Fallouts and financial woes: inside Heston Blumenthal’s sinking empire

Ashley Palmer-Watts and Heston Blumenthal outside the Mandrin Oriental hotel in Knightsbridge, London, in 2010. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Dinner by Heston was once one of the world’s most revered restaurants, known for its decadent and unusual dishes such as the “meat fruit”.

But Heston Blumenthal announced this week that he is winding down operations at the two Michelin-star restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Knightsbridge, London, saying it was because the tenancy had “finished”.