There’s only a few times a year I would willingly go all out and splurge on food, my birthday or a special occasion. Since it was my good friend birthday coming up I booked us a table 2 months in advance.
Dinner by Heston is hidden inside the Mandarin hotel in London, minutes away from Knightsbridge underground.
The receptionist took away our coats, and was given a number tag. The first you would notice as soon as you walk in is the wine/alcohol cabinets and open kitchen with the chefs busy cooking away the meals, and of course the infamous spit pineapple for the tipsy cake.
We were seated on a spacious round table, which could easily fit 8 diners. The waitress on hand was clearly knowledgeable and passionate about the food. She explained the dishes we question in such detail she could have been a spokeswomen for the restaurant.
For starters I just had to try the meat fruit, for mains I went for the chicken cooked for lettuce and desserts well it had to be the highly raved tipsy cake. When I ordered the tipsy cake she joked, “So you want to get tipsy?”
Dinner by Heston revolves around the historic British gastronomy menus. Each dish has the circa in brackets. (c1xxx).
The bread and butter given to us before our feast, was fantastic the only criticism I had for this one, was that the crust was super tough to chew it actually ripped some of the skin of my lips.
Meat Fruit (c.1500)
Mandarin, chicken liver & foie gras parfait, grilled bread
£16.00
When the meat fruit arrived, I was very excited examined every angle of the perfectly shaped dimpled skin sphere, intimidating a mandarin with a gem stem sticking out.
Mandarin, chicken liver & foie gras parfait, grilled bread
In a skilfully fashion, I carefully cut into the gel mandarin and spread it on the grill toast. The super smooth chicken liver melted in the mouth, bursting with flavour with an orange kick. My only compliant here, there should have been two slices of grilled bread, as I finished the bread within two quarters of the meat fruit.
My friends ordered the broth of lamb and a special that was not listed on the normal menu.
Broth of Lamb (c.1730)
Slow cooked hen’s egg, celery, radish, turnip & veal sweetbreads
£15.00
Chicken cooked with Lettuces (c.1670)
Spiced celeriac sauce & oyster leaves
£29.00
My main meal was a slight disappointment; yes it was a nicely cooked chicken, so tender and moist but it hardly challenged my taste buds.
£24.00
Tipsy Cake (c.1810)Spit roast pineapple
The headliner of the meal was the tipsy cake, mini boozy custard brioche bread in an iron cast pot, accompanied with a slice of spit-roasted pineapple. It was pure indulgence; the hot creamy rum filled brioche assaulted my nose. The bread was so fresh out of the oven piping hot, like a fluffy pillow with a crispy top melted into my mouth. The caramelised pineapple slice was insane; I just wanted more and more of the tipsy cake.
The total damage for our meal was £272.13.
At the end of the meal after we paid, we was given a extra dessert a rich chocolate pudding infused with earl grey and a caraway biscuit.
The ambience and service leaves a 5/5 rating, food 2/3 topped the taste buds. If you’re looking for some simplistic great tasting meal, Dinner by Heston delivers.
http://www.dinnerbyheston.com/
