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These are the Roux brothers' classically French Waterside Inn and Heston Blumenthal's insane Willy Wonkian dreamscape, The Fat Duck. If that name is familiar at all, it's because, despite having a population of less than 5000, Bray is home to two three-Michelin-star restaurants, half of Britain's total. This may seem like an odd predicament, but it's easier to understand when you know that the Monkey Island Estate is a pleasant stroll from the picturesque village of Bray. Monkey Island Estate along the River Thames. By the neat gardens, by the dedication to maintaining the original building's Grade I listed status, and even by the restaurant, which finds itself under pressure to be excellent, without seeming too outstanding. Despite this being more than a year behind schedule, it's easy to be impressed by this place. Today, the grand white mansion on a pretty little isle looks very much like a finished article, even though work is under way – a cottage on the mainland will be upgraded to include a small swimming pool and gym. The Monkey Island Estate has been here in one form or another since the 1700s, though it's been a hotel on and off for the past 200 years. Today I am pretending that I am the sort of person who belongs at this grand estate sitting on an eyot (the proper name for an island in the River Thames) just outside the village of Bray.
![monkey island restaurant monkey island restaurant](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HHMTUN6VtIk/TLAOmclR0-I/AAAAAAAAAZ4/2QCpcnisuoE/s1600/4.4.Restaurant+of+Monkey+Island+resort.jpg)
Back then, I was a fat 12-year-old, eyes locked on the screen of my Commodore Amiga 500. The days and weeks I spent with him on Monkey Island could hardly be more different from the ones I will now spend on Monkey Island. But while the polite – borderline formal – lady at check-in explains where my room is, my mind drifts back to the 1990s and the happy days I spent playing that computer game with idiotic pirate-in-training Guybrush Threepwood. I'm thinking about this as I check into an estate on the outskirts of London with, coincidentally, an identical name.
![monkey island restaurant monkey island restaurant](https://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/images/fl/FLHOMmonkey_sow.jpg)
Nothing has ever changed my expectations quite like Monkey Island – nothing has ever set quite so high a bar. Grand white mansion: Monkey Island Estate.