Day Trips: Restaurants outside London
THE FAT DUCK, BRAY
The Fat Duck was voted best restaurant in the world by 600 chefs and other professional foodies a while back. The media descended on the tiny town of Bray and ground out a series of mostly fatuous stories about “mad scientist” chef Heston Blumenthal and his wacky creations (he does what’s now known as molecular gastronomy), missing the point--he aims to realign your taste buds and your sense of humor. It takes a couple of hours to get through the tasting menu, costs about $200, and isn’t overpriced. I’ll be happy never to have sardine-on-toast sorbet again, and was underwhlemed by the bacon-and-egg ice cream, but the rest was a mix of fascinating and surprising flavors and textures, pushing delicious boundaries. An oyster in passion-fruit jelly with horseradish cream was astonishing, as good as the roast foie gras on almond gel, or barely poached salmon in a licorice skin, or the poached pigeon breast with a crispy cocoa-and-four-spice pastilla of its leg. Snail porridge was a tasty little highlight, as was the carrot-and-orange tuile with basil custard and beet jelly. Sweets, especially a mango-and-pine puree, and a rose tart, were extraordinary. It’s all thoughtful, bracing, unique cookery, based on your palate, not on the ideas of a French chef who’s been dead for 100 years.
And does it go with wine? You bet. There are more than 850 bins in the Fat Duck’s wine cellar, and it’s a well-chosen collection, though mostly high-end stuff. For $120, you can accompany the tasting menu with a judicious selection of eight glasses. Mine were all first-rate, and included Lustau sherry, Gruner Veltliner, Furmint, a dry and a sweet Riesling, Valpolicella, Shiraz, and Vin Santo; the choices change every few weeks. The ambience is appealing too—it’s the most laid-back 3-Michelin-starred restaurant in the world, hospitable and quietly elegant.
The Fat Duck, 1 High Street, Bray SL6 2AQ, Berkshire. Tel: +44 (0)1628 580333.
Open Tuesday-Sunday lunch, Tuesday-Saturday dinner. Reservations essential.
Website: www.fatduck.co.uk
HIND’S HEAD HOTEL, BRAY
Bray also now has one of its best pubs serving food in England. Nothing fancy--a proper pub, and proper British food, the sort that makes nostalgia come true: potted shrimps with watercress salad, soused herrings with beet and horseradish, Colchester oysters, rare-breed pork sausages with onion gravy, Lancashire hotpot, oxtail and kidney pudding, and so on, through to sensational endings like fruit-packed blackberry trifle, or a selection of British cheeses with quince paste. The quality of the ingredients and precision of the cooking lift it far above the ordinary run. It’s no surprise to find that this is the latest project from Heston Blumenthal, the enterprising chef-owner of the Fat Duck, a few yards further down the high street. Having proved that he can do technologically advanced cooking brilliantly, he now gives us classical ultra-retro, good enough to make this a definite destination. The wine list is concise, nearly 60 mostly judicious choices (15 of which are by the glass in two sizes). They also pull a good pint, with interesting guest ales on offer.
Hind’s Head Hotel, High Street, Bray, Berkshire SL6 2AB. Tel: +44 (0)1628 626151.
Open for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday, lunch Sunday. Reservations are a good idea.
Next month: The most elegant restaurant in Berkshire