The Shut Duck

Little did we know that whilst listening to Heston Blumental speak about the wonders of his cuisine at the Omnivore Food Festial in Deauville this week that he had just taken the serious decision to shut his restaurant, The Fat Duck, due to a food poisoning scare. You can read the full story on the link below.

www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/feb/27/heston-blumenthal-fat-duck

Heston Blumenthal speaking at Deauville

I think he has reacted swiftly and responsibly to try and find the cause of the outbreak and hope that he can re-open again soon without damaging his reputation. Although it could be argued that he has been tampering with food, we will await the outcome before casting 'nasturtiums'

Bon courage Heston!

The Fat Duck meets El Bulli...in Wonderland

Mention the name Heston Blumenthal and the words FOOD and CHEMISTRY spring to mind. Taste, aroma and flavour perception seem to be what modern cooking is all about these days and there can be no doubt that he is a genius alchemist at the cutting edge.

Les Cafes Confidences with Heston Blumenthal

So how fortunate we were to hear him speak for an hour at the Omnivore Food Festival this week. Especially as he talked about his latest creation inspired from his favourite childhood book, Alice in Wonderland. The dish entitled The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party is Blumenthal at his creative best and took two years to develop.

Mad Hatter's Fob Watch
Photo : Micaela Frow taken from slide show c. Heston Blumenthal

For the exact description of the recipe you’ll have to get a copy of The Big Fat Duck Cook Book (which will be hard as it has already sold out!). It is so complex it defies me attempting to explain but the first stage is the production of the Mad Hatter’s Fob Watch.

Photo : Micaela Frow taken from slide show c. Heston Blumenthal

The Mad Hatter’s Fob Watch (stages of production involve freezing, spinning the stock out to leave a flavourless ice and straining through muslin - enough said) is an intense broth tea bag that is then wrapped in edible gold leaf.

The Mock Turtle Soup
Photo : Micaela Frow taken from slide show c. Heston Blumenthal

The Fob Watch Tea Bag is placed into a teapot and the resulting bouillon then poured over the rest of the dish to form a Mock Turtle Soup flecked with gold. Unbelievable? Well his next project will include employing a magician to help him in his cookery.

If an hour with Heston Blumenthal, sorry Sir Heston, isn’t enough to blow your mind then how about a presentation from probably the most influential chef in the world. Ferran Adria is the inspiration behind the Spanish restaurant El Bulli.

Introducing the legendary Ferran Adria at OFF4

With over 2 million booking requests for only 8000 covers per year and no waiting list this is the restaurant to head for if you can’t get into The Fat Duck. Ferran speaks from the soul and his life is dedicated to researching new dishes, flavours and methods of presentation many of which were influenced during his culinary visits to Japan. In fact the idea for El Bulli, he says, came from visiting a restaurant in Japan that had only one table and could not be booked in advance.

Preparing a dish entirely comprised of seeds. The creation of life.
Photo : Micaela Frow taken from slide show c. Ferran Adria

Dining at El Bulli has been called Art in 4 Acts and is an entirely different dining experience extending to the waiters advising how to eat each dish and a preferred order to gain maximum flavour. Eating with your hands is encouraged as it is more ‘thoughtful’ apparently.

Preparing a dish entirely comprised of edible flowers.
Photo : Micaela Frow taken from slide show c. Ferran Adria

A rare opportunity as Micaela gets to chat to Ferran Adria of El Bulli

Adria's dishes are inventive colourful, minimaliste, inspired and if meeting Ferran doesn’t make you feel good, then I’ll eat my hat.

La Dive Bouteille Deauville 2009 10e

Monday 23rd February and on our way to the OFF4 Omnivore Food Festival in Deauville which this year incorporates the 10 Edition of La Dive Bouteille. A fantastic opportunity to sample ‘vin naturel’ from some 120 vignerons of France and a few from a little further afield, but more about that later.

The Loire Valley always has a very visible presence at this salon with some 42 producers from Muscadet, through Anjou, Saumur, Saumur Champigny, Touraine, to Sancerre. Including many old friends the Oosterlink’s from Domaine Juchepie in Faye d’Anjou, Eric Dubois from Clos Cristal, Sebastian Bobinet from Saumur Champigny , Antoine Foucault, le Collier and of course the now infamous Catherine and Pierre Breton of Bourgueil & Chinon whose wines I seem to find on everyones' wine list these days in France.


We specifically wanted to taste the Chenin from Romain Guiberteau, neighbours of ours in St Just sur Dive. Sue gave the thumbs up to the 2007 Saumur which was clean, fresh and acidic but with lots of grapefruity lemony zing 13.5% whilst I loved the 2006 Breze which had a nose I could wear all day as a perfume, slightly oaked with great length but not overly powerful. We will definitely be re-visiting Romain again this year on our Wine Tours.

A few other finds we discovered along the way. (more detailed tasting notes of each to follow later as the blog gets updated)


Noella Moratin from Pouillé in Touraine, one of the few female wine makers of the area, producing a cousin of chenin with her 2008 Menu Pineau with 20g residual sugar, very light, refreshing and citrus fruity and well worth trying for it’s originality and value. Chez Charles her sauvignon still under going it’s malolactic fermentation with a high level of residual sugar to balance 2008’s acidity was a surprise and an unusual find.


Matthieu de Genevraye Clos Ouvert from Chilli - Otonio 2007 very blackcurrant fruit and liquorice, excellent length produced with minimal intervention.

Le Loup Blanc - Nicolas Gaignon Languedoc

Soif de Loup 2007 Vin de Pays simple fruity, light (but not in alcohol) and very drinkable beautiful garnet colour 13.5%. Would quench our thirst along with the wolf’s.


Le Regal de Loup 2006 Minervois AOC 50% Carignan 20% Syrah, 30% Grenache aged in oak barrels very smooth 13.5%


Les Trois P’tits Vin de Pays Delicious with smooth tannins.

La Méré Grand 2006 Minervois AOC a more classic style aged in barrel more tannins displayed, great on it’s own but probably splendid with red meats.

Up next : In Conference with a not so Little Chef - Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck and Micaela get’s to meet her culinary hero Ferran Adria of El Bulli.