The Fat Duck
BrayHeston Blumenthal's three-star theatre of taste in a Berkshire village — a tasting menu built as a single childhood story, from seaside to sweet shop.
The Clove Club proved that a Michelin-starred London restaurant does not need white tablecloths, hushed rooms or a French accent. Isaac McHale's kitchen — now holding two Michelin stars — occupies the old committee rooms of the Grade II listed Shoreditch Town Hall on Old Street, and the contrast defines the place: mosaic floors and high ceilings on one side, an open kitchen, blue tiles and a soundtrack on the other.
Our package includes the full tasting menu, a kitchen tour before the meal and your choice of aperitif from a list that is one of the most interesting in London — house-made ferments, British vermouths and low-intervention sparkling wines sit alongside the expected Champagnes.
The cooking champions overlooked British ingredients and historic recipes rebuilt in a modern, light idiom: Orkney scallop with hazelnut and clementine, wood pigeon with blackcurrant leaf, raw Cornish beef with oyster, and the buttermilk fried chicken with pine salt that has been on the menu since 2013 and will never be removed. Portions are generous by tasting-menu standards and the pacing is brisk — three hours rather than five.
This is the most relaxed fine dining in our catalogue, and the easiest to combine with the rest of a London weekend. Shoreditch's markets, galleries and coffee bars are on the doorstep, and the venue is six minutes from Old Street station.
Everything below is scheduled and confirmed before you travel. Timings are the recommended defaults and can be adjusted to your arrival.
Your briefing pack maps a two-hour walking loop: Columbia Road, Redchurch Street, Boundary Estate and Arnold Circus, finishing at the Town Hall steps.
Before service you are taken through the pass and prep areas by a member of the brigade — the ferment store, the ageing fridges and the wood grill.
Your included aperitif in the front bar room, chosen from an unusually deep list of British vermouths, house ferments and sparkling wines.
The famous buttermilk fried chicken with pine salt arrives first, followed by a run of small bites that set the tone: sharp, seasonal and confident.
Seafood from Cornwall and Orkney, then game or aged beef, then a vegetable course that is never an afterthought. Portions are noticeably larger than most tasting menus.
British orchard fruit, dairy and honey lead the desserts. The petits fours nod to historic English confectionery.
The meal ends early enough for a nightcap. We list three recommended bars within five minutes' walk in your pack.
| Price | £320 per person |
|---|---|
| Duration | 1-Day Experience |
| Chef | Isaac McHale |
| Style | Modern British, historic recipes reimagined |
| Location | Shoreditch, London, England |
Shoreditch Town Hall opened in 1866 as the grandest vestry hall in London, and the scale is still startling: marble staircases, a 700-seat assembly hall and civic mottos carved into stone. The Clove Club occupies a corner of it, and the restaurant makes no attempt to imitate the grandeur around it.
The result is the best kind of mismatch — a Victorian shell holding a room that feels like it was designed last year.
There is no dress code worth worrying about, the music is audible, and the kitchen is fully open to the room. Guests in trainers sit next to guests in tailoring and neither looks out of place.
Crucially, the informality does not extend to the cooking or the service, both of which are exacting. It is a deliberate separation: relaxed room, serious plate.
McHale's menus mine historic British recipes and undervalued ingredients — mutton, blackcurrant leaf, gorse flower, cured trout, native oysters — and rebuild them without nostalgia. Dishes are lighter and sharper than the source material, with acidity used far more aggressively than in classical British cooking.
Expect nine to twelve courses. Unusually for the format, you will not leave hungry.
One perfect bite of buttermilk-fried chicken dusted with pine salt, served in a wooden bowl of pine needles. It has opened every menu since the restaurant launched and it does a lot of work: it tells you immediately that this kitchen is not precious, and it is genuinely, absurdly good.
It is also the most photographed single mouthful in London, and the reason many guests book.
The list leans low-intervention, small-grower and unusually strong in Austria, the Jura and England, with a serious sake selection alongside. Mark-ups are more reasonable than the postcode suggests.
The pairing (from £120) is imaginative and worth taking if you enjoy wine outside the classic regions; the non-alcoholic pairing, built on house ferments and infusions, is one of the best in the country.
It changed the template. After The Clove Club, a London restaurant no longer had to choose between being serious and being enjoyable — the open kitchen, the music, the shorter menu and the accessible pricing became the default for the generation that followed.
At £320 per person, it is also the best-value starred tasting menu in central London, and the one we recommend for a first fine-dining experience.
The Clove Club is in Shoreditch, London, England. Nearest transport: Old Street Underground (6 min walk) · Liverpool Street (12 min).
Full driving directions, parking notes and rail or ferry timings are included in the briefing pack we send seven days before you travel.
No formal dress code. Smart casual is the norm and you will see everything from tailoring to trainers. Comfort is entirely acceptable here.
About three hours, which is notably shorter than most tasting menus. It suits guests who want a great dinner and an evening afterwards.
Yes — vegetarian and pescatarian menus are strong, and most allergies are handled with notice. Vegan is possible with 10 days' notice.
It involves about fifteen minutes standing in a working kitchen. Let us know about mobility needs and we will arrange a seated version at the pass instead.
Heston Blumenthal's three-star theatre of taste in a Berkshire village — a tasting menu built as a single childhood story, from seaside to sweet shop.
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Thirty-plus courses cooked over fire, at volume, on the Dyfi estuary — Gareth Ward's two-star Welsh kitchen is the loudest and most uncompromising meal in Britain.
Tell us your dates and we will confirm availability, dietary requirements and the full itinerary within two working days.
