He has thrilled foodies with his creations, such as the flaming sorbet and even egg and bacon ice-cream. He uses an amazing array of scientific equipment in his kitchen - yet admits he failed his chemistry O-level and doesn't like the "scientist" tag.
He considers himself a chef rather than a scientist, saying he "cooks intuitively" and uses "science as a tool."
© EDB Image Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
Regardless of how he sees himself, Blumenthal has been awarded honorary degrees from London, Bristol and Reading universities and has been made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
He has described his ideas for multi-sensory cooking, flavour encapsulation and food pairing on his TV series, in books and in newspaper columns.
The 52-year-old owns The Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, Berkshire, which is one of only five restaurants in the UK to have been awarded three Michelin stars. It was also voted the world's best restaurant in 2005.
Inspiration
Blumenthal was born in 1966 in Kensington and became interested in cooking when he was 16, during a family holiday to Provence, in France. He was taken to the three Michelin-starred restaurant, L'Oustau de Baumanière.
Later, he said he was inspired by the "whole multi-sensory experience", including the quality of the food, the sound of the fountains and the "heady smell of lavender".
He began learning to cook, but on leaving school at 18, he worked in a series of mainly administrative jobs, while teaching himself to cook classic French cuisine in his spare time. In 1995, he bought a run-down pub called The Ringers in Bray and reopened it as The Fat Duck.
Career highlights
This was the start of his amazing career as a celebrity chef, which saw him open further Fat Duck restaurants and gastronomic pubs.
He has developed unique methods of cooking with science and has dreamed up new dishes, such as triple-cooked chips and soft-centred Scotch eggs.
He has presented several TV shows, including Heston Blumenthal: In Search of Perfection, Heston's Feasts, Kitchen Chemistry with Heston Blumenthal and Heston's Mission Impossible.
Total experience
His unique philosophy considers not only the food but also the complete customer experience. One of his major achievements was pioneering the use of liquid nitrogen in the kitchen. Originally, he used it to keep his green beans fresh and green. He then began using it to create other dishes, such as nitro-poached mousse and ice-cream.
His multi-sensory cooking is based on the theory that everything we smell, hear, see and touch when eating can have a significant effect on how much we enjoy our meal. He uses the theory to trigger happy memories for the diners at The Fat Duck in Bray.
One of his most famous multi-sensory dishes is the Sound of the Sea. He serves seafood, seaweed and kelp, plated up to resemble the seashore. He serves it with a conch shell that contains an iPod, playing the sounds of ocean waves and seagulls.
Cooking at home
Through TV shows including his series, In Search of Perfection, he has made his scientific cooking available to the public via the BBC. Blumenthal and his team created what they described as "perfect" versions of everyday dishes that people could try at home.
A recipe book to accompany the series contains recipes for meals including roast chicken and road potatoes, bangers and mash, pizza, spaghetti Bolognese and fish and chips and desserts including black forest gateau, ice-cream and treacle tart.
He is also famous for inventing some weird and wonderful flavour combinations, including white chocolate and caviar, or salmon and liquorice. The chef creates matches by matching up molecular similarities in the different ingredients and combining them in a single dish.
Waiting list
The popularity of Blumenthal's restaurants means there's a waiting list for bookings. Diners are invited to make reservations for The Fat Duck through the website, but there is a waiting time of at least four months to make a reservation.
Tickets are released on the first Wednesday of each month, four months in advance. The next ticket release will take place on 3rd April for the period beginning August 2019.
It has been reported that the restaurant gets 30,000 booking enquiries every day. Calls are logged automatically by the switchboard, as not many of them actually get through.
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