While Mr. T and I were planning our Melbourne trip, I knew that I would love to dine at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal! Lucky for me, Mr. T agreed! So we made a booking and I became even more excited for our Melbourne trip.
The night we were have dinner at Dinner was also the night of the Logies awards, this made finding the restaurant that much more difficult. But, we finally made it through the hubbub, into the calm atmosphere of Dinner. Now, Mr. T and I are not used to fine dining of this caliber, so we felt slightly out of place, but the staff made us feel welcomed and comfortable.
So let's get down to the food!
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Meat Fruit ($38) |
The entree I ordered was the meat fruit. This was a no brainer, we've seen a lot of photos of this dish and we've heard a lot of hype about it too. Well all the photos and hype was right. This was one delicious dish. The pate was silky smooth and the flavour was intense and delicious. There was definitely not enough bread for the pate, but fortunately they offered us more bread and we enthusiastically accepted. Also, I was amazed that the orange "skin" of the pate just melted in the mouth and it was flavourless, so it didn't disturb the tastiness of the pate.
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Salamagundy ($37) |
Mr. T ordered the salamagundy. Actually I made him order it. So this dish is made of chicken oysters with radish, horseradish cream, marrowbone and pickled walnuts. Before this night, I didn't know there was a part of the chicken called oysters, so this dinner was educational as it was delicious. Of course the chicken was tender and tasty and the horseradish cream added a nice zing to the dish. The pickled walnut added a nice crunch, so overall this dish was like a tasty and light chicken salad.
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Roast Hapuka in Cider ($56) |
For mains, I chose the roast hapuka as was recommended by our waitress. Well, I loved it. The fish was moist and so tender, I barely had to touch it and it fell apart. The hapuka itself was very subtly seasoned, but eaten with the cider sauce/soup, it was like an explosion of refined flavours. There were also mussels in this dish that was equally tender that I barely had to chew. I loved every element of this dish, down to the roast onions!
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Roast Quail ($56) |
Mr. T chose the roast quail (yes, he chose this dish all by himself). I'm not usually a big fan of quail, but this I liked. I only tried a little bit of this dish, but I loved what I tried. The quail was well cooked and the sauce was light and tangy. The pumpkin elements in this dish made it smell, taste and feel so homey and warming.
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Tipsy Cake ($32) |
Now, on to the desserts! Mr. T ordered the tipsy cake, again recommended by our waitress. The cake was so cute, it looked like a fluffy pillow, but perfectly golden. The brioche cake was like eating one tasty cloud and the pineapple was nicely caramelised. The cake was perfectly sweet and it went great with the sourness of the pineapple.
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Eggs in Verjuice ($32) |
As for me, I ordered the eggs in verjuice. The egg was like magic on a plate. It was a lot of fun cracking through the chocolate shell and finding what was inside. So inside is coconut pannacotta and coffee parfait as the egg white and verjuice and citrus mixture as the egg yolk. This dish was sweet, sour and bitter all at once, which was great. At times I found the verjuice and citrus mixture and little too sour, but the pannacotta balanced it nicely.
Then to bring our dinner to a close, they also served these tiny chocolate post-dessert desserts. It was made of chocolate ganache with chocolate biscotti. Everything on this dish was rich, and left a sweet after-taste after what was a great dinner.
Our dinner at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal was not just dinner, it was a whole experience and we loved every minute of it!
Ratings: /10
Food: 9.5
Value: 8
Atmosphere: 9
Service: 9
Overall: 8.9/10
Restaurant information
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
Crown Towers
8 Whiteman Street
Southbank
Victoria
Ph: (03) 9292 5777