Hundreds of 'World's Best Restaurant' Customers Sick

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC News

Celebrity Chef Heston Blumenthal, whose Berkshire, England, restaurant The Fat Duck has been called the best in the world, is facing a sickness scandal that could seriously damage his stellar reputation, as some 400 customers have fallen ill after eating there in the past two months.

The multiple award-winning Fat Duck, recipient of three Michelin stars and named Restaurant magazine's "World's Best Restaurant" in 2005, is helmed by master chef Blumenthal, who is famous from various TV shows in Britain.

On his latest show, "Heston's Victorian Feast," Blumenthal introduces himself as the chef of "one of the best restaurants in the world." But the chef known for creating eccentric dishes like Snails Porridge and Nitro-Scrambled Egg and Bacon Ice Cream has stayed mum since closing the restaurant nine days ago.

One customer who spoke to Sky News complained that the The Fat Duck had treated customers with "a lack of care and consideration" because they had not heard from Blumenthal after they became ill.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=7023033&page=1

[Demeter]

1. Ooops!

Or was it more like....whooops? :puke:

[Warpy]

2. It would be nice if they'd said what sickened the customers

whether it was bacterial (poor food handling), viral (poor toilet hygiene) or fungal (poor food storage).

He's probably not calling all 400 because he's overwhelmed and just a little bit frantic.

[Demeter]

3. Or a really bad recipe

None of that stuff sounds like anything I'd want to eat and I do sushi.

[Warpy]

5. You're right, it sounds pretty horrible

and I've eaten rattlesnake and liked it.

Bored and pretentious new money folks love that stuff, though, and love to boast about their educated palates.

[Kutjara]

20. The food at The Fat Duck is really good.

Admittedly, it's been a couple of years since I've been there, but Blumenthal's approach to cooking combines some pretty unappealing ingredients into truly delicious recipes. You don't have to be "bored and pretentious," merely willing to try things outside of your comfort zone. Rattlesnake doesn't really qualify, given it basically tastes like chicken ;)

[Lasher]

31. Unappealing ingredients...

Here are some really delicious recipes if you're willing to try things outside of your comfort zone:

The 6 Most Terrifying Foods in the World

Humans are like goats. We'll eat any damned thing. Just ask the people who make PowerBars.

In fact, you'll find foods in this world that don't even seem possible. Not just that they could exist, but that people would actually stick this stuff in their mouths without a gun to their head.

We've found six dishes that seemed to have sprung from Satan's own cookbook.

#6.Escamoles



From:
Mexico

What the hell is it?
Escamoles are the eggs of the giant black Liometopum ant, which makes its home in the root systems of maguey and agave plants. Collecting the eggs is a uniquely unpleasant job, since the ants are highly venomous and have some kind of blood grudge against human orifices.

The eggs have the consistency of cottage cheese. The most popular way to eat them is in a taco with guacamole, while being fucking insane.

Wait, it gets worse ...
Escamoles have a surprisingly pleasant taste: buttery and slightly nutty. This hugely increases the chances that, while in Mexico, you could eat them without realizing you are eating a taco full of fucking ant eggs.

Danger of this turning up in America:
We're not sure Taco Bell hasn't snuck this shit into their food already. Just make sure you know what's in that burrito. Ask at the counter if you have to. Also, watch those ads close because they'll try to dress it up in some kind of friendly-sounding, pseudo-Mexican name.



http://www.cracked.com/article_14979_6-most-terrifying-foods-in-world.html

[Tab]

7. If you go through the article, apparently no one knows yet

Unable to Pinpoint Cause

The local health authority is examining samples of the restaurant's food, and a risk assessment is being made of all food storage, preparation and cooking processes. Samples have also been taken from all members of staff because contamination of food can occur at any time from the suppliers to the diners at the restaurant.

The Fat Duck has tested its menu but has not found anything that could cause food poisoning.

Authorities have thus far not been able to find the source of the illnesses.

"This is a very complex outbreak," Health authority director Graham Bickler said. "We are working closely with the restaurant."

And, as you and I both know, this isn't anything a chef wishes on his restaurant. Peanut butter plants might be corporate, and could screw up, but most chefs would be mortified to have this happen to their place.

[NashVegas]

15. Food Poisoning From Molecular Gastronomy? Oh, Dear

So much for better cooking through science, eh?

[Grinchie]

17. The symptoms or cause is not to be found on the Web

Just "People feeling ill".

Very vague, and could describe the reaction you get from listening to Rush Limbaugh.

I did find his description as a Food "Scientist" using very precise recipies interesting, yet I couldn't find any examples of his food, nor could I find any menus.

[enlightenment]

39. They don't know, Warpy.

They've tested everything and so far it's coming up clean - though there are probably tests outstanding at the moment.

An early article on BBC quoted him as saying that he does weekly in-house testing of his kitchen and food stuffs - and you really don't get (and keep) a three star rating for being lax with hygiene . . .

VERY weird, imo, and I'm sure you're right - he would probably be ripping his hair out (if he had enough to do that).

[Auggie]

4. The name alone makes me sick

[bebster]

6. Lovely restaurant

I live in the UK and have I have eaten at this restaurant, and I must say it is some of the best food I have ever tasted. I do hope this blip doesn't ruin the restaurants reputation

Bebster

Childrens Beds

[Mari333]

9. Ill be the first..welcome to DU

:)

[Warpy]

11. Welcome to DU

and it might well turn out to be the same norovirus that's making people sick across the US. It could conceivably have been spread by someone at the restaurant who came to work ill.

Until somebody isolates the bug, the restaurant will be blamed.

