Review: The Fat Duck 2009 (part 1)

Wednesday, 27 May 2009 · 3 Comments

It’s finally (!) here. Our review of our recent (return) visit to Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck. We’re going to split the review up into four parts.

Background and arrival
The Menu: part 1
The Menu: part 2
The Bill plus conclusions

We’ll liberally scatter photo’s from the night into the review but you can see them all on our flickr photostream.

Background and arrival

We returned to The Fat Duck in April 2009 as a treat for ITs Food Jnr’s 18th birthday. We were all looking forward to trying the new dishes and some old favourites as well. We ended up sitting down at around 19:30 and, as usual, were offered a drink from the Champagne “trolley”. Now, mindful of the price increases and the £20 per glass Champagne from last time we passed the opportunity.

It’s strange, I think the staff automatically assume you have a drink from the Champagne trolley. We were sat for quite a long time before being offered menus. People who arrived afterwards (and had Champagne) ordered well before us. Not a major worry though, we eventually ordered three tasting menus and a couple of bottles of wine.

I chose Cakebread Sauvignon Blanc 2006 for the white ( a recommendation from my brother) and picked a bottle of Turley Old Vine Zinfandel 2002 for the red on my own instinct. The Cakebread was very good, it tasted as an aged Sauvignon Blanc should, in my simplistic terms halfway between a good Sauvignon Blanc and a good Chardonnay. The red was excellent. Probably one of the nicest wines I’ve ever had. Turley are world renowned for their Zinfandel but I’m struggling to find a UK supplier. Can anyone help me out? Post a comment if you can.

*Edit: Yes, as someone pointed out, both wines were from the USA. I’m a real Oz and NZ wine fan but American wines are fast becoming a real favourite. The New World wines rock!

One thing I noticed this time was the AMAZING decanters they use. From what I can tell they are all Riedel (the wine glass kings) and included my favourite decanter, the Amadeo.

Amadeo Decanter by Riedel

What a beautiful decanter. They aren’t cheap, but I think I’m going to have to get one.

When you choose the Tasting Menu you get a copy of the menu in a wax sealed envelope. We waited with a mixture of excitement and anticipation. A meal at The Fat Duck is a leisurely affair, it’s not rushed! The excellent bread they serve kept us going until it was time for the first part of the Tasting Menu to arrive…