The Fat Duck

There are few places I have looked forward to more than this. The Fat Duck is a world-reknown destination, rightly belonging on every culinary bucket list. For context, Thomas Keller studied here before opening The French Laundry. Other than Noma, this restaurant was my main target for this trip.

Found well outside of London in the quaint village of Bray, getting to this restaurant is hard enough. A rail strike occurred that made it even harder. But arrive we did, with enough time to wander the village and see the staff outside taking a photo.

This restaurant is known for breaking barriers. Doing things that no one else had ever done or seen. "Alice in Wonderland" is the typical reference to help understand what the experience is like. They invented molecular gastronomy. This is the first restaurant to ever use liquid nitrogen.

"Trail blazing" would be an understatement.

Now, many restaurants utilize the techniques invented here. And perhaps that helped this experience become a bit of a let down for me. Nothing was wrong, per se. But I kept waiting for the "big reveal" and ended up thinking "Oh...that's it...?"

The storyline is definitely creative. We were there for the Christmas Menu, typically the best one of the year. From the playful magnifying glass, interactive menu, Christmas tree with presents (with your name on it) through to the food itself (Christmas breakfast with toast, an homage to a Sunday roast, etc.), customized "crackers" (a traditional popping Christmas toy) - the entire experience was well thought out. The myriad of stuff needed was impressive too. The design and printing of the menus, rolling fireplaces, miniature Christmas trees complete with presents and lights...I was taken with the amount of forethought and effort that went in just to enable this meal. Not the food...all of the other stuff.

There were definitely some really creative presentations, meant to dazzle with tableside presentations. The liquid nitrogen drink to begin, the gold-plated carrot swirled into beef stock, the aforementioned fireplace on a cart (which was actually fire) - all supported by customized lighting for each table that adjusted for various presentations.

The food, though, was underwhelming. Proper. Cooked well. But nothing really made you groan and wish for more. That's a pretty huge downfall for a restaurant as sterling as this. Other than that beef stock with the carrot (which I really found to be brilliant), no other dish really stands out to talk about. 

We shared both the wine and non-alcoholic pairings. Both were really superb...especially the non-alcoholic. I'd highly recommend that one to you should visit here.

Am I glad I went? Yes! This is The Fat Duck, after all!! But if I'm being honest, most of that comes from its historic reputation, and not so much the experience that was delivered. Certainly not the food. It had a bit of a feel of a place that was past its prime. Flashes of its old brilliance, but coasting a bit.

I wish I could say differently. But overall, I found this place fine. But not amazing.

And for a restaurant such as this, that was a bit of a let down.