the only one of the night.
The Menus ----------------- The menus are a curious, heavy bound leather contraption. You can open them, fan fold, either left or right handed. After a few minutes of circling the menu (literally as the thing folds over and over like one of those annoying puzzles), you realise there are 2 choices of menu: - A-la carte at £80 per head (not priced individually as most menus of this type) - Tasting at £97.75 per head. Each will have a discretionary service charge of 12.5% applied too (that works out to £90 and £110 respectively) .
There is no longer a lunch menu so you have the same choice that you would have for dinner (and same prices).
In my humble opinion, this limits your choice quite considerable. You will not always want a full dinner menu for lunch, and you might certainly expect a reduced price and simpler menu for lunch. The lunch menu was discarded sometime from 2004-05 for no obvious reason.
The wine menu that accompanies the meal menus is enormous; not because of the quantities of wine, but due to the heavy leather binding, thick parchment pages and single sided printing. In total, this is 2 inches thick, and weighs a good 3-4 kilos. It is not only uncomfortable to hold but also unwieldy to open as the page bindings do not open fully flat.
The Maitre'D returns and asks if we have chosen. In line with any other restaurant we have selected the start and main course. First mistake - we are politely asked to review the dessert menu as they take some time to prepare also. It would have been nice if this had been mentioned when delivering the menus in the first place!
Freshly baked bread is offered together with a choice of salted or un-salted unpasturised butter. This is placed on the mystery wooden block that resided on the table from the start.
Food selection made, I order the wines for the meal. Let the feast begin!
The Meal ======== A couple of 'amuse bouche' were wheeled out to get us started:
The first was a spicy chilled ice cream (pommery grain mustard ice cream) with red sauce (red cabbage gazpacho). The sauce is very rich, spicy and bright pink. Very strong and tastes powerful (a 7/10 rating for taste, but 10/10 for visual effect).
The second, a chilled lemon curd like jelly (passion fruit jelly) and oyster (with horseradish cream and lavender) on a granite rock platter is unexpectedly nice. Neither of us is a fan of shell fish normally (7/10 marks).
Starters ------------ I order the crab biscuit with roast foie gras, crystallised seaweed, rhubarb and oyster vinaigrette. This was a medium sized portion of very smooth and creamy fois gras. The crab biscuit was completely overpowered by the fois gras in both quantity and flavours. At best I had one mouthful where the combinations were apparent. The seaweed, and other accompaniments added well to make the somewhat sweet meat starter, a tasty appetiser. (7/10 marks).
My wife chose the cauliflower risotto - carpaccio of cauliflower, chocolate jelly. A superb starter, perfectly cooked which balanced the flavours well. There was a nice accompaniment of dried sliced cauliflower which were incredibly delicate. A big thumbs up here. (9/10 marks).
We selected a glass each of white wine to accompany our starters - a 2004 Sauvignon Blanc, Gravitas from Marlborough, New Zealand (£8.50 per glass for 175ml). Nicely different from the usual sauvignon crowd that complimented our food extremely well.
Entertainment --------------------- During our starters, the neighbouring table provided some entertainment as a skilled waiter 'cooked' their nitro-green tea and lime mousse in a bowl of liquid nitrogen.
In case you missed chemistry lessons, this is a super cooled liquid form of the gas that forms 80% of the air we breathe. In this form it is -196 degrees celcius (that's -320 farenhight!). This is the temperature at which Nitrogen 'boils' and becomes gaseous.
Dangerous? Yep. It can cause freeze burns, splatter (possibly in eyes) and create flying frozen objects if frozen items smashed. It is remarkable that no accidents have happened and Health and Safety allow this sort of table side demonstration! If you trawl the internet you will find two main types of article on this: - educational establishment policies on safe handling, storage and use - student 'fun uses' web sites on what clever and dangerous things you can get up to with it
The best bit is watching the fearful face of the guest first asked to 'just pop it whole in your mouth' having just been told what temperature liquid nitrogen exists at. We laughed.
To come up with this as a cooking idea is not new - students have been 'cooking marshmallows' in liquid nitrogen for decades. To put it into a restaurant is either 'inspired marketing' or 'escaped mad scientist'. I'll let you decide which.
