Last weekend we learned that Heston Blumenthal had closed his Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, because 40 or so customers had reported feeling ill. I’m not surprised. I felt ill just watching the start of his new series, Feast (Channel 4, Tuesday), and not a morsel had passed my lips.
(Actually, some years ago I managed to get a table at the Fat Duck. The food was extraordinary, the price reasonable considering it was that year’s Best Restaurant in the World, but the experience was marred by the snotty French waiter who said the tasting menu was for the whole table only, so I couldn’t have it. Since I know I will never eat there again, this was both disappointing and infuriating.)
There is, I fear, some desperation in this new series. Where can Blumenthal go next? He is the absolute opposite of the Delia/Nigella ‘open the tin, whack in the cranberries, and hey presto! A delicious dinner for five unexpected guests!’ school of cookery, leaning more to the tiramisu in the CAT-scan, the tandoori in the steel smelter.
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