Reception
Fodor's describes the restaurant as "extraordinary" and "one of the best restaurants in the country". Frommer's gives the restaurant three stars, grading it as "exceptional". Harden's gives the food and service a score of two and the ambience a score of four on a scale of one to five where one is high.
In September 1996, Ben Rogers ate at the restaurant for The Independent before it had gained any Michelin stars or the awards it has today and while it was still using something close to its original menu. Even so he discovered that Blumenthal was cooking foie gras in sherry in order to give it a nutty flavour, although Rogers wasn't sure if the nutty flavour was warranted in the dish itself. He did think that a jambonneau of duck was worth praising, describing it as "delicious", but also thought that another dish of monkfish was rubbery in texture. He described the menu itself as "awkwardly written, badly punctuated, and at points quite impenetrable". Following the first Michelin star, David Fingleton visited the restaurant for The Spectator, and said that the experience was "beyond reproach; unsullied pleasure from start to finish". Terry Durack reviewed the restaurant in 2001, also for The Independent. He was initially hesitant as he expected tricks straight away and was surprised to find a bowl of normal green olives on the table as he arrived. He didn't think much of a mustard ice cream in a red cabbage gazpacho soup, but described the restaurant as "great" and gave it a score of seventeen out of twenty. Following the third Michelin star, Jan Moir of The Daily Telegraph visited the restaurant but disliked it, saying that "while many of the flavours are politely interesting, the relentless pappy textures of mousses and foams and creams and poached meats really begins to grate". She also thought the restaurant was overpriced, calling it "The Fat Profit".
Matthew Fort reviewed the restaurant for The Guardian in 2005, he said that "there is no doubt that the Fat Duck is a great restaurant and Heston Blumenthal the most original and remarkable chef this country has ever produced". A. A. Gill for The Times recommended that people should "eat here at least once to find out what is really going on in your mouth". Also in 2005, German food critic Wolfram Siebeck visited the restaurant complained of the delays in service and of several of the dishes, described the mustard ice cream in a red cabbage gazpacho soup as a "fart of nothingness", while chef Nico Ladenis said of the restaurant, "Someone who makes egg and bacon ice cream is hailed a genius. If you vomit and make ice cream out of it, are you a star?" Tony Naylor of The Guardian enjoyed his trip to the restaurant in 2008, and afterwards criticised those who thought that spending £323.13 on a meal for two at lunchtime was too much. Food critic Andy Hayler visited the restaurant in May 2010, and gave it a score of nine out of ten overall. He was particularly fond of the mock turtle soup. He gave that particular dish a full score of ten out of ten on his scale, which means "It is extremely rare that a restaurant can achieve perfect dishes on a consistent basis".
The restaurant has spent nine years on the list of The World's 50 Best Restaurants, including in 2005 when it was listed as the best. It has been ranked second best on numerous occasions, first behind The French Laundry and then behind El Bulli. In 2012, he was ranked in thirteenth place. In 2010, it was named the Best UK Restaurant in the Quintessentially Awards, a scheme run by the Quintessentially Group.
In 2009, it was the only restaurant to be given a top score of ten out of ten in the Good Food Guide. The editor of the guide, Elizabeth Carter, explained the reason for the score, "It's extremely rare that a restaurant cooks perfectly on a consistent basis, but we've had so many superlative reports that we're delighted to recognise The Fat Duck as the best restaurant in Britain." It retained that top score through to the 2013 edition of the guide, where for the first time another restaurant was also given an equal score when Simon Rogan's L'Enclume also received the top marking.
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Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“But in the reception of metaphysical formula, all depends, as regards their actual and ulterior result, on the pre-existent qualities of that soil of human nature into which they fall—the company they find already present there, on their admission into the house of thought.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)
“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)