Chef Heston Blumenthal OBE has opened an experiential dining venue at Atlantis The Royal in Dubai, featuring historical dishes that date as far back as the 14th century.
The menu at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal is inspired by ancient tastes and flavours of Britain, from farmers’ tables to the royal courts of England. The dining venue also operates in Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London.
Dishes include Meat Fruit, which appears to be a mandarin but is actually an artistically disguised chicken liver parfait, and is inspired by a traditional medieval dish dating from 1500 called Pome Dorres, or apples of gold. The multi-day recipe is created by three cooks on the cold larder station, who work five hours a day on the dish.
The Salamagundy is Dinner’s contemporary version of a 17th-century salad dish featuring layers of smoked confit chicken, warm slices of beef bone marrow, pickled walnuts, braised salsify with bitter leaves, finished with freshly grated horseradish.
Located on the second floor of Atlantis The Royal, the restaurant overlooks the Skyblaze fire and water fountain show via a terrace and floor to ceiling windows. Guests enter the restaurant via a panelled room, perfumed with frankincense, wood smoke and leather, which features Victorian-style animal sculptures built into the wood. As the entry door closes, a concealed automatic sliding door opens to reveal the restaurant and show kitchen. A pineapple rotisserie and a two-metre clock known as The Dinner Escapement greet guests when they enter.
Blumenthal said: “I’m excited for guests to experience Dinner Dubai, although similar to Dinner in London, the Dubai venue has something extra special that our London guests won’t see, a giant pineapple escapement, which is the magical centre piece of the restaurant, that also provides a functional element, turning the rotisserie which has roasted pineapples on it.
“Atlantis The Royal and Dubai were the perfect locations for Dinner outside of London, I like the idea of the juxtaposition of the old and the new, historically inspired recipes reimagined with modern techniques [...] housing it in an incredible new building; Atlantis, on the sea in Dubai.”
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal is open daily from 6pm – 11pm.