UK trip, Dec 2008 - The Waterside Inn, Bray

There must be something in the water of Bray, as in this tiny village, you can find 2 three-Michelin starred restaurants. The Waterside Inn has also been in possession of three Michelin stars for an unbroken period of 19 years!


The Waterside Inn is actually a Relais & Châteaux hotel. It is run by the extremely famous Roux family. Upon arrival, we were met by the valet parking guy. There were only a few car spaces in front of the hotel entrance so I guess it is great that there is a person here to take care of the parking.

There are a summerhouse on the terrace which overlooks the river. It must be a nice spot to relax during summer.

We were then shown to the lounge area and were quickly offered an apéritif and some canapés. We did have some communication problems with the waiter though. I told him that I can't eat cucumber and he turned up with a couple of cucumber-based canapés. You probably can't see it in this pic but there was also a large strip of cucumber lining the plate. He was holding the tray in front of me, waiting for me to pick one, while I tried again and again to explain to him that I don't eat cucumbers! "Please try this other one", he said as he points to the pastry. I wish he would just take the plate OFF my face :-P

So long after, we were shown to our table and were served really nice butter with our bread. The butter was so smooth and creamy! Yummm!

The lunch and dinner menu at Waterside Inn is identical, so you can have quite a big meal for lunch. SP and I decided to go for Le Menu Exceptionnel and we ordered exactly the same dishes.

Escalope de foie gras poêlée sur sa tranche fine de pain d’épices,jus réduit aux prunes de Damas en pickles agrémenté d’airelles rouges (Pan-fried escalope of foie gras with a thin slice of home made ginger breadserved with the juice of pickled damsons and a few cranberries). The foie gras is very yummy but it is quite similar to Paul Bocuse's foie gras. Nothing too special for a Michelin-starrted restaurant but nevertheless a yummy dish!

Tronçonnette de homard poêlée minute au porto blanc (Pan-fried lobster medallion with a white port sauceand ginger flavoured vegetable julienne). I absolutely love the dish. The lobster was fresh. The ginger adds additional flavour to the already excellent sauce. I believed it is Chinese-inspired. I was licking the fork long after I have finished the lobster!

Sorbet rafraîchissant tutti-frutti d’agrumes (Refreshing tutti-frutti citrus sorbet). Nice and fruity.

Caneton challandais grillé et “glacé” d’un mélange d’épices, gnocchi relevés de raifort,petits kumquats mi-confits, sauce au Cabernet Sauvignon ( Roasted Challandais duck glazed with spices, confit kumquats,gnocchi seasoned with horseradish, Cabernet Sauvignon sauce). This dish can be only be ordered by multiples of 2 portions. It seems quite luxury to have a duck between two of us, but in the end, I feel that I can eat more of this.

The server, with his very sharp knife, quickly dissect the duck into two portions. I was dribbling as I watched!!

Ta-da!!!! The depth of the flavour is exceptional. This is some of the best duck I've ever had!

I've asked them to give me the duck leg but I found it less flavourful then the duck breast. It is also much less tender. It was a shame :-(

Soufflé chaud aux mirabelles (Warm golden plum soufflé) Minimum order is 2 portions so SP and I decided to try it. All the chefs from the Roux family began their culinary journey as patissiers and their desserts are supposed to be legendary. Michael Roux has even created a soufflé for Queen Elizabeth's birthday dinner. The 35-year-old signature recipe, also by Michel Roux, contains mirabelle plums, which is a delicacy from the Alsace region in France. The soufflé we had is what we expected a perfect soufflé to be. It rose perfectly. It is light, fluffy and moist all at the same time. However, I am not a fan of cooked fruit (don't ask me what I ordered!) and liquor. So, in the end, SP polished most of it by himself!

The waiter and waitress have been very attentive during the meal. The waiter was also a pretty good photographer! Only one take was required!

Just before we finished, I have asked for a signed copy of the menu. Usually, other restaurants will just give you a paper version of the menu, but they ended up giving me a proper copy of the menu! They even put them in a paper bag so that I can carry it around!

Summary
The menu is unashamedly classical French in style. The restaurant has not even attempt to incorporate any 'modern' flavours into the dishes. It may be boring for some. At these prices, some may expect a certain level of ingenuity and originality. I personally love the fact that it is traditional. SP and I have both enjoyed the food and service.

