The 40-seat Fat Duck Café in Oakleigh South, Australia, doesn’t even have a kitchen, but the small restaurant was apparently still too much competition for Heston Blumenthal, who forced the owner to change her establishment’s name to something less like the Fat Duck. Katie Norris says she had no idea who Heston Blumenthal was, so it’s pretty lucky for all involved that the letter sent by Blumenthal’s legal team took five whole pages to spell out all the accomplishments of the “celebrity chef/patron,” along with stats claiming that 560 Australians had visited the Fat Duck outside of London, with 1,680 more on a waiting list, to prove Blumenthal’s relevance Down Under.
Blumenthal and his lawyers played the Goliath role with gusto, threatening to take Norris to Federal Court and seek damages if she didn’t go through with the change — she did, settling on the inoffensive Loose Goose. The chef/patron told the Herald-Sun that he “wouldn’t be that fussed.” Perhaps that forthcoming Australian café he’s been hinting athas something to do with it.
Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal forces Oakleigh South cafe to change its name [Herald Sun via IBT]
Related: Heston Blumenthal Hints at Opening a Restaurant in Australia
