fat duck photographed in 2009 location of the fat duck in bray berkshire restaurant information established 1995 head chef jonny lake food type british french gastronomy rating michelin stars aa rosettes street address 1 high street city bray berkshire country england coordinates 51 30 29 n 0 42 06 w 51.507949 n 0.701774 w 51.507949 ; 0.701774 seating capacity 40 reservations yes website thefatduck.co.uk the fat duck is a restaurant in bray berkshire england . it is run by celebrity chef proprietor heston blumenthal . housed in a 16th century building that had previously been the site of the bell pub the fat duck opened in 1995 . although it originally served food similar to that of a french bistro it soon acquired a reputation for precision and invention and has been at the forefront of many modern culinary developments such as food pairing flavour encapsulation and multi sensory cooking . 1 the number of staff in the kitchen has increased from four when it first opened to 42 resulting in a ratio of one kitchen staff member per customer . the restaurant gained its first michelin star in 1999 its second in 2002 and its third in 2004 making it the fastest in the united kingdom to earn three michelin stars . it lost its status as a 3 starred restaurant in the 2016 guide due to renovation preventing it from being open for assessment . 2 3 the restaurant regained 3 stars in the following year michelin guide . 4 the restaurant is known for its fourteen course tasting menu featuring dishes such as nitro scrambled egg and bacon ice cream an alice in wonderland inspired mock turtle soup involving a bullion packet made up to look like a fob watch dissolved in tea and a dish called sound of the sea which includes an audio element . the restaurant has an associated laboratory where blumenthal and his team develop new dish concepts . 1 in 2009 the restaurant suffered from the largest norovirus outbreak ever documented at a restaurant 5 with over 400 diners falling unwell . 6 7 contents 1 description 1.1 menu 2 history 3 food scare closure and reopening 4 reception 5 gallery of dishes 6 see also 7 references 8 further reading 9 external links description edit scrambled egg and bacon ice cream as served in the fat duck the fat duck is located in bray in the high street . chef proprietor heston blumenthal has owned the premises since it opened at the location in 1995 . it is not the only michelin three star restaurant in bray the other being michel roux s restaurant the waterside inn . in 2007 there were only four restaurants in the entire united kingdom with three michelin stars . 8 the restaurant has fourteen tables 9 and can seat 42 diners . 10 it has a very high proportion of chefs working at the restaurant 42 equating to one chef per diner . 10 much of the menu is developed by experimentation for example the egg and bacon ice cream came about following blumenthal investigating the principles of flavour encapsulation . 11 a research laboratory where blumenthal and his team develop dishes is two doors away opposite the hinds head pub which is also owned by the chef . it was where the majority of the laboratory scenes for the television series heston blumenthal in search of perfection were filmed . the lab equipment includes a centrifuge which is used to make chocolate wine and a vacuum oven . 12 the restaurant takes reservations up to 2 months in advance and in 2011 it was receiving some 30 000 calls for reservations per day although that figure also included people who couldn t get through and were redialling . 13 menu edit blumenthal was inspired as a teenager by trips to the michelin starred restaurants in france and the work of harold mcgee . mcgee s work in particular led him to question traditional cooking techniques and approaches which resulted in combinations which may at first appear unusual . 14 blumenthal incorporates psychology and the perception of diners into his dishes explaining for example eat sardine on toast sorbet for the first time confusion will reign as the brain will be trying to tell the palate to expect a dessert and you will therefore be tasting more sweetness than actually exists . 15 the restaurant serves a fourteen course tasting menu . 16 dishes served include palate cleansers made of vodka and green tea frozen in liquid nitrogen 17 a snail porridge that was described by one food critic as infamous 10 and ice creams of both crab and egg and bacon each of which resulted in increased media attention for the restaurant . 18 the mock turtle soup has an alice in wonderland theme where a fob watch formed of freeze dried beef stock covered with gold leaf is dropped into a tea cup and has a beef stock tea poured over it that dissolves the gold and the watch . a plate of ox tongue and vegetables is served alongside it to place into the soup . toast sandwiches are served as a side dish . 19 20 21 it had been developed for an appearance on heston s feasts and was afterwards added to the menu at the restaurant . 22 dishes are served with additional sensory inputs such as sounds of the sea a plate of seafood served with a seafood foam on top of a beach of tapioca breadcrumbs and eel . alongside the dish diners are given an ipod to listen to crashing waves whilst they eat . 23 other additional sensory components include the smell of the black forest that accompanies a kirsch ice cream . 