“Like a hermit crab in search of a bigger and better shell,” is how the team behind The Fat Duck describes the restaurant migration to Melbourne.
Heston Blumenthal’s fine dining restaurant has flapped its way from Bray, England, to pop-up down under for the next six months at Crown Towers hotel in Southbank, Melbourne’s urban centre and cultural hub.
The move also marks the establishment’s twentieth anniversary and fulfils the Michelin-starred chef’s dream to set up shop in Australia.
A similar dining experience is on offer with a full Tasting Menu that will set you back AUS $525 (US $408) and will supposedly take you on a journey of “of history, nostalgia, memory and emotion – a multi-sensory phantasmagoria.”
The tasting menu includes aerated beetroot, red cabbage gazpacho and nitro-poached aperitifs, including gin and tonic and Campari soda.
The experience continues with savoury lollies, jelly of quail with truffle toast, snail porridge with shaved fennel and roast marron with shiitake, confit kombu and sea lettuce.
Next up is the “Mad Hatter’s Tea Party” with mock turtle soup and the “Sound of the Sea”, which includes salmon poached in a liquorice gel, vanilla mayo and golden trout roe.
The menu also includes iced tea, botrytis cinera and whisky wine gums. Wine pairings are also made available, thanks to head chef Jonathan Lake and head sommelier Isa Bal.