The Main Course ------------------------- I opted for one of my favourites, saddle of venison with celeriac, marron glacé, sauce poivrade. This was served with a civet venison
Pictures of The Fat Duck, Bray
The Fat Duck
with pearl barley and red wine (little pot of of risotto style barley). Overall an excellent cut of meat which was incredibly tender and full of flavour. The 3 accompanying side sauces/vegetables and side civet provide 5-6 unique flavours to accompany the meat. Regrettably, the meat portion was so small that it was impossible to adequately try all these and play with the balance and interaction of the ingredients. I even had to decline my wife's offer of a 'taste swap' on the grounds of lack of meat! This was a real shame as every element was superb. To skimp on venison in such a menu really detracted from my enjoyment of the course. (Overall I gave this 8 out of 10 marks).As a follow-up mini-dish I also received a venison and frankincense tea. Very potent and quite like a beef broth only with much stronger flavour. I enjoyed this in a small quantity but you could not drink it in larger quantities.
My wife went for the pot roast best end of pork with - gratin of truffled macaroni. This was a notable £10 supplement over the regular menu price. Comments and compliments were many but perhaps the choice one is "this is the best piece of pork I have ever had". (10/10 marks). There was even enough to allow me a taster - execellent too in my opinion. Very moist and flavoursome. It melted in your mouth.
To accompany the main course, I selected a bottle from our favourite French wine region , St Emilion - Château Haut-Ségottes, Grand Cru 1998 (750ml). At £59.00 a bottle this was near the bottom end of the list of St Emilion wines but not a bad price by restaurant standards. The staff had opened the bottle earlier but it had not been decanted - a poor decision. The Sommelier should have known that this wine needed decanting and that it was way too cold having come straight from a cellar or storage area. By the end of he main course this was turning out to be an exceptional wine (and had warmed up to room temperature). Ultimately a superb wine but major minus marks for the poor Sommelier service.
The Herd of Elephants -------------------------------- A strange title in the middle of a luncheon review, but relevant nevertheless…… At this stage in the overall progress of a lunch sitting, there tends to be a general exodus to the toilet. Sitting under the stairs (literally) I was treated to a regular and loud 'tromp, tromp, stomp' as the guests made their way upstairs and then down again later. I guess this is a factor of the 'old pub conversion' restaurant but having only been refurbished in the last 2 years, I would have expected better padding and sound insulation in the under-stair voids. It was annoying and noticeable.
Dessert ------------- We had both opted for the Chocolate fondant with cardamom, dried apricot yoghurt and harissa ice cream. It was divided very artistically across the plate into three sections: the first the harissa ice cream accompanied by chillied red peppers. The second the fondant in a nice sponge bowl. Lastly the apricot yoghurt. The first, spicy element just did not work and we both left the majority of this. The fondant was excellent and super smooth whilst the yoghurt was completely overwhelmed by the other flavours. My guess is that you were supposed to work your way across the dish one section at a time. Overall a 7/10 rating mainly due to the spicy elements within the dish. Without this it would have rated a 9/10 for taste.
The Sommelier offered a dessert wine and we each opted for a glass - Languedoc - Muscat de St-Jean Minervois, Dom. Barroubio 2000 (100ml). This was £9.75 a glass for 100ml but was excellent and chilled to perfection.
Coffee ---------- The coffee course was a reasonable £4.75 per head and included 2 pine scented chocolate petits fours, and 2 beetroot tisanes (soft gelly like sweets). The coffee was exceptional as was the chocolates. The tisanes were a curiosity - nice but hardly enhancing the final taste experience. A worth 10/10.
We accompanied the final course with a digestif each - Cointreau and Sambuca over ice - each at a reasonable £4.50 for what appeared to be a double measure.
Service ====== Our service was prompt and efficient at all times. Staff were pleasant and polite. Our only comment really came from the Maitre'D who really needs to liven up his personality: po-faced French is not endearing or welcoming.
The Guests ========== So what sort of crowd was there?
There was a selection of attractive, affluent couples - possible some famous faces but I am not one to remember any of these.