Just a note: there were lots of wealthy-looking old men (and ladies) eating there. For those who is looking for a sugar daddy (mummy), it would be a good spot to pick up! :-P

UK trip, Dec 2008 - The Fat Duck, Bray (Part 3)

Now the sweet courses begins.

Hot and Iced Tea (2005)

There are actually quite a number of sweet things on the menu and we started with this palate cleanser. The tea arrived in a modern thermal glass: one side of the tea (served in a very cute thermal glass) was cold, the other was hot. It is quite a strange sensation

Mrs Marshall's Margaret Cornet

The course comes in very tiny portion. It comes with a little booklet on Agnes Bertha Marshall, who wrote some of the best books on ice cream in the 19th Century. Her recipe for the ice cream cone predates the supposed first at the St. Louis World Fair of 1904 by a number of years. Mrs Marshall died at the age of 49 and her recipe books were soon forgotten by public. In homage to her, the Fat Duck ice cream cones are made according to her recipes.

Aren't the cones adorable?

Pine Sherbet Fountain (Pre-Hit)

The pine sherbet fountain brings the nostalgia of childhood

We used the dried vanilla bean to dip out the pine sherbet powder and then licked the stick. We felt like a kid again.

At this point, there are a number of wine glasses on the table

Mango and Douglas Fir Puree - Bavarois of Lychee and Mango, Blackcurrant Sorbet
2005 Breganze Torcolato, Maculan, Veneto (Italy)

This next dish looks more like a regular dessert

The bavarois of lychee and mango is the rectangular block, the blackcurrant sorbet is set on the side. The yellow dollop is the mango and Douglas fir puree

Parsnip Cereal

The waiter then came with two bowls and boxes of cereal. He then announced it is time for breakfast.

There were just a few tiny flakes and personally, I think it is a redundant dish

Nitro-scambled Egg and Bacon Ice Cream (2006) - Pain Perdu and Tea Jelly
2006 Jurancon, Uroulat, Charles Hours, South West (France)

I really looked forward to this dish. It sounds weird so I definitely want to try it.

Once we had our continental breakfast, we then started our English breakfast.

The waiter cracked two eggs into the pan, which was then cooked in liquid nitrogen. We don't know whether they were real eggs. What comes out look like a sort of custard.

The custard was then added to the pre-arranged pain perdu, which was topped with a dollop of ice cream and what looked like bacon. The ice cream itself was both sweet and savory. The bacon was sweet and crisp

A ceramic egg-shaped bowl held the tea jelly. It tasted like a mixture of green and lemon tea, which is very refreshing

Petits Fours - Carrot and Orange Lolly, Mandarin Aerated Chocolate, Violet Tartlet, Apple Pie Caramel "Edible Wrapper"

I ordered chamomile tea to go with my petits fours. The tea is of very good quality and I have really enjoyed it

We don't have a photo of the petits fours but you can roughly see them in the background of this photo. Mandarin Aerated Chocolate on the right, violet tartlet and apple pie caramel in the middle and the carrot and orange lolly on the right

Overall

This meal is great fun and the staff have made us felt comfortable. Most of the food is good. There are definitely plenty of innovation and originality. It is certainly very different.

However, if I ever come back to The Fat Duck (first, I need a much thicker wallet!), I would probably go for the À la carte menu, because we have lost the elements of surprise :-)

UK trip, Dec 2008 - The Fat Duck, Bray (Part 2)

Due to the number of photos, I have decided to write about my Fat Duck experience in 3 posts. I will talk about the "main courses" in this part.


Snail Porridge - Jabugo Ham, Shaved Fennel
2007 Chateauneuf du Pape, Domaine de Beaurenard (France)

The snail porridge is one of The Fat Duck's signature dishes.

Pieces of snails were served on a bed oat porridge which is cooked with a parsley/ garlic/ butter sauce. Then little silvers of Joselite ham goes in the middle and the whole thing was topped off with ribbons of marinated fennel

The porridge was smooth and creamy. The snail was tender and the marinated fennel added some sourness and texture to an overall excellent dish

Roast Foie Gras "Bemzaldehyde" - Almond Fluid Gel, Cherry and Chamomile
2004 Pinot Gris, Rolly Gassmann, Alsace (France)

First of all, let's go through the science. According to Wiki:

Bemzaldehyde (C₆H₅CHO) is a chemical compound consisting of a benzene ring with an aldehyde substituent. At room temperature it is a colourless liquid with an almond-like odour.