13 the sound of the sea dish served at heston blumenthal s the fat duck history edit the fat duck is located in a 16th century cottage that was further modified in the 19th and 20th centuries . prior to the restaurant opening in the location it was a public house called the ringers . the building was grade ii listed by english heritage on 2 may 1989 . 24 when the restaurant opened in 1995 the kitchen was staffed by owner heston blumenthal and one other employee . at the time the restaurant was serving meals in the style of a french bistro such as lemon tarts and steak and chips . blumenthal later said that science had already begun to influence the cooking at this early stage as already on the menu were his triple cooked chips which were developed to stop the potato from going soft . 14 the restaurant came close to going bankrupt blumenthal sold his house his car and many of his possessions in order to keep the restaurant afloat . 14 after four years the restaurant was awarded its first michelin star in the 1999 list . 15 blumenthal worked with professor peter barham of the university of bristol and developed a menu of dishes through experimentation such as slow cooked lamb which avoids shocking the fibres in the meat and causing them to seize . by 2000 techniques were being used such as cooking vegetables in mineral water after discovering that the levels of calcium in tap water causes their discolouration and freezing cuttlefish to break down the molecules in them in order to increase their tenderness . 25 in 2001 it was awarded a second michelin star and was also named restaurant of the year by the automobile association . 26 heston blumenthal chef proprietor of the fat duck in 2004 the restaurant was awarded three michelin stars becoming one of three restaurants in the united kingdom to hold that level of recognition alongside the waterside inn also in bray and restaurant gordon ramsay in london . 27 it was the fastest that a restaurant had gone from one to three stars in the uk . during the same year the restaurant was ranked second in the world behind the french laundry by the world s 50 best restaurants . 28 the restaurant also received the title of square meal bmw best uk restaurant 2004 . 29 the following year the listing ranked the fat duck as the best restaurant in the world 30 at the first front of house awards in 2007 the restaurant won the awards for overall service and front desk of the year . 31 in 2008 blumenthal published the big fat duck cookbook 32 following his bbc series heston blumenthal in search of perfection . 33 on 19 november 2012 british citizen ivan aranto herrera jorge and swede carl magnus lindgren two senior members of the fat duck restaurant were killed on chai wan road hong kong in a traffic accident when their taxi was hit by two buses . 34 they died along with the taxi driver wong kim chung . a further 56 people were injured in the accident . 35 blumenthal had been in hong kong and was travelling in a separate cab at the time of the crash . 36 on 31 march 2014 heston blumenthal announced he would be closing the restaurant for renovations for 6 months and temporarily relocating it with its entire team to crown towers melbourne australia . the restaurant will be called the fat duck for 6 months before being renamed dinner by heston blumenthal . 37 this will be the second restaurant with that name and will be blumenthal s first restaurant outside of britain and his sixth in total . this temporary closure of the bray location caused the restaurant to become ineligible for assessment for the 2016 michelin guide thus losing its 3 starred status which it regained the following year . 2 3 4 food scare closure and reopening edit on 27 february 2009 blumenthal closed his restaurant temporarily after a number of customers reported feeling unwell at different times . 38 by 3 march the source of the outbreak was still unclear but sabotage had been ruled out . a spokesman for the restaurant said all this leads us to believe that it the health scare has not come from the restaurant and we expect to be given the all clear . 39 on 6 march it was reported that 400 people had stated they had felt unwell after eating at the restaurant . 40 boxing promoter frank warren said he was very disappointed with his treatment after becoming sick following his visit . he said everything was fabulous about the evening the food the setting the service it was unbelievably good but unfortunately afterwards all of us were ill . 41 the restaurant reopened on 12 march 2009 . 42 the cause of the illness was later given by the health protection agency as norovirus which was thought to originate from oysters which had been harvested from beds contaminated with sewage . 43 the virus was spread further after being contracted by staff members . 44 the restaurant was criticised for its cleaning methods and its slow response to the incident . 43 complaints of illness from customers totalled 529 . 43 the fat duck had received negative publicity regarding health standards before when a food and safety test in 2004 found that three out of the four samples were found to be unsatisfactory . 45 reception edit fodor s describes the restaurant as extraordinary and one of the best restaurants in the country . 46 frommer s gives the restaurant three stars grading it as exceptional . 47 in september 1996 ben rogers ate at the restaurant for the independent before it had gained any michelin stars or the awards it has today and while it was still using something close to its original menu . even so he discovered that blumenthal was cooking foie gras in sherry in order to give it a nutty flavour although rogers wasn t sure if