Dinner by Heston at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park turns 16 in January 2027 – and rather than beginning a new chapter, the restaurant will close at the end of that month. Blumenthal announced the news in a Times profile today, and confirmed the closure in an Instagram post this morning.
“In January 2027, we will welcome our final guests in London,” Blumenthal wrote. “Over the year ahead, we will celebrate everything Dinner has been and invite you to experience it with us one last time.”
Blumenthal opened the now two Michelin-starred fine diner in 2011, reviving ancient British dishes for a modern crowd, including the famous trompe l'oeil Meat Fruit: inspired by a 14th-century recipe, it sees chicken parfait encased in a mandarin orange jelly that appears like a mandarin orange. The restaurant was led by group executive chef Ashley Palmer-Watts (now at The Devonshire) until his departure in 2019.
“That this dream of mine became a reality is above all down to the enthusiasm, energy and imagination of the incredible team, past and present, who made the restaurant such a vibrant and exciting place,” Blumenthal wrote on Instagram. “It’s also down to all the receptive and imaginative guests whose culinary curiosity led them to try a taste of history with us.”
For its final year of service, the restaurant will serve A Journey Through History: an eight-course tasting menu tracing 500 years of British cuisine. Along with Meat Fruit, it’ll include a 17th-century recipe for nettle porridge, the restaurant’s famous Tipsy Cake (spit-roasted pineapple served with brioche buns infused with sauternes and brandy and baked multiple times) and its signature liquid nitrogen ice-cream trolley.
The shuttering of Dinner by Heston in London follows the closure of the restaurant’s Melbourne outpost in 2020, after it was put into administration and its parent company Tipsy Cake Pty Ltd (not owned by Blumenthal) accused of widespread wage theft. Blumenthal’s original restaurant, The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, and his nearby pub Hinds Head have also recently reported financial difficulties.
