A disappointing experience overall. The plus point...

A disappointing experience overall. The plus points were the local area was nice and the staff were friendly, polite and talkative.

I've never had a tasting menu where I wasn't looking forward to the next dish. The only reason I stayed and didn't walk out was because I was dining with my girlfriend, who was looking forward to the meal and had high hopes. Personally, I felt nausea kick in during the third course, which persisted and worsened over the evening. Later on, my girlfriend also fell a bit ill. From what you read in the news and other patrons, getting sick is part of the Fat Duck experience (Google fat duck shellfish contamination or fat duck norovirus food poisoning ).

The dishes do look nice, but the chefs forgot to make them taste good. Each dish represented the chef s apparent desire to create something obscure just for the sake of being different rather than genuinely appeal to the senses of a restaurant patron. The dishes over-attempt to play with your sense of texture / touch, and make minor attempts at playing with your sense of sound, sight and taste. A lot of the attempts to play with the senses were tacky and gimmicky, much like a kindergarten's science show (e.g. like for the Sound of the Sea dish, having patrons put on headphones to listen to the sounds of a beach, or for the Aperitif using liquid nitrogen to make a mini-meringue, or for the "Whiskey Gums" sticking gummy sweets, i.e. over-priced Haribo, on a map behind a glass picture frame).



Giving a one star rating for the Fat Duck is generous, in stellar terms it s more of a big black hole. If you read five star reviews anywhere else, notice how quite a high number discuss and praise Mr. Blumenthal s TV persona in the reviews and justify their visits as pilgrimages more than anything else. It s sad to hear people saving up money and waiting years to visit this place! Don t fall for celebrity hype and don t fall prey to receiving poor value from a restaurant that has long ago rested its laurels on its old luster. Save your time and save your money. Pass on the Fat Duck in Bray, Melbourne or wherever it flocks off to next.