Journal | The Getaway Edit

You wouldn’t expect one of the best restaurants in the world to be located in a small and unassuming village, let alone two restaurants. In fact, that is what you will find in the village of Bray — two of UK’s three Michelin star restaurants. The one I had always wanted to go to was Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck. He also runs a one-star gastropub The Hind’s Head and a country pub The Crown, all within a stone’s throw away.

A visit to The Fat Duck isn’t just a meal but an experience. It started with a hard sought-after reservation four months before. A month’s worth of reservations are filled up within minutes of being released. A few weeks before our meal, we were asked to fill out a questionnaire which was then followed up by a phone call. The reason was to be revealed over the course of the meal.

The philosophy behind the restaurant is to recreate childhood memories and nostalgia through food. As such, the menu, or rather the itinerary as they call it, is structured around the chef’s childhood memories of going on a trip: first, waking up and having breakfast, going out to the sea and the woods, having a big dinner and then going off to sleep. Throughout the four hour journey, they included some touches that reflected our own personal memories.

The Day Before We Go: Are we nearly there yet?

A CHANGE-OF-AIR

Paloma, Campari soda, Pina Colada, Vodka Lime Sour - who will be the dragon?

JUST THE TONIC WE NEED

Smoked cumin Royale, Jerusalem artichoke ice cream

Morning: Rise and shine, it’s breakfast time

EXCUSE ME, MY TEA SEEMS TO BE COLD…AND HOT.

WHY DO I HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN A VARIETY PACK AND A COOKED BREAKFAST?

Truffled egg mousse, jellied tomato consomme, bacon and toasted bread cream, cereals

Mid-morning: First one to see the sea…

“SOUND of the SEA”

“CAN I HAVE SOME MONEY FOR AN ICE CREAM?”

Waldorf salad “Rocket”.
Salmon, avocado and horseradish “Twister”.
Crab and passion fruit “99”.

THEN WE WENT ROCKPOOLING

Cornish crab, smoked caviar and golden trout roe, velour of white chocolate and sea vegetables

Afternoon: If you go down to the woods today…

DAMPING THROUGH THE BOROUGHGROVES…

Mushroom, beet and blackberry, scented with fig leaf, meadowsweet, melilot, oak moss and black truffle

…WE DISCOVERED THE MOCK TURTLE PICNIC

Mock turtle soup and egg, toast sandwich

Evening: Are you ready for dinner?

STARTER

MAIN COURSE

DESSERT

DIGESTIF

Bedtime: Off to the Land of Nod

And then to dream…

COUNTING SHEEP

Malt, orange blossom, tonka, milk, meringue, crystallized white chocolate, pistachio

LIKE A KID IN A SWEETSHOP

Oxchoc,
caramel in edible wrapper,
Queen of Hearts jam tart,
mandarin scented aerated chocolate

thefatduck.co.uk

Montenegro is definitely an up and coming destination. We see the country featured everywhere lately. The relatively new nation (it split from Serbia in 2006), is located in the Balkans along the Adriatic coast. We flew into Tivat, a small airport right in the Bay of Kotor, for a few days and drove around the southern region of the country.

The Bay of Kotor

Along the Bay of Kotor are several old towns and villages. Herceg Novi sits at the entrance of the bay, not far from the southern end of Croatia. Perast is a very picturesque town with two small islands. The first is a natural island with a Benedictine Abbey from the 12th century. The other is the Lady of the Rocks, an Orthodox church built on a pile of rocks. We took a small boat trip out to the latter one. A little further in is Kotor with a well-preserved Stari Grad, or Old Town. We woke up early one morning to climb the fortress and city walls that overlook the rest of the town and bay. In contrast, Tivat is home to a marina full of shiny new yachts and Luscitica Bay is a new town being built as we speak to support the growing number of boats coming in.

Lovcen Mountains

Not far from Kotor are the Lovćen mountains, which is where the country takes its name. From Kotor, narrow roads lead up the mountain, culminating in a series of a twenty-five serpentine switchbacks with amazing views of the bay. On the second highest peak is the Njegos Mausoleum, the highest mausoleum in the world. After entering the national park, we walked up 461 steps to visit the tomb of the famous Montengrin and take in views from the panorama. The road to Cetinje, the former capital, is a less harrowing experience and from there the road took us to Budva.

Budva Coast

Like many of the other towns, Budva has a Stari Grad but it is mostly overlooked in favour of its beaches. Every square foot of sand was covered by people. We preferred the nearby island of Sveti Stefan instead. A small island that used to be a village for 400 people, the town was turned into a hotel in the 1960s until its decline as a result of the breakup of Yugoslavia. Since 2009, the hotel group Aman has restored the island into an exclusive property where the old houses are now individual suites and the market squares are restaurants. The only way to visit the island without staying overnight is to reserve one of ten spots in the twice daily tours. One of the best views of the island though is from above, up a steep road that eventually leads to the tiny and remote church of Sveti Sava.