Heston Blumenthal is renowned for his creativity and ability to give you a childlike experience with whimsical food that excites and ignites your imagination. A couple of examples of this are the ‘meat fruit’ which appears to be a mandarin but is in fact a savoury entre of pate, and the nitro ice-cream trolley where they churn the ice-cream in front of you at your table in a smoky, theatrical display. Heston’s quirky ideas come across in the food and experience at Dinner.
Dinner by Heston has recipes inspired from old century dishes dating back to c.1300 and on the menu it mentions the year of the recipe each dish was inspired by. There is a piece of cardboard wrapped around the menu with a little fun fact which adds to the old-ages theme of the restaurant. It’s a good convo starter and reminds me of when you find a joke in a bon bon at a Christmas table.
The Meat Fruit c.1500 is my fave, I order it everytime. It is presented to the table and looks just like a mandarin (a perfect one at that) and things get better when you cut into it to reveal an exceptionally smooth pate which you slather on the thick cut grilled buttery brioche that accompanies it.
Sometimes if you go in Autumn or Christmas they may have the plum fruit version which is equally as good. It looks like a plum and has a red wine casing around the pate.
Frumenty c.1390 is the grilled octopus which is super tender with pickled red moss with spots of green leek & chervil emulsion in a smoked sea broth. The flavours in this dish were delightful.
The Rice and Flesh c.1390 is a creamy bright yellow saffron risotto with beautifully braised curried kangaroo tail with red wine & amaranth.
The Roasted Quail c.1590 was cooked perfectly served with a delicious jus and dukkah crumb. It sat on a bed of butternut pumpkin puree and was topped with crisp curls of pumpkin.
Slow cooked pork belly c.1670 was interesting, it was tender and it’s flavour reminded me more of a ham steak with a scored skin and had whole baby pickled onions, black pudding covered in a thin layer of bacon (so thin it was transparent like lardon) and aerated crispy pork crackle on top.
The Sirloin of David Blackmore Wagyu c.1830 is your classic steak and chips. The meat is dry-aged for at least 28 days and cooked over wood and charcoal embers which results in melt-in your-mouth wagyu and it’s served with mushroom ketchup. The side of triple cooked chips were bomb.
The Cod in Cider c.1940 was lovely with the soft melt-apart fish and crispy skin. It sat in a beautiful cider and seafood broth with silverbeet leaves, roast onions & fired mussels.
Eggs in verjuice c.1730 looked like a little blue egg sitting in a nest. The shell was actually made of white chocolate and when you cracked it open, it looked like a soft-boiled egg inside. The egg white was coconut panna cotta and coffee parfait with a verjuice & citrus egg yolk centre.
Ice cream with Vegemite c.1920 is ever so Australian and while you would think Vegemite is not something you want in a dessert, you will be pleasantly surprised. It comes with toasted barley cream, yeast caramel and for texture macadamia, puffed spelt and a sourdough crumble. They bring out a big vegemite jar and use a honey stick to drizzle the vegemite chocolate sauce over the top.
The Tipsy cake c.1810 is a must. When you walk into the restaurant you see the pineapples roasting on the spit which makes you excited about dessert.
The cake is a sponge-like pudding soaked with a sweet brandy custard. The spit roasted pineapple is charred, sweet, amazing.
It’s fun to end on the Nitro ice cream trolley c.1900. The staff come around to your table and whip up the ice-cream right before your eyes using liquid nitrogen so there is a sudden flurry of smoke going everywhere.
They scoop the ice-cream into a baby cone and top it was some freeze-dried berries to eat straight away.
They end the meal with a rich chocolate mousse and chocolate biscuits.
I heart Dinner by Heston
Olives x
Dinner by Heston
Address: Level 3, Crown Towers, 8 Whiteman St, Southbank VIC 3006
Website: https://www.dinnerbyheston.com.au
Phone: (03) 9292 5779
Trading Hours: Mon-Thu: 6pm-10pm, Fri: 5.30pm-10.30pm, Sat-Sun: 12pm-2pm, 5.30pm=10.30pm
