Dinner by Heston Blumenthal restaurant - located at the luxury Atlantis The Royal resort in Dubai (UAE) - unexpectedly received a Michelin star (very good quality) just 3 months after opening in 2023.
"We were actually in Dubai for a year and a half before the restaurant opened and worked tirelessly 13-14 hours a day," said chef Tom Allen.
To enter the restaurant, diners ascend from the hotel lobby in a circular glass elevator, surrounded by flowing water, like they are inside a waterfall. They then pass through a dark room before stepping inside to dine.
The restaurant, located in a luxury resort in Dubai, was awarded a Michelin star just months after opening.
The value of the Michelin Guide, Allen says, is that no one really understands how it works. Restaurant owners don't know who the Michelin inspectors are or when they visit.
According to the chef, his restaurant maintains high standards not for recognition but to provide a great experience for diners. In the low season, the place serves about 500 guests/week. At its peak, that number is about 850-950 guests/week.
The restaurant's goal is to achieve two Michelin stars like Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in London (UK).
Accurate to the millimeter
While talking to reporters, Chef Tom Allen pointed to a man in a smart suit and gloves who was bending over a nearby table, concentrating on a ruler. He introduced that the staff was setting the table, measuring down to the millimeter. This action many people thought was only for royalty.
"There are a lot of things we do behind the scenes that diners don't know about," the chef said.
In the preparation area, the chef needs to use about 12-15 recipes to make an appetizer. The main course has about 15-22 recipes and the dessert has about 8-12 recipes.
"All of our dishes are labor-intensive," Allen confided.
The restaurant offers views of Dubai's iconic Palm Jumeirah artificial island.
There are no guesses here. When making the stock, the chef will use the same amount of bones, even the same amount of spices, peppercorns, thyme, and bay leaves. The exact measurements mean that no matter who follows the recipe, the dish will always be exactly as expected.
Recipes will be tweaked slightly to control for different variables (such as cream being higher in fat at certain times of the year) to get the perfect dish.
Chef Tom Allen describes this as a systematic, controlled, calculated and precise way of cooking. At 4pm every day, he will taste the food and make timely adjustments when he feels unsatisfied.
In the rare case that the dish does not meet the high standards expected, it will not be served. The level of investment in the dish is evident when a single sauce takes up to 10 days to perfect.
The salmon tart is presented like a work of art (left). The pineapples are grilled on skewers for five hours and topped with caramelized apples every 30 minutes.
Every dish carries a story
All dishes at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal are based on British culinary history and have a story behind them.
Chefs Tom Allen and Heston Blumenthal work with museum curators and historians to design seasonal menus throughout the year. They aim to change three to four dishes each month.
A new dish can take up to six months to perfect, including research, writing a historical story, and training staff on how to properly converse with diners.
“We go to the British Library a few times a year and dig through the archives to find cookbooks from as far back as the 13th century and translate them. They’re absolutely priceless,” says Allen.
This inspiration is then brought back to the development kitchen in Bray village (Berkshire, England) - where the dishes are recreated.
In the middle of the restaurant, a giant decorative pineapple continuously opens and closes throughout dinner.
With the class of the restaurant, the staff here is also very special.
Pierrick, the waiter, has undergone 14 weeks of intensive training, including a course in British history. At the end of each week, he and his colleagues are tested. They are also randomly tested before the restaurant opens to customers.
Despite the highly qualified staff, the restaurant owner understands that not all diners want to know the details of the dishes they are enjoying. Each person can choose the level of interaction with the service staff through the card system.
On each table, there are three cards for diners to choose from: The Adventurer, for those who just want to enjoy the food and feel it for themselves; The Guide, for those who are curious about the ingredients in each dish and the historical references behind it; The Maverick, for those who want to know everything about the food and the restaurant. If they want privacy, they can also ask the waiter to leave them alone.
The "Meat Fruit" dish on the menu is chicken liver parfait "disguised" as a tangerine.
Atlantis The Royal Resort is considered a "paradise" for many world celebrities and Dubai's super-rich. Singer Beyonce is said to have received a salary of 35 million AUD (nearly 600 billion VND) to perform at the hotel's opening ceremony last year.
Chef Tom Allen said the restaurant has invited a number of celebrities, from athletes to musicians and actors, to dine, but did not reveal their identities.
"We have a rule: No autographs and no photos. If regular customers recognize celebrities here and try to approach them, the waiters have to stop them," he revealed.
The restaurant's signature dish is "Fruit Meat" (born around 1500). It was inspired by the dish that Henry VIII - the famous former king of England - served guests at a dinner party.
"Back then, people thought that eating raw fruits and vegetables contained toxins and was not good for their health. So they had to cook them before eating," Allen explained.
The original dish, he says, was veal mince dipped in egg and parsley cream, cleverly presented to look like an apple. At the current restaurant, the "Meat Fruit" on the menu is a chicken liver parfait "disguised" as a tangerine.
Some dishes have strange names that arouse curiosity, such as green porridge with snails (created around 1661) which tastes delicious. If you want to end the experience impressively, diners are advised to order ice cream. This dish is made directly on the ice cream cart using liquid nitrogen (created around 1901) and is both a performance and a dessert.
Photo: Atlantis
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/du-lich/bi-mat-trong-nha-hang-mot-sao-michelin-duoc-gioi-sieu-giau-dubai-ua-chuong-20240828025621778.htm
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