Mairi and I have been the best of friends for 12 years. One thing that we've always been good at is celebrating our birthdays, which are only 15 days apart (I'm younger). After years of many great parties, we thought it would be good to do something really special for our big 3-0. I suggested London Marathon, climbing Kilimanjaro or the Inca Trail. Mairi, who wasn't really a fan of the physical challenges, suggested something so genius that I couldn't believe that I didn't think of it - A meal at Fat Duck.
After weeks of trying to book a table, we found out that it was easier to book a table for 4 then 2. So we booked our table of 4, twisted Pete and Mike's arms to come with us (didn't take much) and our birthday treat was planned - 18th August was the date.
The excitment had been building for a few weeks, and we arrived in Bray not knowing what to expect! Our first surprise came when the taxi driver dropped us off and pointed to the restaurant, which looked like a little cottage. It was very cute and unassuming (great description Mairi).
We were greeted by really lovely staff, and were one of the first groups to arrive for lunch, which actually proved to be really good as it meant that none of the surprises were ruined. All throughout our meal, the staff were amazing. Attentive without being intrusive, witty and willing to answer any of our silly questions, of which we had lots.
We decided to start of our meal with a bottle of English sparkling rose, which was delicious. Before we had even received our drinks, we received our first taste was to come. Each of us was given an aerated beetroot and horseradish 'bomb' - it lieterally melted in the mouth!
We had decided before we even arrived that we would get the wine pairing to go with the meal, which was good after once we'd seen the wine bible, there was no way that we could have chosen wine ourselves, so decided to leave it in the expert hands from the sommelier.
And then the meal began, and I'm not sure any of us were ready for it! All I can say is that it is definitely the meal that kept on giving!
The first course was a nitro poached aperitif. The waiter put egg whites infused with gin and tonic (the boys chose Campari) in a bowl of liquid nitrogen, and it became like a ice bomb. He added a twist of lemon and lemon spray, and then we had downed it in one. It was the most refreshing thing ever, and really tasted like a cold ice shot of G&T delicious.
Next came red cabbage gapacho with mustard icecream and pickled cucumber. Delicious, and wierd to have a savoury icecream.
Then we went on to probably to our first theatrical experience. The menu described it as Jelly of Quail with Crayfish cream. However, what we got was the most beautiful lookjing plate, with lots of different components, none of resembled anything that looked like the name. Then, another waiter came out with a wooden block covered in moss. On top of the block where little plastic cases, with brown tabs that we had to put on our tongues (like the breath freshener tabs you can get). Once we had done this, which btw tasted like wood, the waiter poured water on the block and it suddenly filled our table with mist.
This, combined with the delicious jelly, cream and truffle toast was so amazing! And the smell of the moss and the woods lingered all throughout the course, very clever.
Next was the course that I've always been intrigued to try and probably one of the most famous on the menu - Snail Porridge. Firstly, we didn't expect it to be green. The snails were so soft and seemed to melt in the mouth. There was shaved fennel on the top, which I don't normally like, but this complimented the dish so well.
Following the snail porridge came the Roast Foie Gras. This was the dish I was least looking forward to on the menu. I have tried foie gras twice before and whilst I can taste that it is good, I can't get my head round how it is made, and have always felt a bit uncomfortable about it. Well, all I can say is I completely forgot about any moral grounds when I tasted this. Simply accomanpied with a Barberry sauce (never heard of this before, but its a bit like bitter blackberry) and crab biscuits, I think this was my favourite course. It was so so so so yum! The Foie gras was creamy and so soft.
Mad Hatter's Tea Party was the next course, and Mad it definitely was. Toast sandwich (seriously, toast with bread), self made consomme (by melted a 'gold watch' in hot water) poured over turnip and swede jelly. It was really fun to eat and the teapot and mug was really novel! I just need to also to add that we were really impressed with how accomodating Fat Duck were. Mairi has a fish allergy and can't eat fin fish, which can be quite difficult as this also includes anything with fish stock or sauce. They replaced everything that would include any fish with food of the same standard, and Mairi barely noticed that she was eating somethings that were different to us.
Probably the most unusual course was Sound of the Sea. This started with each of us being given a big shell with headphones coming out of it. Out of the headphones came the lovely calming sounds of crashing waves and seagulls, reminded me of my last trip to Skeggie :-)
Then came a block of foam, sand and fish, all edible. So we ate, and listened to the sea. So calming! Mairi obviously couldn't have this course, but she was given an excellent braised pork belly, which i think was as good as the fish. The wine accompanying this was sake, pretty strong sake, and probably the start of us all beginning to feel pretty drunk (we had already had 2 glasses of fizz and 3 glasses of wine at this point!).
The next course, whilst still tasty was probably my least favourite, was salmon poached in a liquorice gel. The salmon was cooked amazingly, it was somewhere between sushi and poached, so soft, and the liquorice didn't actually taste too aniseedy. There was lovely vanilla mayonnaise and trout roe which added a lovely salty taste. I guess after all the spectacles we had so far, I found this course to be slightly on the boring side, but that doesn't take away from the lovely flavours.
The next course was probably the most substantial course of the meal. Lamb with cucumber. Literally the best lamb I think I've ever tasted. It had onion and dill gel on the side, and was so wonderful. Accompanying the lamb was a minty lamb consomme jelly, and some sweetbread with lamb crisps. All I can say is wow. The lamb consomme was to clear the palate and it really worked. The lamb crisps with the sweetbread - divine!
That being the end of our our savoury courses, we then were moving on to the desserts. To start of us was the hot and iced tea. I tell no lie, it was hot and cold in the mouth, 72 degrees of difference in temperature to be exact!
The next course was also interesting - Macerated strawberries. Make of that what you will. What came out was a gorgeous white chocolate gingham blanket, aerated strawberry puffs, strawberries (macerated!) and strawberry sauce, yum and very pretty!
The final proper dessert course was my second favourite course, and I'm not even a pudding person! But the BFG changed me! Beautifully presented, and then when you dived in, there was delicious icecream, cherries, aerated cherried, almond crisp, crumble - it was definitely the dish that kept on giving. Very rich, but surprisingly light. And accompanied with a sweet red dessert wine, which I didn't know existed, and was also my favourite wine of the meal!
Then came the cheese - an extra course, but we had to have one to share, just to see the cheese board! Mike doesn't like cheese, very strange, but he even tried a couple. Well put a tiny speck on the tip of his tongue, and then gagged, but at least he tried them. Really impressed that the majority were British cheeses, and all the ones we tasted were excellent!
I haven't talked much about the wine yet, but it was so wonderful. The sommelier was so fantastic, really knowledgeable and interesting, and took the time to really explain the wines to us, as well as telling us some good stories about his favourite wine. Every wine tasted completely really different once it was drank with the food, and for someone who doesn't know a lot about wine, I was amazed about how the wine tasted, and how it actually seemed to make the food taste better.
I will say that by this point we were getting suitably drunk, after all the wine, sake, fizz and general merriment, that is enough to make anyone giddy! Then to add to it, the next course was whisky gums, that were really strong, and tasted like pure whisky. Very novel way of presenting as well!
The final treat was a sweet shop bag, which lots of sweet treats in. To be honest, I was done in at this point and decided to save something to take home for the hubby (which he loved btw). All the others ate their sweets and by the looks on their faces, I would say they enjoyed them!
So there it was! The best meal ever, literally, fact! There were points where I literally had tears in my eyes, it was that good! Very lucky to have experienced it and shared with such wonderful friends. Maybe turning 30 wasn't so bad after all!!
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