[Retrograde]

16. Noroviruses are not fun

I learned all about them the hard way last year when a large percentage of a conference I attended can down with it, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. It wasn't food carried as far as anyone could tell, since we all ate in different places, but the nasties tend to linger on surfaces, so touching chairs or items that an infected person had touched and then bringing your hands near your mouth could have accounted for a lot of it. It was eventually traced to one person who didn't realize he was infected and handled a lot of stuff that others later touched.

I've become a compulsive hand-washer since.

[keopeli]

29. Caution: compulsive hand washing can also lead to very bad consequences

Of course, you must do it over a long period of time. My sister had this habit for a few years before her hands completely dried up. Now, they crack (and bleed) regularly with withered skin and red surface areas. Not to be grotesque, but it's not good.

Everything in moderation.

Peace

[Grinchie]

32. I guess they don't mention that a simple rinse under fresh water will remove the majority of germs.

Yes, it's true. When they say wash hands often, it doesn't mean scrub them raw with Phisohex.

Furthermore, all soaps are technically antibacterial, regardless of the missing boast on some soaps.

[Grinchie]

18. Big Macs used to taste good too, until you find out it's not real food.

Honestly, I still crave McDonalds French Fries, after nearly 3 years of consciouly avoiding them because I know how bad they are nutritionally speaking.

Whan I was younger, I would share that I needed a McDonalds fix of chemicals, little did I know that I had stumbled on to the truth.

[Kutjara]

21. I didn't read your post before I posted, but...

...I agree wholeheartedly. The food at The Fat Duck is extraordinary. Blumenthal is doing something very different with food; eating there is an experience as much as it is a meal. And it really is delicious.

[No Elephants]

30. Heston, is that you? (j/k) Welcome!

[Maine-ah]

37. welcome to DU!

I don't know if I'd call 400 people sick a blip though.

[regnaD kciN]

10. The name is reminiscent of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's "The Frog and Peach"...

...which had two menu items: Frog à la Peach, and Peach à la Frog.

[Alcibiades]

8. But I didn't even eat the mousse!

[johnnypneumatic]

12. it's probably tainted food from the source, not the restaurant

like that bad peanut butter, or the melamine that is in practically every product from China

[Crowman1979]

13. I'm about to lose my lunch just reading about the menu items.

:puke:

I like to try new things once in a while, but porrige with slimy invertebrates and Ice cream that isn't flavored either with fruit, coffee, nuts, spices, mints or anything else that is sweet, FUHGETABOUTIT!!!

Food that was originally made by poor people tastes better anyway.

[DS1]

14. haha!

[Rage for Order]

19. I must admit, Bacon Ice Cream sounds intriguing

Two of my favorite things that I would never have thought to merge together. However, after seeing this story I think I'll wait for Ben & Jerry's to produce their version of bacon ice cream.

[Kutjara]

22. The anchovy ice cream is even better.

I'm not making it up, it really is!

[Mind_your_head]

26. I tried wasabi ice cream ONCE.....

never again.

(and I like wasabi with my sushi/sashimi)....doesn't work in ice cream, imo. I doubt anchovy would be any better 'in an ice cream setting'.

[dustbunnie]

40. It's the texture more so than the taste.

Grainy. :puke:

[Kool Kitty]

28. I might like that, myself.

I am a huge fan of the salty and the sweet. Have you ever had a bacon chocolate bar? Great chocolate with real bacon pieces and smoked salt. It may sound awful, but I might walk over glass for one. It's that good. (I got it at Whole Foods. The brand is Voiseges-I think. I want another one-NOW.)

[PatrynXX]

23. should be a boon to Hell's Kitchen?

lol. did he have the blood pressure the cook on Hells Kitchen does? another winner of three michelin stars?? as if I knew what that meant.

[Bette Noir]

25. The Michelin Guide was originally put out as recommendations for travelers.

One star meant that, if you were in the neighborhood, and you were hungry, it was worth dropping in. Two stars meant that it was worth traveling from anywhere in the country. Three stars meant that, wherever you were in the world, you should drop everything and head to that restaurant.

I'm a vocal advocate of low-tech, traditional food prep techniques, but I'm sorry for this chef. May he live to cook again.

[jb5150]

24. did the eat

The Kippers?

[TheCentepedeShoes]

33. My favorite episode

:rofl:

[Turbineguy]

27. Calling

Horace Rumpole!

[Vinca]

34. I've always been suspect of the sous-vide cooking technique

used in "better" restaurants. I wonder if they use that method.

[mainer]

35. I've eaten there. I was not particularly impressed with the food.

The service was wonderful and the setting charming (it's a pretty village, and a lovely old building) but the food was too "creative" for me. Cooking with liquid nitrogen? Strange combinations like bacon-and-egg ice cream for dessert? By the end of it I was wondering when the "real" food was going to appear.

Maybe my palate's just not sophisticated enough. The next day I went to an Italian restaurant and had a plain old-fashioned plate of spaghetti. Now THAT tasted good.

That said, I don't necessarily want to blame the restaurant for all those illnesses. I got a whopping case of Norovirus on one of my trips to the UK, when it was spreading across the country like crazy. It was rampant there anyway and had nothing to do with the Fat Duck.

[NashVegas]

36. Your Palette Is Sophisticated Plenty

What's going on in some of these kitchens is the same thing happening in other sectors of the art-service world, such as photography-> digital photography. What used to be an fairly imprecise art that anyone could participate in is being over-taken by promoters of scientific training and precision. People are inventing new methods of doing things in order to promote themselves and in some cases, get patents.

[ConcernedCanuk]

38. Just made Grilled Cheese on whole wheat with ham. ketchup and pickle on the side

.
.
.

cooked it on my porch/outside wood-stove

yumm

porch is enclosed mainly with thermal-pane windows and door

great view watching my birdies using the feeders