So, the dish is not just about the taste of almond, but also the scent of almond.

The presentation of the dish was beautiful and the flavour combination was also very good. The foie gras was very creamy and it seems that this has something to do with the way the foie gras was cooked. We noticed that even though the foie gras is roasted, it was only warm. The reason? According to one website, "The foie gras is bought frozen and cooked frozen. First the foie is seared and then put in the oven and turned every 2 minutes, each time sprayed with liquid nitrogen so that the outside doesn’t get too hot but the heat continues to go through it." That seems like a lot of work just to get the foie gras warm! :-P

"Sound of the Sea"
Sake, Shibouritate, Tatsuuma-Honke, Hyogo (Japan)

This dish comes with a sake instead of normal wine.

Additionally, we also each got a conch shell with an iPod tucked inside, playing the "sounds from the sea": sound of the waves hitting the shores and the sound of the seagulls flying by (which makes me want to duck! hahaha)

Then the real food came on the glass surface of a long wooden. It looks like a huge mess in the photo but I supposed there is some order in the chaos. The waiter said the mess contains a few types of seaweed, tapioca (in a crunchy, powdered form), calms, cockles and oysters and shellfish foam. I think this is a very delicious dish, but I can see that it may be a bit fishy for others

Salmon porached in Liquorice Gel - Artichoke, Vanilla Mayonnaise and "Manni" Olive Oil
2001 Quinta da Leda, Casa Ferreirinha, Douro Valley (Portugal)

This is such a pretty dish. It is like an artwork. The specks of pink grapefruit, vanilla mayonnaise and olive oil.

After doing some research on the dish, I found that"Manni” olive oil is supposed to be the world’s best (of course also the most expensive!!) olive oil.

I also read that the liquid nitrogen was used to freeze the grapefruit and the endocarps can be separated with simple hammer blow. So they don't need to have a person sitting there all day, whose job is only to tease apart the grapefruit.

After the plate landed on my table, the waiter then grated licorice over the salmon at the table. The buttery salmon tasted almost like sashimi. It melted in my mouth and I absolutely love the taste and texture. I usually hate licorice but this ended up being OK. This dish reminds me of Tetsuya's signature salmon dish and although this dish is more visually pleasing than Tetsuya's, I prefer Tetsuya's version more.

Interval

Well, it wasn't a real interval as per the menu. I had a comfort break and since SP has took a few photos, I thought it makes sense to put them in the right order.

The waiter was very attentive and as soon as I stand up, he went to the kitchen and told them to hold our next course!

The wait staff rushing in and out of the tiny kitchen. The staff are so attentive and they are always so busy. We reckon there is around the same number of staff as the number of guests!

Then it was SP's turn, and I helped myself to some more of their yummy homemade bread and white, salted butter

Ballotine of Anjou Pigeon - Black Pudding "Made to Order", Pickling Brine and Spiced Juices
2005 Tokara, Merlot/ Cabernet Sauvignon/ Petit Verdot, Stellenbosch (South Africa)

The sous vide pigeon sat next to a blood pudding. The pigeon was tender but the form seems to been redundant. I think this guys like their science experiences too much :-P

That's the end of the main courses.

UK trip, Dec 2008 - The Fat Duck, Bray (Part 1)

(SPOILER ALERT: this is a "photo documentary" of the tasting menu at Fat Duck. If you still want to keep the elements of surprise, then please skip the next 3 posts!)

Fat Duck has been on my list for a number of years. The restaurant is one of the few UK restaurants that has been awarded three Michelin stars. It also stands out in its own right, as it does not serve a cuisine that is affiliated with a particular cooking style, the Head chef Heston Blumenthal is known for his following of molecular gastronomy philosophy and his weird, yet original creations.

The restaurant is extremely popular. SP wanted to make a booking for a Tuesday evening. He was very good and called up the restaurant exactly three months before the date (they only take bookings up to 3 months in advance) but he was too late. He didn't call early enough. So, the next day, SP called as soon as it opened and was able to secure a precious slot for our anniversary dinner.

