The Fat Duck: Heston Blumenthal's Lifetime Work, Revisited
Is the world's most theatrical tasting menu still worth £495?
Marcus de Villiers
Culinary Correspondent
30 January 2025
12 min read
Sound of the Sea. Snail Porridge. The Mock Turtle's tea. Twenty-three years after opening, The Fat Duck continues to serve perhaps the most discussed tasting menu in the world. We went back to find out if it still earns it.
The Fat Duck is in Bray, which is a small village in Berkshire that happens to contain two three-Michelin-star restaurants within 400 metres of each other. The village has the atmosphere of somewhere that takes lunch seriously. The Fat Duck's dining room is small — 14 tables, 42 covers — and plainly decorated: white walls, linen, a few paintings.
The Menu in 2025
The current menu runs 18 courses and takes three and a half hours. Some dishes are permanent: the nitro-scrambled egg and bacon ice cream, the Sound of the Sea, the Botrytis Cinerea dessert. Others rotate with the seasons. All of them share a quality that is harder to describe than to experience: they are surprising without being confusing, technically complex without feeling effortful.
“Blumenthal has always maintained that nostalgia is an ingredient. The best dishes here taste like a memory you never had.”
Partner
The Fat Duck
£495 per person. Bookings open 3 months ahead at 9am UK time. Books out within hours.
