Has anyone been? My missus wants to go for a friends birthday, but omitted to tell me it's £195 EACH, plus getting there and accommodation.

Is it that good?

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Nope. But such a shame about the two chefs .

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Surely the friend should pay?

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Tim said...

Is it that good?

No food is ever £195 good. Fact.

Whenever I've gone to fine dining / private dining places with eleventy courses I've always left hungry and gone to McDonalds afterwards.

Updated November 22, 2012 at 12:08 PM

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Ampera • Women • Car Trade

Yes and yes.

That price has gone up a bit though, I went with some friends for our 30ths, 3 years ago and remember paying £280 which included the wine flight, cheese and port plus service, which probably make the tasting menu itself about £120.

On the upside, unless your Mrs' mate is hyper-organised she's unlikely to get a table anyway - have to book on a specific day in advance and be very very patient. Took us a few goes and still ended up with a midweek lunch.

Viewed on that basis, of course not, but as an experience it is more than possible. See if it's worthwhile on that basis. It might be worth every penny - it might also be a horrible rip-off.

A mate of mine went a few years back and raved about it. He blathered on about the experience rather than the food, though.

I'd be happier with a nice steak and chips, if I'm honest.

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Blumenthal's cooking seems to be entirely of the show off "look at me, I'm clever and whacky I am." Snail porridge, bacon and egg ice cream, drinking seawater with your seafood whilst listening to waves crashing via an iPod...

I've not been, but know plenty who have and were underwhelmed by the actual cooking. As a piece of pretentious participation theatre, it might be mildly entertaining, but it is seriously overpriced.

I have eaten at the Hinds Head pub he owns next door and it was mediocre pub grub at quite expensive restaurant prices.

On the other hand, we ate at Gordon Ramsay's Royal Hospital Road 3 Michelin star flagship a couple of weeks ago, having first been there 10 or 12 years ago and it is still sublimely good. Menu Prestige there was £125 and they had plenty of less expensive options.

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Horses for courses, innit. Not literally - unless you're in France, I guess.

It probably is worth it for the astonishing tastes and theatrical delivery, but I suspect you will only go once. We went with friends for a birthday two years ago when the (14 course) taster menue was £150. We opted for a wine package at £90 per head which matched 8 wines to the food. Choose the packages carefully though as the package desribed on the next page of the wine menue was £540 pounds per head...

We also couldn't take our table until 10pm and finished at around 1.00am. We all went for a walk to recover the following day, and in the evening had a couple of beers and a curry. Also very enjoyable and £200 per person less!

Updated November 22, 2012 at 12:26 PM

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PaulJ

What's wrong with a KFC bargain bucket, Ice skating & the cinema?

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Gwaredd

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I'm afraid I just don't get it.

Probably because I'm poor.

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exiges said...

Whenever I've gone to fine dining / private dining places with eleventy courses I've always left hungry and gone to McDonalds afterwards.

Whenever I've had a McDonalds I've felt hungry afterwards. Coincidence, or were tasting menus and McDs made for each other?

If having 8+ courses they can't be too big otherwise you'd be full before the main. Of course, if you are debating whether the experience is worth £195 it's probably not, to you.

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[OO=[|]=OO]

Pretentious bollocks. No food or drink is worth that much.

If you want unusual food and atmosphere, save yourself a few quid and fly to any number of far flung or even European destinations and experience whats on offer in their food outlets.

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Either you get it or you don't; no amount of internet posting is going to convince the other side that they are, in fact, Doing It Wrong.

Often the service itself in places that pricey impress more than the food itself.

JezH said...

Pretentious bollocks. No food or drink is worth that much.

Could say the same about the price of opera tickets. If you don't like it, don't go - supply and demand keeps the price high.

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JezH said...

Pretentious bollocks. No food or drink is worth that much.

If you want unusual food and atmosphere, save yourself a few quid and fly to any number of far flung or even European destinations and experience whats on offer in their food outlets.

Except that it's not like-for-like, is it - any establishment of similar quality is going to be equally expensive, and you now have travel and accommodation costs

Opera? Load of bollocks. I can hear music on the radio for FREE.

JezH said...

Pretentious bollocks. No food or drink is worth that much.

So you wouldn't buy a Ferrari because no car is worth that much? Higher quality/more refined product is available in all industries or markets for those with the money to spend. A curry-n-chips will satisfy the same basic need as a meal at a three star restaurant. But in the same way that a 10 year old Vauxhall will get you from a to b the same way an F12 will, the latter will do it with more oomph and style.

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For our second date I told the missus I was taking her out to dinner. When I picked her up from her home I was pleasantly surprised at the effort she'd made to look good, done her hair, makeup, lovely dress etc.

She was not pleasantly surprised when half an hour later we were sat on a wall eating sausage + chips out of the paper.

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