the fat duck - an o-foodie report in pictures [General]
2010 May 3
My wife and I were there about a month ago and loved it. But the vibe I got was not to take pictures because our table was so open with not a lot of privacy. As well, no one else was taking them! AHHHH! Though my wife did take a picture of me with the ipod headphones on from the sea shell for the pickled fish course (yummy)
I checked on the internet after and saw that lots of people have taken pictures and regretted not taking any. By the looks of your pictures I think we had a very similar menu. Do you have anymore (I ask selfishly) as I would love to preserve the memory and regret not taking pictures.
On the dinner itself (dinner menu at lunch!), I would say that it is by far and away the most unique dinner I have ever had. The stand out for us was a deconstructed black forest cake that was the best black forest cake I have ever had. As well, we loved a dish that I think is called the sound of the sea based on a quick internet search which I believe featured pickled fish (if only all pickled fish tasted like this) and a sand which I thought was purely artificial but based on my Google search involved eel. The hot, cold tea was also amazing (i.e. one side is iced tea, the other side hot) in taste and its uniqueness.
I cannot say it was the best restaurant I have ever been to. I loved it but find it impossible to compare it with others I have been too because it’s so different. As well, some of the other great restaurants I have been to play in more familiar food territory. So if I compare it with Per Se which I was lucky enough to go to a few years ago, I probably would side with the dining experience of Per Se but the uniqueness of the Fat Duck cannot be over emphasized in my opinion. Finally, I should say with the pound so low this is an excellent time to go to the Fat Duck!
Thanks for posting the pictures. Would love to hear a review of your experience!
Cheers
I checked on the internet after and saw that lots of people have taken pictures and regretted not taking any. By the looks of your pictures I think we had a very similar menu. Do you have anymore (I ask selfishly) as I would love to preserve the memory and regret not taking pictures.
On the dinner itself (dinner menu at lunch!), I would say that it is by far and away the most unique dinner I have ever had. The stand out for us was a deconstructed black forest cake that was the best black forest cake I have ever had. As well, we loved a dish that I think is called the sound of the sea based on a quick internet search which I believe featured pickled fish (if only all pickled fish tasted like this) and a sand which I thought was purely artificial but based on my Google search involved eel. The hot, cold tea was also amazing (i.e. one side is iced tea, the other side hot) in taste and its uniqueness.
I cannot say it was the best restaurant I have ever been to. I loved it but find it impossible to compare it with others I have been too because it’s so different. As well, some of the other great restaurants I have been to play in more familiar food territory. So if I compare it with Per Se which I was lucky enough to go to a few years ago, I probably would side with the dining experience of Per Se but the uniqueness of the Fat Duck cannot be over emphasized in my opinion. Finally, I should say with the pound so low this is an excellent time to go to the Fat Duck!
Thanks for posting the pictures. Would love to hear a review of your experience!
Cheers
2010 May 3
hi medicinejar, i have over 500 shots from the fat duck. i didn't feel any vibe of disapproval; nor do i care and let anyone tell me what to do. i will only post 1 of each dish when i get chance to sit down and make time to share with you cool OFers. the fat duck was a different experience and worthy of its 3M stars based on interesting ingredients, each dish had personality or tied to tradition and dish after dish had consistency. i felt the service was high standard and everyone was given the same schpiel in case of the anonymous micheline inspector shows up many times year to evaluate consistency. the menu has not changed ever since heston went to be a TV celebrity. all the dishes are featured in the fat duck cookbook so the dinner came as to no surprise for me. interesting that the servers sold us his books and heston was there to autograph them.
on an interesting note, i was most blown away by jeff atherton of MAZE in london over the other michelin places i visited The Fat Duck, Gordon Ramsay, Rasoi etc.... despite the boring descriptions of the menu, his flavors and dishes were so good, we went there 3 times in a week to sample his current menu as well as photograph each dish. we even had the opportunity to meet chef atherton and a tour of his kitchen to ask and learn some of his culinary edge as he strives for each item be turbo boosted with flavor. he recently received his first michelin. but my review of these will be another story...
on an interesting note, i was most blown away by jeff atherton of MAZE in london over the other michelin places i visited The Fat Duck, Gordon Ramsay, Rasoi etc.... despite the boring descriptions of the menu, his flavors and dishes were so good, we went there 3 times in a week to sample his current menu as well as photograph each dish. we even had the opportunity to meet chef atherton and a tour of his kitchen to ask and learn some of his culinary edge as he strives for each item be turbo boosted with flavor. he recently received his first michelin. but my review of these will be another story...
2010 May 3
My vibe was simply based on my read of the place and how open our table was (based on your photo I think your back would have been directly to our table).
I agree with almost all of your comments especially about the service at the Fat Duck. Sadly, Heston was not around when we there and I got the impression he is doing television perhaps too much in my view but I cannot blame him that much. I overheard a waiter at another table say that he basically only works in the lab and is not regularly at the restaurant or words to that effect.
We did Maze as well. We got the early supper tasting menu and thought it was great - and very, good value for the money in my view. My only disappointment was with the service at Maze. We arrived a little early, and while there were lots of people in the bar area, the bar servers were not moving too quickly but the real problem was our server for the meal who was just not that attentive. To put it in perspective for others, the early supper tasting was something akin to Play in Ottawa. We got a 4 course tasting menu and it took about 25 minutes in between the 2nd and 3rd course and then another 25 minutes, perhaps even 30 minutes, between the 3rd and 4th course. Worst of all the waiter never dropped by to update us and explain the delay. The restaurant did not seem to be that busy (i.e. they had enough servers to handle the load - I am sympathetic to servers that have too many tables manage properly as its not their fault). I think we might have just had one bad server that night and I got the impression he might have been new. The Maitre D was top notch though.
I would definitely go to Maze again and would recommend it.
I look forward to reading your review of these two places and especially how you found the service at Maze.
Cheers
I agree with almost all of your comments especially about the service at the Fat Duck. Sadly, Heston was not around when we there and I got the impression he is doing television perhaps too much in my view but I cannot blame him that much. I overheard a waiter at another table say that he basically only works in the lab and is not regularly at the restaurant or words to that effect.
We did Maze as well. We got the early supper tasting menu and thought it was great - and very, good value for the money in my view. My only disappointment was with the service at Maze. We arrived a little early, and while there were lots of people in the bar area, the bar servers were not moving too quickly but the real problem was our server for the meal who was just not that attentive. To put it in perspective for others, the early supper tasting was something akin to Play in Ottawa. We got a 4 course tasting menu and it took about 25 minutes in between the 2nd and 3rd course and then another 25 minutes, perhaps even 30 minutes, between the 3rd and 4th course. Worst of all the waiter never dropped by to update us and explain the delay. The restaurant did not seem to be that busy (i.e. they had enough servers to handle the load - I am sympathetic to servers that have too many tables manage properly as its not their fault). I think we might have just had one bad server that night and I got the impression he might have been new. The Maitre D was top notch though.
I would definitely go to Maze again and would recommend it.
I look forward to reading your review of these two places and especially how you found the service at Maze.
Cheers
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