Dinner by Heston
As I’m sure you’re all aware – because wow was there a lot of (justified) fanfare and excitement – last year the Fat Duck was in Melbourne for several months while its premises in Bray were being renovated.
(Side note: here I’m going to drop a link to my post about our visit to Fat Duck in Bray – look at those terrible photos though!)
But the Fat Duck couldn’t stay in Melbourne forever, and once it moved back to Bray, the space it occupied was changed into Dinner by Heston, a more casual, relaxed eatery. Unlike the Fat Duck, Dinner is ala carte, and serves dishes that are modern interpretations of historic British food.
Alastair and I had lunch there at the beginning of the year with the regular eating crew (yes, we had lunch at dinner).
There’s about eight starters on the menu, so we picked the six that seemed the most interesting and shared them. You should’ve seen us rotating these dishes around the table. Nerds.
Meat Fruit (c.1500) – Mandarin, chicken liver parfait & grilled bread – $38
(C.13th-15th century)
The meat fruit is probably Dinner’s most famous dish, and while it looked like a mandarin, inside was a very rich and smooth parfait. This is definitely one to share, because while delicious, it was rich.
Roast Marrowbone (c.1720) – Snails, parsley, anchovy, mace & pickled vegetables – $36
(1720 The Cook’s and Confectioner’s Dictionary by John Nott)
Rice & Flesh (c.1390) – Saffron, curried kangaroo tail, red wine & amaranth – $38
(1390 The Forme of Cury the Master Cooks of King Richard II)
This was basically like a super risotto ramped up with flavour.
Savoury Porridge (c.1660) Garlic & parsley butter, grilled abalone, picked beetroot & fennel – $36
(1660 The Whole Body of Cookery Dissected by William Rahisha)
Frumenty (c.1390) – Grilled octopus, spelt, pickled red moss, chervil emulsion & smoked sea broth – $38
(1390 The Forme of Cury the Master Cooks of King Richard II)
Marron & Cucumber soup (c.1730) – Cured prawn & roast cucumber salad, golden trout roe, sorrel & grilled onion – $40
(1730 The Complete Practical Cook by Charles Carter)
The marron and cucumber soup was my favourite dish – so refreshing and flavoursome at the same time.
After looking at the mains, we decided it would be too hard to share them so choose one each. Alastair and I had the pork belly and the lamb. The other mains were also mostly protein heavy: duck, fish, chicken, and three steak options.
Slow cooked Pork Belly (c.1820) – Spelt, lardo, baby turnip & Robert sauce – $56
(1820 based on Careme’s residency in London)
Lamb & Cucumber (c.1830) – best end of lamb with with roast cucumber heart, sweetbreads, peas, barilla & mint – $56
(1830 The Cook and Housewife’s Manual by Mistress Meg Dodds)
Hard to say which was better – they were both perfectly cooked. Maybe the lamb – I loved the sweetbreads that came with it, but not the peas (surprise surprise).
I did feel that they were quite conventional in comparison to the starters though.
Tipsy Cake (c.1830) – spit roast pineapple – $30
(1810 the English cookery book by J.H. Walsh)
Dessert was another sharing occasion. When we ordered our mains, we also ordered two Tipsy cakes as they take a while to make. We should’ve ordered three! The Tipsy Cake was sweet brioche with a caramelised cream, served with spit roasted pineapple.
It was pretty amazing and much more special and decadent than it sounds.
Cheese Board – large – $30
We also shared a cheese board, because two Tipsy cakes was more than enough sugar for us.
And there was a little sweet treat to finish our lunch.
As expected, the food at Dinner was really, really good.
Of course, being a completely different concept and restaurant, it’s nowhere near the crazy inventiveness of Fat Duck, though some of that did seem to seep into the entrees, which are dishes you wouldn’t see anywhere else in Melbourne.
Definitely worth a splurge for a special lunch (or for when your friends casually suggest having lunch at dinner).
Dinner by Heston
Crown Melbourne
Level 3, 8 Whiteman Street
Southbank
Phone: 03 9292 5777
Web: dinnerbyheston.com.au
July 5, 2016 @ 9:42 pm
Really enjoyed reading through this and looking at the photos. Looks like one for when we are next in Melbourne….10th wedding anniversay celebrations perhaps! Looking back to Bray though, that was certainly one memorable afternoon we will never forget.