One table contained a business lunch, some of whom hammered away at every plate to extract every last morsel. At one point, the sound of spoon on plate was so loud that the whole restaurant paused for a long second as the oik in question ruined the atmosphere.
We were plagued by the 'loud American' on the adjoining table. Thankfully they were having the tasting menu with many, many courses so there were frequent silences as this was digested.
A late table arrival of 4-5 appeared to be a celebration of sorts which descended into loud conversation, laughter and photo flashes at regular intervals.
Overall, a fairly refined and affluent crowd for the most part smart casually dressed. Noisy at times and not quiet enough for a romantic occaision in my view. Too small to segregate the 'party crowd' from the foodophiles.
The Damage ============= Are you sitting down? - having listed out the costs as the review progresses the totals are even scarier:
Drinks £146.00 Food (including one bottle of was at £4.50) £184.00 Book (see below) £12.99 Service Charge £42.87 Grand (eye-watering) total: £385.86 (for lunch)
Interestingly, the restaurant posted an loss this year of nearly £80,000 which is extraordinary give the difficulty booking and the stratospheric pricing.
The Book ========== Read on (if you will forgive the pun). Sitting on your table when you arrive is a little 'mini-menu' which offers a signed copy of Heston Blumenthal's book for £12.99. Hmmm …..okay, this is list price but you are getting the book signed by the chef. It seemed like a drop in the ocean so why not ……
- once we had returned to our local hotel, we discover that the book is not signed. - a telephone call to restaurant uncovers that Heston is apparently signed off sick by his doctor with back problems. Implication - they knew that there was no-one to sign the book, and did not have any pre-signed copies available. - resisting the temptation to ask how they justify advertising and selling a signed book knowing it is unsigned, I return the next day and leave the copy to be signed and posted on to use at a later (unspecified) date. - I noticed on writing this review that they had the gall to charge the 'optional' service charge of 12.5% on top of the price of the unsigned signed book making it more expensive than the list price.
This was a bitter experience and one which really need not have happened.
Other Notes ========== Wine List -------------- A very comprehensive selection encompassing many countries. Each classified by region and type, the prices start at the £30-£40 level and go on up (and up, and up ….). Great for wine lovers and millionaires. It is possible to find some excellent wines at reasonable (by restaurant standards) prices. If you splash out though, expect to double your food bill with ease.
Toilets ----------- Located upstairs (see Elephants above) there are 2 separate rooms for ladies and gents. They are decorated in stone and wood, with a really modern flat sink where the water flows away down the back of the flat square bowl. Toileties are by the ubiquitous Molton Brown. They are scrupulously clean.
Opening Times -------------------- Lunch 12pm - 2pm Tues to Sun (last orders 3pm on Sunday) Dinner 7pm - 9:30pm Tues to Sat.
Reservations ------------------- Telephone 01628 580 333 Monday to Friday between 10am and 5:30pm
Smoking -------------- The restaurant is strictly non-smoking and there is no where to sneak out for a puff. Smokers beware.
Website ------------- http://www.fatduck.co.uk Currently under re-construction. It contains all the basic details you need, but no photographs of the restaurant or exterior (with good reason). You can view sample menus on this, which are accurate to the menus we received.
Overall ======== This restaurant came highly rated (Michelin 3 star), and has received many accolades such as: Restaurant Magazine "Best restaurant in the World Award", Worlds 50 Best Restaurant awards 2005.
In my view this is a 'fashion' restaurant which it is exciting to visit once (if only to say you have been) but which fails to serve food that would encourage me to revisit. Chef Bumenthal seems to have got carried away with 'amazing' creations to the detriment of a balanced meal. Every course is a riot of colour and tastes. Every mouthful and adventure. At times too many tastes make for a difficult composition. Both my wife and I agreed that a few of these excellent dishes mixed with some more traditional varieties would have greatly improved the re-visit potential of this restaurant.
Décor is plain, pleasant but hardly luxurious. I would not classify this as a romantic destination.
The prices speak for themselves and the lack of a sensible lunch menu is poor.
Overall rating 8/10.
Do not visit here if you are not comfortable with unusual food and taste combinations. Do visit here for a wild taste experience. Do not visit here unless your wallet has had sedation first. Do not take the kids.
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Feb 23rd, 2006
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