I was visiting The Fat Duck with business colleagues of mine and the trip was arranged by myself. I had no problem booking, probably because we were going for lunch and I made a particular point of asking the restaurant whether or not there was a 'kicking out time' as what we were looking for was a 'lazy lunch' spread throughout the afternoon with a few bottles of wine, some good food and great company. We were told in no uncertain terms that if we opted for the tasting menu, it would take us approximately 4 hours.....our table was booked for 2pm.
I arrived at the restaurant just before 2pm, and walked through the door into a small corridor leading down to a table - I wasn't greeted by anybody and proceeded down towards what I thought was a member of staff sitting at the table....it wasn't, it was a guest!!! I then wandered through the first part of the restaurant where I discovered my guests sitting down at our table, sampling some rather fine Champagne. It was at this point, that one of the staff members actually noticed that I had entered the restaurant. I thought this was a bit odd for supposedly one of the best restaurants in the world.Once in and seated, the food was...well, it was bonkers! It really was amazing and what I would describe as a once in a lifetime experience. I've never experienced anything even close to it.
