Words Hannah Hopkins

Discover Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

Heston Blumenthal is known for constantly pushing boundaries with his unique take on molecular gastronomy, and Dinner is no exception.

His only London-based restaurant has a prominent focus on food history. Culinary creations, cooked under the watchful eye of Chef Director Ashley Palmer-Watts, have a wealth of context as well as a hefty dose of fun – well, you’d expect nothing less from a Heston restaurant. This is demonstrated in one of the newest additions to the menu – ‘Eggs in Verjuice’ – an egg-shaped shell that once cracked open is filled with verbena and coconut panna cotta with coffee parfait, verjuice and a citrus ‘yolk’.

For starters, you cannot miss the iconic ‘Meat Fruit’, one of the most Instagrammed dishes in the world. A play on an old English habit of making one food look like another, a mound of chicken liver parfait with a thin layer of mandarin jelly is made to resemble a pitted, dimpled mandarin. Served with toasted sourdough, it’s not just theatrically impressive – it’s genuinely delicious.

A main of ‘Chicken & Cauliflower’ is comfort food with a high-end twist. Moist chicken topped with crispy skin is accompanied by smoked cauliflower, brown butter and a parmesan and truffle macaroni. Another main of ‘Cod in Cider’ with flamed mussels is sweet and moreish.

For dessert you can have a scoop of ice cream made tableside with liquid nitrogen, served in a sugar cone with a selection of toppings, but we highly recommend the plate-lickingly good Victorian dessert of Tipsy Cake. This soft, yeasty, syrup-infused brioche comes with pineapple roasted on a spit powered by a £70,000 giant watch mechanism. The spit is visible to diners, and there are other fun touches to see too. Porcelain wall sconces that adorn the walls are in the shape of antique jelly moulds, large wooden sculptures on the ceiling mimic the leading of a stained-glass window at Westminster Abbey and there is of course, the less exciting, but nonetheless very beautiful view of Hyde Park.

With world class food, two Michelin stars and a place in the top 50 restaurants in the world, you’d be forgiven for thinking Dinner could verge into stuffy territory, but it perfectly balances undeniably classy food with a lighthearted atmosphere. Heston had a high concept for this restaurant and boy does it deliver.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
66 Knightsbridge, SW1X
dinnerbyheston.co.uk