The signage for the restaurant is very discreet (and poor!) and we almost missed the restaurant. Nevertheless, we arrived quite early so we were one of the first customers for the night. It seems that they have memorised all the bookings. As as soon as you walk in, they already know who you are. It is kinda creepy.

The restaurant has a very casual feel to it. In comparison to other three Michelin starred restaurants, the setting and decor is very low-key. The main room has quite small. It has around 15 tables. The room has a low-beamed ceiling, but it is quite comfortable. Ms SL told me that the kitchen is very small, and we spoke to the waiter about it. Apparently, across from High Street, where the restaurant is located, there is a little path that leads to a building housing the restaurant's prep area, where the bulk of work is done. The lab is located in the upstairs area and it is where Heston spends most of his time.

After we have sat down and got comfortable, the sommelier wheeled his apéritif trolley across the room and asked if we’d like a drink. Why not? Even though we have already had a drink before we arrive, it is going to be a long dinner and we certainly had time to wait until the alcohol wears off! So SP ordered his Ricard and I had my champagne.

We were quickly served with a little ramekin of picholine olives

The table decoration is simple and clean.

Everything is embossed with The Fat Duck and Heston's name

We picked the tasting menu with matching wine, because it is supposed to be lots of fun.

The waiter then gave each of us a copy of the menu and the wine list. The menu is printed some a special type of paper which is velvety on one side. I couldn't resist touching it! hahaha. I really like the fact that they give you a copy of the menu to keep. There is a lot of items in the tasting menu and this really saves me from writing down all the names of the dishes.


Nitro-poached green tea and lime mousse (2001)

Not long after we have made our menu and wine choice, the waiter wheeled over a cart with our first course.

He squirted some foam from an aerosol onto a spoon and then poached the little puff in nitrogen. It is all very showy.

Once it is ready, the puff is then fished out from the container and dusted with maccha green tea powder before serving. He explained that we need to eat it immediately and in one bite. Otherwise, it will fall apart.

The puff was very light. I expected it to be sweet but it wasn't too sweet at all. While we are eating, someone also sprayed some lime essence over our heads. The lime was a nice palate cleanser.

Orange and Beetroot jelly
As soon as we were done, the waiter served us the orange and beetroot jelly. He politely asked us to eat the orange one first.

I have never read in detail any reviews on the Fat Duck so this has come as a surprise to me. As I took a bite of the orange-coloured jelly, I realise that it is actually beetroot-flavoured. Then I realise that Heston was playing with my mind!

The orange jelly is actually made with golden beetroot and the red jelly is made with blood oranges

Oyster, Passion Fruit Jelly, Lavender

The acidity of the passion fruit complements the oyster very well. The lavender scent was very very subtle and I wouldn't have detected it if I didn't have the menu. Overall, I really enjoyed this oyster.

Pommery Grain Mustard Ice Cream, Red Cabbage Gazpacho

SP doesn't like mustard, but he thought the dish was nice. The ice cream is slightly hot. It is not overly sweet. There are tiny mustard seeds that gives the dish some really nice texture. The cabbage gazpacho is mellow and brings really nice colours to the dish

Oak Moss and Truffle Toast

Next a small tray of oak moss appeared. On top of the oak moss, there were two small plastic case. In it is what looks like breath strips. They are actually oak moss strips. Oak moss may not sound delicious, but according to Heston, it shares several key flavour compounds with black truffles. So in theory, this should make it complimentary to truffles. We were asked to put the oak moss strip onto our tongue. Then, the waiter poured some liquid onto the bed of oak moss and the air become infused with an oaky scent.

We then shoved the truffle toast into our mouth. The texture and flavour are nice, but I think they were a little stingy on the truffles flake!

Jelly of Quail, Langoustine Cream, Parfait of Foie Gras

This dish arrived in a tilted cup/ bowl. It contains the jelly of quail consommé, layered with pea/ basil puree in the middle, and langoustine cream on top. We were supposed to scoop out the jelly by cutting through all three layers. As the spoon dived into the jelly, the server poured some liquid into the bed of oak moss again and it released the smell and feel of the forest. The jelly is very rich and the flavour is intense. I have really enjoyed this dish but I certainly can't have more than one portion of it at one go :-P

This is the end of the appetiser part of the tasting menu. In the next posts, I will talk more about the more"substantial" food.