Dinner @ Dinner by Heston

Dinner

As a treat for working so hard in 2013 (this is a massive lie- and a blatent excuse to spoil myself and cure any January blues!) I booked a table for myself and MM at Heston Blumenthal's London restaurant- 'Dinner,' at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge.
It was a particularly wet and dreary Thursday night, during a particularly long and tiresome week at work (January weekdays feel SO much longer than normal!) so a pick-me-up was most definitely both needed, and deserved. We trekked across the city (carefully not ruining my suede Kurt Geigers in any rogue puddles) and arrived- a little wet and windswept at the hotel.

From the minute we arrived the service we received was absolutely amazing.We were greeted and ushered into the warm foyer by a suited-and-booted doorman, escorted to the restaurant reception by a lovely congierge lady, and shown immediately to our table by the maitre'd. I was amazed at the seamless journey from door to table- no hanging around, no queuing to be seen, no waiting for the table to be cleared from the previous sitting...  just stressless and easy, and I didn't even have to put on my posh voice!

Our table was positioned right next to the glass-sided, fish-tank-esque kitchen... Ideal for MM as it meant he could watch the chefs at work instead of listening to me natter on about  interesting Heston related trivia that I had taught myself during the day (clearly a very busy day at the office...) 
The chefs were prepping for the evening service- all seemed remarkably calm and collected. No running in and out of gigantic freezers (a'la Masterchef), or dashing from grill to chopping board looking red-faced and sweaty. The organisation was remarkable and kind of mesmerising. 
 

The menu is not particularly extensive- which suited me perfectly as I am one of the most indecisive people in the world, ever... It generally takes me an hour in the lead up to my lunch break to decide which shop to get lunch from, and a further 20 minutes when I'm there deciding what I want.

At Dinner, the menu is based on historical, quintessentially English dishes, which all sound very interesting, albeit a bit peculiar (as you would probably expect from Blumenthal)..- "savoury porridge" is not something I read and immediately thought 'corr, just want I fancy!' but nonetheless, they are all intreguing and you just know that whatever you choose is going to be fantastic.

After much deliberation - we decided to share 2 starters between us (I think this may have been because MM was getting frustrated with my 'Umm'ing and Ahh'ing.) We decided to get a 'Meat Fruit' (chicken liver parfait in a mandarin gel with sourdough toast) and a 'Savoury Porridge' (a sort of garlicky, fennel and parsley oaty risotto concoction, with beetroot and topped with frogs legs)... I appreciate I'm not really selling this! But it was a.m.a.z.i.n.g. 

The parfait was silky smooth, and perfect. The novelty of the presentation was hugely appreciated (cue the tourist papping her food from 15 different angles) and it really did taste as impressive as it looked.

The porridge was like an oaty risotto.. bright green and really fun-looking, it tasted amazing - really fresh.. not at all gloopy and heavy like I had expected. Plus it came with frogs legs, which neither myself or MM had tried before, so that was another new experience for us both (we learned that frogs legs are very tasty and decided we should probably go to Paris so we can eat some more.)

Feeling satisfied and amazed, we didnt have to wait long for our main courses. I had Spiced Pigeon with Artichokes and a thick ale-y sauce, and MM had the slow cooked Pork Belly with ham hock.
Both were unbelievable.. we both ate in absolute silence, which is generally unheard of. But looking around the restaurant, every else's tables seemed to be doing the same. 
At one point I very nearly turned into 'one of those people' and closed my eyes while I ate. But I managed to stop myself. PHEW.

Now, for dessert!! A very tough decision for us to make (#firstworldproblems). 
We had heard amazing things about the ice-cream trolly (they come and actually MAKE the ice-cream for you at your table!) but you have to decide before your meal what you want, as if you choose the infamous Tipsy Cake (which we did) it needs to be ordered in advance.
Although I was a bit disappointed to be missing the theatre and spectacle of the ice-cream trolley, I think we chose VERY well. 
Think: spit roasted pineapple basted in sugar syrup, with a brioche cake slowly cooked in a hot brandy and vanilla cream sauce. 

Absolute dream. 

I could probably live off tipsy cake forever.

Our waiter was great, spending time with us and explaining the background of each dish- the history of it, how it is made etc.. Very interesting, but not at all intrusive. He also happily took a photo of us at our table (with no eye-rolling or scoffing) which was nice.

MM's uncle is a chef, and so I tentatively asked (in my posh voice this time) if we could possibly have a menu to take away with us as a gift for him. It was absolutely not a problem, and our waiter returned to our table with a menu signed by Mr HB himself to take home with us... we had to give it away quickly as I  was tempted to keep it myself!

It's not cheap... but it is worth every single penny. I genuinely didn't feel remoted ripped off, and paying the bill did not feel painful as it so often does!! I felt incredibly content, full and spoilt. Mission accomplished!
The next time I decide to spoil myself I will be pushed to find somewhere that rivals Dinner.

MM and I went home, already planning what to have next time. Happy Thursday to us!