5 ways Heston plays cupid

Forget flowers, candles and poetry. When Heston Blumenthal cooks up his own Recipe For Romance, airing Thursday night at 8.30pm on SBS, he creates a three-course spectacle involving snakes, chilli and a startling dessert.

Watch Heston romance his menu and his guests tomorrow at 8.30pm on SBS. Source: Heston's Recipe For Romance

Looking for some ways to put a little wow into a meal with your significant other? In Heston's Recipe for Romance, UK chef and gastronomical genius Heston Blumenthal tugs at the senses of five couples, all at different stages of their relationship, by setting his own menu at a London restaurant, Clos Maggiore. He's joined forces with a team of experts in science and psychology to see if a meal can affect how people in a relationship feel about each other. Is the way to a person's heart through their stomach or in this case, Heston's three-course menu?!

Here are 5 ways Heston gets romantic with his menu. So take note, this could possibly work wonders next time you are feeling a little more wow with your significant other. 

---

1. Chocolate... swoon!

Chocolate in every course? Check! Chocolate is luxurious and sexy and often gifted in a box, so in true Heston fashion he starts the evening by taking it to another place, the bottle. Not chocolate sauce, but chocolate mist. Let the games begin...

2. Aphrodisiacs everywhere...

The usual suspects - strawberry, oysters, caviar - are all there in Heston's 'melt my heart' starter... Is that a real pearl? Guess again... it's a caviar pearl. And the chocolate - that's part of the heart.

'Melt my heart' starter with Aphrodite's oyster. Source: Heston's Recipe For Romance

3. The element of surprise (of course!)

Heston's glasses fog up, his lips are burning and he is lightly sweating. Is it love? Watch how fear and pain can get his guests bonding... enter chilli, a "forbidden fruit" if you dare...

4. It's alive!

And in case you needed a little more wow on your plate, does a live snake do the trick?

The "forbidden fruit" served up with an actual live snake. Source: Heston's Recipe For Romance

5. A popping finish

Dessert - the climax of all courses. "It looks like an ample bosom to me," says one guest as ''the fig of desire'  taps into the power of sound. Let's just say it will have his guests popping with excitement.

 

Watch Heston's Recipe For Romance, Thursday May 12 at 8.30pm on SBS. For more Heston recipes check out our collection here.