Heston Blumenthal awarded World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2017 Lifetime Achievement
Chef, scientist and culinary wizard Heston Blumenthal has just picked up an award he says is the biggest of his career
Melb Food & Wine Festival
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CHEF, scientist and culinary magician Heston Blumenthal has been named the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient from the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
The Fat Duck and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal chef will accept his accolade on April 5 at the Royal Exhibition Building when the 2017 World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards are held in Melbourne.
It will be only the second time the prestigious awards have been held outside the UK.
Blumenthal, 50, said the lifetime achievement award was a great honour and surprise.
“My initial reaction was happy, honoured and excited. But at the same time, now you know you’ve been put out to graze. It’s retirement time,” he said.
“I say that tongue in cheek. This is a really big one for me. Yes, I’ve amassed a lot of accolades though that was never my drive. But (this award) heralds for me the end of a big chapter of my life, and the beginning of another one.”
Blumenthal, famous for his scientific approach to flavour, multi-sensory cooking and immersive dining experiences said the fact the award was voted on by his peers increased the honour.
“The 50 Best is the who’s who of the culinary world. It feels fantastic.”
The annual World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards celebrate the best in global gastronomy.
The awards, which began in 2002 in London, have grown into an international sensation, rivalling the coveted Michelin award system.
Attica in Ripponlea is currently the only Australian restaurant on the list.
Blumenthal said it was fitting the awards were to be held in Australia this year as our food scene was one of the most exciting in the world.
Blumenthal famously moved his entire Fat Duck restaurant 17,000 kms from the UK to Melbourne in 2015, only to move it back again six months later. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, the chef’s only permanent restaurant outside the UK, has taken its place here and was named #1 in the 2016 delicious.100 ranking of Victoria’s best restaurants. The original London restaurant is currently 45 on the World’s 50 Best list.
“The 50 Best has had a massive impact on the world of restaurants, without a shadow of doubt,” Blumenthal said.
“The only thing is, and I said it when we were number one as well (The Fat Duck in 2005), it’s important to be very careful about best and better. Because the key to restaurants is that we have an emotional connection to food, and that’s hard to measure.”
The Lifetime Achievement Award is voted for by more than 1000 international restaurant industry experts that make up the World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy and whose votes also dictate the annual list.
This year, the 25th Melbourne Food and Wine Festival will coincide with the World’s 50 Best Awards.
As part of the festival, Dinner by Heston executive chef Ashley Palmer-Watts will hold an exclusive masterclass on April 2.
Palmer-Watts is one of eight chefs, including Thai food guru David Thompson, Gaston Acurio from Peru and Tokyo’s Zaiyu Hasegawa, whose restaurants have appeared on the World’s 50 Best list who will present masterclasses over the opening weekend of the 10-day festival, offering unprecedented access to some of the world’s best chefs in action.
MFWF.com.au