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29th Oct 2024

Heston Blumenthal slammed for charging £450 for Christmas Dinner

Zoe Hodges

It has increased again!

The price of Heston Blumenthal’s Christmas Dinner at the Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire has increased this year.

Though it is sure to be a memorable experience, the ten-course meal comes at a high price, setting diners back £450!

The TV chef has increased the price by £25 from last year when it was £425.

Back in 2022, the cost of the meal was £395 meaning the price has risen by £55 in two years.

However, customers are expected to pay up front before they enjoy their meal at the triple Michelin star restaurant.

This is now considered a standard practice for Christmas dinners in the UK hospitality industry which has been hit hard by guest no-shows and dine and dash incidents.

The Fat Duck menu will not include the traditional roast turkey, and instead will include ten courses of Heston’s minimalist food.

Guests will start their experience with Christmas Tipples made using nitro-poached aperitifs, snowball, Bucks Fizz and Bristol Cream.

This is followed by the aerated beetroot with horseradish cream, a pine tonic of botanicals and roast scallop with white chocolate and caviar.

The main courses are called Twas The Night Before Christmas which is short rib of beef, lardo do colonnata, dried fruits, gold carrot and sherry.

The other main is King’s Venison from around 1066, served with beetroot, chestnuts, Brussels sprouts, black truffle and umbles.

Diners will then be served cheese, nuts and port, followed by Black Forest gateau.

The final course is called Like a Kid in a Sweetshop.

The Christmas Experience at the restaurant runs between November 27 and December 22 but excludes Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, as well as Mondays and Tuesdays.

A spokesperson for Fat Duck said the experience was available to book now.

The said: “The festive period is one full of wonderment and anticipation.

“Join us on the fortunes of Christmas, along the way there’ll be sprouts, chocolate, guilty pleasures, baubles, mulled wine, indulgence and magical transformations.

“However, you celebrate it, yuletide is a time full of memories and emotions. Come prepared for excitement, joy, discovery and some nice surprises – after all, isn’t that what Christmas is all about?”

People criticised the chef for the price of the meal though. One person commented: “As a retired chef I would never ever think of charging £450 for a Christmas dinner just to boost the chefs ego.”

Another said: “Fair play to him if he can get away with it, some folks out there have more money than sense.”

A third wrote: “That’s crazy. I’d rather give the money to charity and feed the people who can’t even afford a normal Xmas lunch.”

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