Heston Blumenthal's New Restaurant, The Perfectionists' Café, Arrives 4th June At Heathrow's New Terminal 2
Heston
Blumenthal’s new restaurant, The Perfectionists’ Café, is set to open its doors
on the 4th June with the unveiling of the multi-million pound new Terminal 2,
The Queen’s Terminal, at Heathrow.
The Perfectionists’
Café takes inspiration from Heston’s In Search of Perfection television
programmes and the In Search of Perfection book series in which he explored and
reinvented Britain's favourite dishes through his unique, creative approach and
his endless journey to question everything.
"You
cannot achieve perfection as it’s entirely subjective,” Heston explains.
"As a perfectionist, you can continually try to improve things, even if
that means just turning everything upside down and starting again.
We have had
some incredible fun trying to make the best ever versions of these dishes,
including using kit from cement mixers to paint sprayers and even a few
explosions along the way! But that organised chaos produced some incredible
techniques – and subsequently some fantastic results. The point is, you will
never be quite satisfied. It's an endless pursuit, but when you add to the mix
a bit of our quintessentially British eccentricity, that’s when the fun really
begins.
For me, The
Perfectionists’ Café is about the realisation of that journey in an actual
café; it's about everything we questioned and about harnessing the very
excitement of that journey for the diner."
Surprisingly,
the name Heston already has a historic connection to aeronautics in the
Heathrow area. In 1929, Heston Aerodrome
was built there as one of the first airports to service London, and five years
later, Heston Aircraft Company – which would eventually help build the Spitfire
– was founded. Now, in 2014, the journey
comes full circle, but this time to offer a unique and exciting Heston airport
dining experience.
The
Perfectionists’ Café will present a selection of not only the UK’s most popular
dishes, but favourites of the busy traveller, dishes that by their very nature
are best cooked at speed. From breakfast to cocktails and beyond, The
Perfectionists’ Café aims to offer fantastic food…fast.
Working with
Heston to evolve the menu inspired by individual dishes from the TV programme
into a busy restaurant environment have been Fat Duck Group Executive Head
Chef, Ashley Palmer-Watts, and the restaurant’s Head Chef, Julian O’Neill. Along the way the team has discovered some
exceptional British artisanal producers; honed cooking techniques; had products
such as breads and pastries made from their own unique recipes and created
bespoke kitchen equipment in a truly exceptional space. The result is the
chefs’ best versions of the original 'perfection' dishes.
For example,
the venue will house Heathrow’s very first wood-burning oven where pizzas will
be cooked at the optimal high temperatures, ensuring authentically sloppy yet
delicate Neapolitan style pizzas.
Regulations governing the true Neapolitan pizza are specific to oven
temperature – high enough to allow the base to cook at speed whilst ensuring
that the toppings don't get hotter than 60°C.
This way,
ingredients like fresh basil won’t discolour with overexposure to heat. The Fish & Chips will showcase the next
generation of the crunchy beer batter Heston had created for the programme,
originally inspired by a scientist at Leeds University whose research
measuredthe science of crunch.
The mixture
has been specially siphoned to create the lightest, crunchiest possible
batter. Analysing that uniquely British
smell of the 'chippie', Heston identified the back note of malt vinegar and
pickled onion juice, so to complete the dish a small atomiser is served which
can be sprayed directly on the food or in the air to recreate that traditional
British chip shop taste and feel.
The burger
has been inspired by the work of an oral physiologist who discovered the
"three-finger rule" – the fact that our own first three fingers put
together is the widest we can comfortably open our mouths to eat.
When eating a
burger, it is important to get all the layers in one bite so the burger must be
able to be squashed to this thickness.
This determines not only the height of the different ingredient layers,
but also the texture, density and aeration of the bun. The three cuts of beef
used are chosen to maximise flavour and consistency and are ground so the
strands are in line, creating an incredibly delicate yet meaty texture. Brioche
was the final choice for the bun as it is soft enough to absorb the juices and
be pressed down to the three-finger rule, yet substantial enough to hold the
burger together without falling apart.
Renowned for
pioneering the use of liquid nitrogen in restaurants in the late nineties,
Heston Blumenthal's The Perfectionists’ Café will also celebrate the chef’s
love of ice cream with a very modern ice cream parlour at the entrance to the
restaurant. His futuristic style ice
cream bar will have two steel cylinders that hold liquid nitrogen, pumping it
to the ice cream maker. With a subzero
temperature of -196°C, the nitrogen freezes the custard so quickly that the ice
crystals that form are minuscule, producing not only the fastest, but the
smoothest of ice creams.
The
perfectionist element running through the restaurant menu continues well into
the bar. Cocktails are classics – fizzes, brambles and martinis to name just a
few – but done Heston-style with premium spirits, hand-pressed juices and
handcrafted infusions. The multi-sensory element continues, too, with the
introduction of the Cloud Pour, which uses dry ice to suffuse drinks with
essences from mandarin to thyme, vanilla to cinnamon even tobacco and merlot
are used adding depth and complexity of flavour, as guests drink their
cocktails through an aroma scented cloud.
Working with
Richard Seymour of Seymourpowell on the name and logo for the new restaurant,
Heston drew on his memories of his favourite “Professor Branestawm” childhood
books, written by the English author Norman Hunter. The books relay the
adventures of their eponymous title character: a peculiar, absent-minded
inventor who personifies British eccentricity.
Seymour
captured that same busy mind and amusing sense of whimsy – so evident in
Blumenthal’s own work – and brilliantly created the Clockwork Knife, a metaphor
for all the activity that occurs behind the scenes of The Perfectionists’ Café.
Such was the resonance of the design, that it became not only the logo, but has
been brought to life as a kinetic sculpture that serves as the restaurant’s
signage.
From
inception, Heston and his team also worked alongside restaurant and hospitality
design specialist, Afroditi Krassa. Krassa crafted the interior of The
Perfectionists’ Café, creating a space that is rooted in nostalgia and harks
back to the heyday and glamour of 1960’s passenger flights, using unexpected
details such as a propeller-shaped benches and Formica-lined joinery.
The result is
an interior that not only challenges the boundaries of restaurant design, but
also adroitly manages to mirror the multi-sensorial aspects of Blumenthal’s
menus. By integrating the sounds and aromas of the kitchen into the
restaurant’s environment and using clever lighting on the dishes to accentuate
the creativity of the cooking, the design creates a space that will become in
itself a destination.
From the 4th
June 2014, passengers travelling through Heathrow’s Terminal 2 will be able to
experience the craft, science and techniques that have gone into creating this
truly unique venue by simply enjoying the nostalgia, fun, whimsy and glamour of
Heston Blumenthal's The Perfectionists’ Café.
To see Rob
Higgs bring Richard Seymour’s Clockwork Knife to life,
click the
link below:
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