Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck has a new rival, Nova’s ‘restaurant’ The Chubby Pigeon

CELEBRITY chef Heston Blumenthal had brekky at Nova radio’s Fat Duck-inspired pop-up ‘restaurant’ this morning. So how did Nova’s eatery stack up?

HE is the celebrity chef behind one of the world’s top restaurants, The Fat Duck.

And today, Heston Blumenthal met his match in the form of Nova’s one-off “restaurant”, dubbed The Chubby Pigeon.

Real deal ... Heston Blumenthal inside The Fat Duck at Crown. Picture: Nathan Dyer

Melbourne’s Nova 100 breakfast hosts Tommy Little and Meshel Laurie staged the invitation-only pop-up “restaurant” at Little’s home (yep, his real home) for listeners, and invited Blumenthal, who is in town to open his hot-ticket eatery at Crown.

Not quite three Michelin stars ... Heston Blumenthal, centre, in Tommy Little’s kitchen. Picture: Supplied

On the menu was a selection of Blumenthal’s pre-packaged range, Heston for Coles, including spicy Asian chicken wings, beef and pepper berry sausages and potato-topped lamb and rosemary pie.

Speaking to Nova, British chef Blumenthal — who is known for his egg and bacon ice-cream and experimental dishes including Sound of the Sea — admitted his “simple food” guilty pleasure is a prawn cocktail.
“Not a posh one, a good old down and dirty cocktail, ice sugar lettuce, maybe a bit of tomato tub of prawns, then salt, pepper, lemon juice and maybe some white bread,” Blumenthal said.
“Oh and a pork pie.”

Nova co-host Tommy Little had Heston Blumenthal ‘round for breakfast. Picture: Supplied

Blumenthal also spoke about the reaction his experimental take on food has had from diners.

“In the early days, some people would come to the restaurant and go this is amazing, incredible,” Blumenthal said.

“And then others would look at you, you’d say how was lunch or how was dinner, but they wouldn’t look at your eyes ... they would look at your nose and forehead and cheeks and chin.

“You kind of think interesting, basically saying what are you on.”

Morning crew ... Meshel Laurie, Heston Blumenthal and Tommy Little. Picture: Supplied

Little admitted to being starstruck over having Blumenthal in his kitchen.
“I sent out a tweet last night and I said Heston Blumenthal’s coming over to my place for breakfast for me ... I never thought I would say that sentence in my life and I’ll never forget,” Little said.