Eat & Drink
Originally published on Wednesday, 2nd February 2011
Dinner
Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental
Mandarin Oriental, 66 Knightsbridge, SW1X 7LA - 020 7201 3833
www.dinnerbyheston.com
Location
While Claridge’s might be posher, the Mandarin is flasher. With an eff-off spa in the basement, gourmet burger king Daniel Boulud’s bar on the ground floor, ‘Candy Towers’ next door and stonking views of Hyde Park, it’s not exactly low-key. So, although it seemed like an odd spot for Heston Blumenthal’s London residence at first, it now makes perfect sense.
Vibe
Once you get over the name which, let’s face it, is just silly, you realise (or I did) that the place is more than a little extraordinary. The main focus, as you arrive, is the ravishing kitchen encased in glass with a spit roast driven by oversized, bespoke Ebel clockwork. Then, from the ‘meat fruit’ served with your bread – looks like a mandarin but is in fact (ethical) foie gras parfait – to a dish called Salamugundy – chicken oysters, bone marrow and horseradish that all melts into one – there are enough ‘Alice In Wonderland’ touches to tickle, rather than be ridiculous.
Flavours
Historic dishes that have been Hestonised is the thing here, overseen by head chef and former Fat Duck Ashley Palmer-Watts. Rice & Flesh is a silky saffron risotto dented with pieces of veal tail, Powdered Duck refers to the smoked fennel dry rub it’s seasoned with and Beef Royal is cooked for 72 hours and is so soft it could just be licked like an ice-cream. Then there’s Tipsy Cake, a doughy, syrupy thing served with spit roast pineapple, if you like puddings. It’s refined rustic and it works a treat, apart, perhaps, from disappointingly dull side orders of plain chantenay carrots and school cabbage.
Décor
The room is a sort of contemporary Tudor banqueting hall meets Aramis HQ (a lot of brown leather). The wooden candelabra hanging from the ceiling was pinched from Westminster Abbey and I love the look of the private room with its bronze wild boar heads (and bum). The most sought after table is apparently no.41 as you walk in but the best place for a secret tryst is the other side of the kitchen, overlooking the park.
Upshot
I really wasn’t sure I’d like Dinner. I like pared down, few frills, paper tablecloths. But Heston’s new baby is the antidote to cosy bistros, homely helpings and sharing plates. I’m not sure I’d like it so much for lunch, or in the summer, as the food and decor are so conducive to a winter’s evening. But, while it’s not somewhere I’d want to go to every night, I fell for the theatre of the place, each incredible mouthful and that sprinkling of magic dust that a restaurant – no matter what style – either has or doesn’t have.
