Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental

Heston opened this restaurant in 2013 to great acclaim. Head chef Ashely-Palmer Watts is at the forefront and does a handsome job handling Heston’s intelligently provocative creations. I can say I have never been to the Fat Duck, his claim to fame, but from what I understand, this is a more paired back elegant version, the soft sweet distant cousin to the eccentric crazy professor. My only real criticism is that although the room is, at once, very elegant, it looks somehow cheaply done. When you first gaze at the large circular wooden chandeliers that dominate the room, they seem quite modern and appealing. But at a closer look…particularly the oddly shaped white “cake tin” light bulbs hanging everywhere (I just don’t get these)… it seems as if it has all been done rather hastily, which is fine, but isn’t this the Mandarin?

Anyway, moving on to the more important stuff, the food is stunning. Truly whimsical, but refined and glamorous, whilst retaining Heston’s love for the quirk. The chef ties each dish cleverly with a dish from hundreds of years ago, and the menus give you the modern version on the front and the ancient recipe on the back. The menu is printed onto a clean, tasteful, and inexpensive little card, with no frills, and somehow I like this in regards to the rich and decadent food and concept.

We chose a beautiful bottle of Volnay 2008; a delicious Burgundy to go with the structured fishy things we ordered. To start, we had the “famous” Meat Fruit (circa 13-15^th century) which was a chicken liver and foi gras parfait moulded into a perfect elegant little mandarin and served with a thick crunchy piece of grilled sour dough bread. Sounds pretentious, actually…but it’s kind of cool. And once it melts into your mouth, you know it’s a lot more than just cool. Between the idea and design of taste and presentation, this is a true star and deserves it fame.

We also tried the Hay Smoked Mackerel, served with a tiny slice of tart pickled lemon, wood sorrel, and smoked roe (circa 1730). The velvet-like fish melted once touching my tongue… soft, delicate, and almost creamy, with the roe adding pops of texture and added smokiness. Quite impressive.

We also tried the Octopus (circa 1390!) served with sea broth, pickled dulse, and lovage. The octopus was tender yet the little pink “suckers” were tart and textural, giving the little chunks a bit of an edge. The broth was something of a mermaid’s dream soup…clean, oceanic, and simple.

The roast sea bass (circa 1830) was served with some dainty salmon roe on a bed of mussels and seaweed ketchup. The fish was perfectly cooked, firm and juicy, with interesting textures from the creative enhancements, matching it all like a well-dressed Englishmen. I knew this was going to be quite an experience, but I must admit I didn’t expect to taste such exquisiteness. I just really love the intelligence and wit behind his food, and how he still manages to simultaneously make everything taste so stunning. It’s a little bit magical.

To finish we had the board of English cheeses, which was a perfect end to such an interesting tasting. I liked the simplicity of the cheese board as well, after all that pomp and creativity, it was nice to take a beat. An impressive experience indeed.