London, United Kingdom

Dinner by Heston BlumenthalTwo rows of windows, and nothing but trees outside

The windows run up to the ceiling and there is no building between them and the park. On the plate, a date: c.1500, c.1390, and the cooking written for it.

The dining room is inside the Mandarin Oriental at 66 Knightsbridge, SW1X 7LA, on the side of the hotel that faces Hyde Park.

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PlaceKnightsbridge, London

StyleHistoric English recipes

KitchenHeston Blumenthal

Earliest dishc.1390

Why the year sits after the name

London, United Kingdom — Tasting menu from historic recipes.

A century follows every dish name, the earliest of them c.1390. The kitchen works backwards from the year, then plates it the way it would be plated now. An orange cut open is chicken liver parfait with grilled bread, dated c.1500; saffron, beef cheek and red wine meet under c.1390. These dishes were dug out with food historians, museums, the British Library and people at Hampton Court.

Ivory walls carry a row of porcelain wall lights made to order, their shape taken from old jelly moulds. Glass runs from floor to ceiling between the kitchen and the room: chefs plate on one side, guests sit on the other, and hands can be seen moving behind it.

The restaurant sits inside the Mandarin Oriental. You come in off Knightsbridge into the hotel and walk back through it, and the windows on the park side are tall, with trees in front of them and no building in the way.

Behind the glass, a copper-coloured rack with chains hanging down and a gilt pineapple at the end of them, three chefs in white jackets and black aprons plating at the pass — A copper rack behind glass, chains hanging

A single orange on a black background, the peel finely pitted, a green stem and two leaves joined at the top — One orange on black, stem and two leaves

A white porcelain soup plate holding a glossy hemisphere, fine red-brown lines radiating from the top, sitting on a brown biscuit base with pale pieces of fruit scattered around, everything else black

The hemisphere in the soup plate

A wide white soup plate holds a glossy hemisphere at its centre, pale underneath, fine red-brown lines running out from the top and stopping at the rim. It sits on a light brown biscuit base, pieces of pale fruit scattered around it on the plate.

The private room

High-backed chairs line both sides of the table, their fabric a greyish purple, places laid already with cutlery and napkins rolled into tubes. A run of crystal lights hangs low overhead and drops its light onto copper-red walls.

Two slender wine glasses in the foreground, one at the left and one lower right, an open kitchen lit up behind them with somebody working at a stainless counter and pans hanging from a rack

Behind the glasses

Two tall wine glasses stand in front, one to the left and one lower right, their bowls narrow. Everything behind them is lit: stainless steel, somebody moving along it, pans hanging down from a rack.

On a thick wooden board, a small black cast-iron pot with lettering on its handle holding a round loaf, golden and split into segments; beside it a long slice, dark on top and amber inside, against a black background

Route

Out of the hotel, into the park

This takes an evening. Step out of the hotel and Hyde Park is already there, so the way home can be a loop through the trees instead of a car.

Why dinner moved to the evening

Eating while the sky was still light went on in England for a long time. Candles became cheap, then gas lighting arrived, and only after that did the main meal of the day begin its slide towards evening. By the middle of the nineteenth century it had settled there, and the table was lit from above rather than by the sun.

The name stops at that turn. In the late 1990s Heston Blumenthal became absorbed by how people had eaten in the past, and the menu began from there. The team page on the official site lists him alone, under the title Creator.

Booking, and getting in

Online booking opens three months ahead, one day at a time. A credit card guarantees the table. The official site says a booking is not compulsory, but for anyone coming into town for this meal alone it suggests arranging one early, since the calendar is the whole of the supply.

A cancellation has to be given in writing seventy-two hours before the booking time. The chef's table and the private room work to fourteen days instead, and both can be booked six months ahead. The telephone line runs from nine in the morning until six.

Also worth knowing

The day it closes, the two rooms within it, and the one day of the year it does something else.

Tuesday

One day a week is closed, and both lunch and dinner go with it.

The chef's table

It faces the glass kitchen. Six courses or eight, at lunch and at dinner, with a sommelier assigned to it alone.

The private room

Tudor in manner, for up to 12 people, around an oval table of sapele and mahogany.

The King's Table

The oval table at the centre of the private room copies The King's Table, excavated at the Palace of Westminster. The original came out of the ground.

Christmas

The restaurant opens as usual that day with a separate menu, and guests come in between 12:30 and 19:30.

What changes

The menu follows the season. Changes are usually given two weeks ahead, and anyone holding a booking can move their date on the strength of it.

Putting a meal here into a trip

A menu sorted by century, a room behind glass, and a calendar that opens three months out.

Cuisine

English recipes from the thirteenth century onward, worked into one menu. A la carte and two tasting menus run side by side.

Booking

Online through the official site or by telephone. Dates open three months ahead, one day at a time, and a card is needed to hold one.

Hours

Lunch from 12:00, dinner from 18:00, half an hour later from Friday to Sunday and on bank holidays. Closed on Tuesdays.

Dress and diet

Smart casual, as listed on the official site. Anything the kitchen should know about diet is best raised with the restaurant when booking.

Plan this into a journey

Tell us the dates and who is travelling, and we can talk through how an evening here sits against the rest of a London stay.

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