On the day of the Royal Wedding, Central London was blissfully empty of traffic. Such joy! No wonder there were tables to be had at Heston Blumenthal's new restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge. (The restaurant is otherwise fully booked until 1st August 2011).
The Mandarin Oriental Hotel
on Friday 29th April, 2011, free of congestion!
There is a fixed price menu of 3 courses, modestly priced at £28.00. Interestingly, almost all the diners chose from the a la carte menu. It's one-page menu, A4 size, folded into three sections, one section each for starters, main course and desserts. At the back of this simple menu are the origins of the dishes, some dating back to 16th century. It's very clever, using the heritage ticket to sell food.
One of the most popular starters was the Meat Fruit, a mandarin orange casing containing chicken liver pate. The mandarin orange casing looked almost like the real thing, although it was made of mandarin jelly. The liver pate was rich beyond imagination, the sort of food that would give you gout.... The service was impeccable, and by 1.30 p.m., the dining room saw an influx of glamoursly attired guests, the ladies in plumed hats and the men in morning suits. Outside, the hotel was cordoned off by police motorcade, no doubt because of some high profile clients staying at this prestigious address.
The Household Calvary riding past the main dining room
