Who knew bacon and egg ice cream could nab you the top spot of the 50 Best Places to Eat? I know I'm out of touch with the rest of the carnivorous world's tastes, but tell me y'all don't eat this? Everything on this tasting menu from The Fat Duck (£97.50) sounds utterly revolting:
Nitro-green tea and lime mousse, orange and beetroot jelly, oyster, passion fruit jelly, horseradish cream, lavender pommery grain mustard ice cream, red cabbage gazpacho, jelly of quail, langoustine cream, parfait of foie gras
Snail porridge
Roast foie gras
Sardine on toast sorbet
Ballotine of mackerel 'invertebrate', marinated daikon
Salmon poached with liquorice, asparagus, pink grapefruit, Manni olive oil
Poached breast of Anjou pigeon pancetta
Pastilla of pigeon leg, pistachio, cocoa and quatre épices
White chocolate and caviar
Mrs Marshall's Margaret cornet
Pine sherbet fountain
Mango and douglas fir puree
Bavarois of lychee and mango, blackcurrant sorbet
Carrot and orange tuile
Bavarois of basil
Beetroot jelly
Smoked bacon and egg ice cream
Pain perdu, tea jelly
Leather, oak and tobacco chocolates
Praline rose tartlet
What I want to know is, what kind of wine do you serve with sardine on toast sorbet?
Fat Duck chef Heston Blumenthal beat out Alice Waters at Chez Panisse (number 13) with this six-year-old's "Let's play restaurant!" fantasy menu. If you're counting, 14 of the best restaurants were in the UK (I expected to hear restaurant patrons in England chanting for Manchester United, not ordering langoustine cream), six were in New York, while nine were in France.
I guess when your country is known for having awful, boring food, you have a lot to prove. But let's not go overboard. Douglas firs belong on Christmas tree lots, and white chocolate doesn't belong anywhere.
