Heston Blumenthal to close two-Michelin-starred London restaurant

Heston Blumenthal has announced the closure of his London restaurant, which holds two Michelin stars.

The celebrated chef said the decision was “bittersweet” and came at a time when the restaurant industry was “suffering” from rising costs.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will wrap up its 16-year residency at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park next January.

He told The Times: “There are some huge feelings there; sadness. It’s bittersweet, but it has run its natural course. We are effectively tenants in a building and our tenancy is finished.”

The tenancy had been set to conclude in the northern summer this year, but was extended by a further six months.

The restaurant opened 16 years after Blumenthal revolutionised British molecular gastronomy at the Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, where he earned three Michelin stars.

“There are some huge feelings there; sadness. It’s bittersweet, but it has run its natural course. We are effectively tenants in a building and our tenancy is finished.”

Heston Blumenthal

His “scientific” approach to cooking attempts to pair foods with similar molecules, leading to dishes such as salmon poached in liquorice.

For more than a decade, Dinner retained two Michelin stars and was ranked among the world’s 50 best restaurants, while welcoming nearly a million guests.

Yet Blumenthal’s restaurants have also been buffeted by food inflation, rising wages and the cost-of-living crisis.

Post-tax losses at SL6 Ltd, the parent company to his restaurant empire, rose from £1.4 million ($2.6 million) in 2023 to £2.1 million ($3.9 million) in 2024.

“In these times, most restaurants are suffering in one way or another,” he said. “It’s exacerbated by the fact that food prices are rising.

“We chose to partner with the Mandarin because of their level of service. But they’ve got budgets, and budgets don’t always meet up.”

Blumenthal said he planned to use the restaurant’s final months to reprise some of its best-known dishes, including an eight-course tasting menu titled A Journey Through History.

The menu will offer a reinterpretation of a 1390 recipe for compost, before showcasing Tudor indulgence, Victorian invention, and the Swinging Sixties.

Among the dishes will be Meat Fruit (c.1500), a chicken liver parfait inspired by a 15th century recipe and presented as a mandarin using trompe-l’œil, and Tipsy Cake (c.1858) served with spit-roasted pineapple.

Blumenthal has also brought back Joutes (c.1430), a herbaceous tonic with bone marrow royale, Powdered Duck (c.1670), a dish of duck breasts, buttered turnips and black truffle, and Heston’s Dodger with Jam (c.1960), his take on the popular biscuit.

The chef said he was scouting other potential locations for Dinner, and would like somewhere of a similar size, and with a view.

He has been in talks with his team at Atlantis The Royal, the hotel on Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, where he opened a restaurant in 2023, since the current conflict broke out in the Middle East.

He said the hotel was “not in a great location at the moment”.

But a spokesman for Blumenthal’s group said the restaurant continued to welcome guests as usual and insisted the restaurant remained a “thriving part” of the chef’s portfolio.

Diagnosed with bipolar

In November 2023, the chef was sectioned and diagnosed with bipolar disorder after months of erratic behaviour.

He spent two weeks in a psychiatric hospital, where he was put on a heavy dose of medication.

The chef said his creativity was returning “more than ever” after reducing his medication by 90 per cent.

Philippe Kronberg, the general manager at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London & AVP Operations, said: “Dinner by Heston Blumenthal has been a defining part of Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park for more than 15 years, and a partnership we are immensely proud of.

“The restaurant has helped shape our identity as a destination for world-class dining and left a lasting mark on London’s culinary landscape.”

Blumenthal’s Melbourne restaurant, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, closed in 2020 after its landlord and financial backer, Crown Casino, terminated its lease.

The Telegraph (UK)