The Fat Duck, revisited

I have just had Sunday lunch - on this, the anniversary of my birth - at a little restaurant in Bray, Berkshire.

We elected to enjoy the tasting menu, and the food was truly excellent - if anything, better than the last time I went. Although I was mildly disappointed that the sardine on toast sorbet was no longer on the menu, the snail porridge was particularly good - deep and intensely flavoured - and so was the red cabbage gazpacho. And the truffle toast, oh my!

I particularly enjoyed the spectacle of dinner, the sense of humour throughout. Of course it's fantastically-conceived food, amazingly-executed, richly flavoured. But it's fun too. The hot and iced tea is simply playful, the nitro-scrambled egg and bacon ice cream - prepared at the table side - is pure theatre.

In short, sensational.