Heston Blumenthal fans will have to go into an online ballot for the chance to experience his famous Fat Duck menu in Australia.
The ballot, to be operated through Crown's Fat Duck Melbourne website, will be open from October 8 until October 26, with about 16,000 diners given the opportunity to experience the set menu once the restaurant opens on February 3.
Crown has fielded about 40,000 inquiries from customers desperate to get a seat at The Fat Duck Melbourne since Blumenthal announced the restaurants move there six months ago.
The entire staff of The Fat Duck (located in Bray, a village outside London) is moving to Melbourne - a massive coup for Crown, but a significant logistical and financial undertaking for Blumenthal.
The Fat Duck kitchen will be located at the old Breezes restaurant site at Crown. The Bray restaurant is being renovated while staff sojourn in Australia.
The Melbourne Fat Duck will exist at Crown from February until August next year before being turned into a local outpost of Blumenthal's London restaurant, Dinner by Heston, in October.
Blumenthal said he would be in Melbourne for about three weeks when The Fat Duck opens in February to ensure everything runs smoothly.
We knew a meal at Heston Blumenthal's Australian incarnation of The Fat Duck would be expensive. A seat at Fat Duck in Bray, England will set you back £220 (about $400) and serious coin has been spent fitting out the restaurant at Crown and flying the whole Duck team to Melbourne for six months.
However, it's been revealled this week at $525 a head set menu - excluding drinks - not only is a meal at this fine diner a pricey affair, it'll also be making a bid for the title of Australia's most expensive restaurant when it opens in February.
Would you pay $525 for dinner at Heston's?
Source: Good Food Guide Image credit: AFRYou Might Also Like: Gourmet Escape Margaret River
