The Fat Duck, Heston Blumenthal’s iconic three Michelin-starred restaurant in Bray, has unveiled the ‘Mindful Experience’, a reduced menu designed to reflect changing eating habits spurred by the rise of appetite-suppressing medication such as Ozempic and Mounjaro. The new menu will offer smaller portions of the restaurant’s famous dishes, but still promises to deliver the same flavour and theatre as the original menu.
The Mindful Experience, which is priced at £275, is a £75 reduction to the full Journey Menu, which is priced at £350.
The launch falls in line with an increasing shift in dining behaviour. According to Food Manufacture: ‘37% of UK consumers now cite weight loss as a top health priority’, and it is estimated that around 3.6 million adults in the UK are now taking weight-loss drugs.
The hospitality industry has faced countless challenges over the years, with many restaurants announcing closures due to rising costs and reduced footfall. This seismic shift in eating habits is expected to be another blow, with research by Morgan Stanley indicating that 63% of those on appetite suppressants order ‘considerably less’ food than before they were prescribed the drug.
The chef himself has spoken candidly about his personal use of Mounjaro, prescribed to offset weight gain incurred by medication for his type 1 bipolar disorder. He has also long been an advocate for mindful eating and gut health.
Blumenthal says: ‘Millions of people are eating much less food, drinking less, losing interest in restaurants, losing interest even in food. For more than a decade I’ve been saying that mindful eating is one of the keys to happiness and mental health.
‘One of the unanticipated effects of taking Mounjaro has been that I’ve become even more aware of my tastebuds and how hunger works, and I’m eating in a more mindful, focused manner.
‘Mindful eating can of course be applied to any experience - even an airline meal or a store-bought sandwich on your lunchbreak - but this new version of The Fat Duck menu is carefully tailored to a growing demand for a different restaurant experience.
'Sometimes, less really is more.’
The chef adds: ‘People used to joke that the portions on a tasting menu were so small that you had to grab a burger on the way home. But now, as our needs and expectations and appetites change, maybe this carefully structured menu is the perfect answer to what many people are looking for.’
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