Is this London’s best immersive dining experience? Using our powers of deduction, we certainly think so.
Our girl Hannah Tan went to 221 Baker Street to discover The Lost Estate’s Great Murder Mystery Experience. Pegged as London’s best immersive dining experience, The Lost Estate’s thrilling experience tells the story of the Hound of Baskerville in a way you’ve never seen before.
The many-layered immersive world begins the moment you set foot in 221 Baker Street, which has been transformed into a fantastical, ghoulish and eclectic manor full of Victorian antiquities. The set design here needs to be seen to be believed and no detail was too small for the team at The Lost Estate.
Picture leather banquettes, dimly lit velvet lampshades, lush foliage hanging from the ceilings, an apothecary of potions and remedies sits on the far corner of the room, while a greenhouse full of hand-drawn illustrations of plants and animals sits on another. A supply emporium and a Victorian-era kitchen also decorate the space, creating a truly rich and immersive world that transports guests into 1889 as London descends into chaos as rumour dread and violent disorder have brought the city to its knees.
The show, which is a contemporary retelling of desolate Devonshire’s lurid tales of a phantom hound, is told from John Watson’s point of view. The audience is lured in as members of an urgent press conference and the tale of the Hound of Baskerville is told in clever flashbacks from a traumatised Watson. The show is split into three parts and top and tailed with a course from starters to dessert. The space is versatile and the action takes place all over the room, making audience members feel like they are a part of the show. A handful of actors play multiple roles and from the quick costume changes to the pacy plot – there’s certainly something to feast your eyes on here, particularly if you’re a fan of London’s most infamous detective. The presence of a string quartet elevates the show as does the clever use of music and lighting to maximise the minimal stage space. Believe us when we say that you’ll be at the edge of your seat.
The menu pays homage to the Hound of the Baskerville’s Devonshire setting. It begins with a delectable house cured Gressingham duck ham, confit egg yolk with bearnaise sauce and ham crisps on toasted brioche.
This is followed by the indulgent truffled spring chicken, which is served over crispy Pommes anna with a. spring pea tart, chicken scratchlings and thyme jus, concluding with Devonshire strawberries, vanilla mousse and a Champagne sorbet.
The cocktails are clever and theatrical. We especially enjoyed the Highball, which was a clever concoction of Laphroaig Islay Whisky, Lavender, Honey. The Dram, which is severed in a glass case covered in smoke is appropriately dramatic and combines Charred Maple Wood-Infused bourbon with Walnut Wine and Maple Smoke, an homage to Lady Henri Baskerville’s transatlantic roots.
From starter to dessert, act one to long after you leave The Lost Estate’s Great Murder Mystery is truly an immersive dining experience that will stay with you for a long, long time.
