Crown Casino Fat Duck Reservations

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Jul 13, 2015 A restaurant of The Fat Duck’s calibre can only find one of two homes in Melbourne – either a half-millennia old, heritage-listed building somewhere in Melbourne’s outskirts, as per its Bray heritage, or in the most salubrious venue of all: Melbourne’s Crown Casino.

Heston Blumenthal will incorporate Australian ingredients when he opens his Fat Duck restaurant in Melbourne's Crown Casino in 2015

Long waiting list ... The Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, Berkshire, UK. Picture: Getty ImagesSource:Herald Sun

TO eat at Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck restaurant when it opens at Crown Melbourne in February, will set you back a whopping $525 per person. That’s for food only. And that’s only if your name is drawn in a ballot.

The price makes it the most expensive in Australia, more than double its nearest rival Vue de Monde.

Fat

The celebrity chef said he was completely overwhelmed by the response to the news he was relocating The Fat Duck from Bray in the UK to Melbourne and that the only fair way to run reservations was to institute a ballot system.

Coming to Australia ... UK chef Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck. Picture: Nicole ClearySource:News Corp Australia

Fans wanting to eat Blumenthal’s fantastical creations and mind-bending concoctions will have to enter their names into a ballot system, which will open at 9am on October 8. Ballot entries, via the dedicated site, will be accepted until midnight on October 26.

All available reservations for the restaurant’s entire six-month visit to Crown Melbourne will be allocated during this process, which will be drawn by an impartial third party. Reservations will be drawn from the entire pool of ballots so first-come, first-served will not apply.

The celebrity chef made the announcement on today at the site of what will be his new restaurant, on level three of the Crown Towers.

The Fat Duck at Crown Melbourne will open from lunch and dinner, Tuesday to Saturday from February 3, 2015.

Not as it seems: The Fat Duck’s famous snail porridge, circa 2013.Source:Supplied

In a first for the Melbourne Fat Duck, there will also be a chef’s table available per service, where four people will get an exclusive behind-the-scenes glimpse of the kitchen in action. The price of the chef’s table, which will also be allocated via ballot, is yet to be set.

“We’re yet to set the price of the chef’s table because I’m trying to get special piece of equipment for that table. If I get it, it will be amazing, but it’s also very expensive,” he said.

Crown Casino Fat Duck Reservations Menu

Those who register for the ballot but miss out on a reservation for The Fat Duck will receive priority reservation at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, which will be left in The Fat Duck’s place when it returns to the UK after the last dinner service on Saturday, August 15, 2015.

Long waiting list ... The Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, Berkshire, UK. Picture: Getty ImagesSource:Herald Sun

Blumenthal said the Fat Duck experience would be the same as the original, including the amount of seats — just 50 places per service, including the chef’s table.

“The quality will be the same. Australia has some of the best produce in the world. But it’s not quite the same produce as in the UK. So there may be some variations depending on the type of ingredients. Other than that it remains the same,” he said.

“The DNA of the experiential, narrative, contextual dishes, it’s all about memories and experiences. If you look at the complexity of the story behind them, how the dish eats, the technical side, the visual side, the interactive side. You can’t just come up with that. It takes months, years, perfecting each dish.”

Blumenthal is bringing the entire Fat Duck team out for the six-month period, and said negotiating visas for the team had been the biggest logistic challenge of the project so far.

Blumenthal said he would be in Melbourne for roughly half the time The Fat Duck is in Melbourne, including its first month.

The current Fat Duck menu at Bray:

NITRO POACHED APERITIFS

Vodka and Lime Sour, Gin and Tonic, Tequila and Grapefruit

RED CABBAGE GAZPACHO

Pommery Grain Mustard Ice Cream

JELLY OF QUAIL, CRAYFISH CREAM

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Chicken Liver Parfait, Oak Moss and Truffle Toast

SNAIL PORRIDGE

Iberico Bellota Ham, Shaved Fennel

ROAST FOIE GRAS

Barberry, Confit Kombu and Crab Biscuit

MAD HATTER’S TEA PARTY (c.1892)

Mock Turtle Soup, Pocket Watch and Toast Sandwich

“SOUND OF THE SEA”

SALMON POACHED IN A LIQUORICE GEL

Artichoke, Vanilla Mayonnaise and Golden Trout Roe

ANJOU PIGEON

Smoked Onion and Malt

HOT AND ICED TEA

CLOVE CARAMELISED BLACKBERRIES

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Hojicha Tea Ice Cream Cornet

BOTRYTIS CINEREA

WHISK(E)Y WINE GUMS

“LIKE A KID IN A SWEET SHOP”