Overview
It's easy enough to understand why so many people move from sunless England to Australia each year, but it's pretty rare for a whole restaurant and its staff to pack up their bags collectively. Yet that's just what's happening with one of the world's most famous chefs, Heston Blumenthal, and his molecular gastronomy stronghold The Fat Duck.
They'll be shutting down the iconic Berkshire restaurant and 'relocating' it to the Crown Melbourne for six months. "This is not a popup restaurant," Heston obliquely insisted at this morning's announcement.
Although The Fat Duck won't be opening until February 2015, you'll probably need to develop your booking strategy soon if you want to sample the likes of snail porridge, egg and bacon ice-cream and the aurally enhanced Sound of the Sea. The sensational food experience ought to wash away that bitter taste you get from having to pass through the casino to reach it.
Funnily enough, The Fat Duck is not the only world-renowned restaurant to try an international exchange: Rene Redzepi yesterday tweeted that Noma would be moving its operation to Tokyo for two months in 2015. If these two chefs are on board, expect to see many more taking up the experiment soon.
Heston's Melbourne non-popup temporary restaurant will leave a different, permanent one in its wake, dubbed Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. Meanwhile, rumours of a Sydney Blumenthal excursion abound.