Fat Duck

During our last visit to Holland in November Thijs and I were able to spend a few days in London (bedankt opa en oma!).  This turned out to be somewhat of a culinary event with sushi at Harrod's, dinner at the River Cafe and the highlight of the trip: lunch at the Fat Duck in Bray!  Bray is a 30 minute trainride from Paddington station so after a light breakfast we started our journey.  By about 12.15 we were seated and the experience started!  At 5 we left the restaurant again.  Absolutely amazing!!!!  Below some pictures and comments from our afternoon at the Fat Duck.

A “palate cleanser”, lime mousse poached in liquid nitrogen and sprinkled with green tea dust, was an extraordinary sensation. Very, very cold!

Red cabbage gazpacho with mustard ice cream

“Jelly of quail, crayfish cream” sat in a cute tilted bowl next to a wooden block supporting a delicate black truffle toast.  We ate this dish, though, as the entire table disappeared under a soft blanket of bright white nitrogen, frothing and bouncing in between glassware and cutlery and spilling onto our laps. 

Next up,  “snail porridge”. It was a delicious bowl of pea risotto topped with a couple of moist snails and an topping of shaved fennel and Spanish ham.

Roast foie gras with rhubarb

The Mad Hatter Tea Party was magical. First of all we were presented with a bowl of intricately arranged delicacies, including a cauliflower and mushroom mousse and a kind of pressed calf terrine. Then a waiter arrived with a glass-topped box containing what looked like gold wristwatches, but were in fact highly concentrated beef stock covered in gold leaf. The “watches”, once dunked in hot water, dissolved into a hot beef “tea”, which you then poured into the bowl. 

“Sounds of the Sea” is a Fat Duck classic. A slice of raw fish were served on top of ‘sand’ made out of ground tapioca flavored with smoked eel and a shellfish foam. You eat this dish listening to a soundtrack of seagulls and crashing waves on a iPod hidden in a giant conch shell.

Salmon poached inside liquorice, artichokes, grapefruit and vanilla mayonaise.   

Venison with an amazing risotto!

“Hot & Iced Tea” It looked like a normal glass of liquid, and certainly smelled like tea, but one half of it was cold and one half was hot, vertically!  The left hand side was cold and the right hand side was hot. Such a surprise when you start drinking!

Taffety tart

“BFG” (Black Forest Gateau)

A clever whisky map, with little wine gums made from various different varieties which you peeled off in a designated order. It’s interesting just how much of the flavours of the original product survived the ‘wine gumification’.

The last course came in a handy little bag marked “Sweet Shop” and contained various 'sweets': a toffee in an edible plastic wrapper which tasted of apple, a bag of coconut flavoured ‘tobacco’ infused with a real tobacco flavour, and most amazing of all what looked like a thick playing card but was actually a slice of white chocolate with a thin layer of raspberry jam inside.