187 replies to this topic

[Marlyn4k]

Yes I've had that too...but have forgone an upgrade on the wine for Thursday by sponsoring your good cause £20.....all the best....with no intention to curry favour I might add....speaking of curry, went to Vineet Bhatia the other week and thought it were trop cher.

Edited by Marlyn4k, 22 May 2005 - 04:58 PM.

[Marlyn4k]

Nigel Platts-Martin has yet another winner in his stable. I'll definately be going back for more - £39.50 is excellent value. I can't write up the experience as I was made bleary eyed by the Bresse Pigeon - not 'moiresque' emotion but through sheer richness. Indeed that effortlessly rich and belied sophistication of the 2 star trademark was evident in abundance. I'm not one to judge but my punt is 1/7/3 within 12 months, then upward and onward to wherever they wish to go guide wise. London's newcomer of the year - and not just this year!

[Andy Lynes]

Having off loaded the kids for the weekend, I took Gill for lunch last Friday at The Ledbury. The main dining room was as quiet as the first time I dined, although the now complete terrace was busy enough (where we spotted Laura Aikens dining with two unidentified male companions).

The lovely Helena Hell was sadly absent although my wife didn't seem to mind too much for some reason. Service was a little less than perfect with a request made for our wine order before we had ordered food, and dishes being delivered to the wrong person (we were but two). Champagne (white for me, Billecart Salmon Rose for her) was swiftly followed by a shot glass of deliciously spicy gazpacho with tiny dice of cucumber, topped with good old fashioned peppery cress. Three generously stuffed lobster tortellini each were acompanied by fennel fondue and a lobster and basil cappuccino - very Square, very Howard, very bloody lovely.

Roast cod had a beautifully roasted, crisp skin, as did confit of guinea fowl, the former served with a mouclade of mussels and curry, the latter with warm salad of potatoes, mache and lots of girolles. Both were terrific.

A pre-dessert of lemon grass jelly with a brunoise of pineapple and delicate coconut froth did its palate cleansing thing to very agreable effect and preceeded a vanilla yoghurt parfait with matchless churros and blueberry sorbet for me and a truly stunning millefeuilles of raspberries with raspberry ripple ice cream for the missus. Regis the pastry chef, also ex of Square, deserves equal credit to the much lauded Brett Graham for maintaining the impossibly high standard of cooking right to the last bite of chocolate Madeleine. I couldn't resist a glass of Greecian muscat dessert wine (no other details, sorry) and only the promise of falling into the superb Ladbroke Arms for a post-lunch drink and an hour or so of Aussie-bashing cricket (sorry Brett) prevented me from indulging in a digestif.

A bottle of excellent Limoux chardonnay from the Languedoc was a snip at £25.00, a choice approved of by sommelier Dawn Davies (he preened. But I bet she says that to all the cheap skates that order below £30.00), and bought the bill to a not unreasonable £118.00 for two set menus at £24.50, coffee, water, wine, champagne and service. A cracking lunch in a beautiful room on a lovely day with my gorgeous wife. Life can be so good sometimes.

[Jon Tseng]

Having off loaded the kids for the weekend, I took Gill for lunch at The Ledbury last Friday. The main dining room was as quiet as the first time I dined, although the now complete terrace was busy enough (where we spotted Laura Aikens dining with two unidentified male companions).

For a minute there I thought you were hanging out with ersatz "food critics" from the murdoch press...

J

Edited by Jon Tseng, 01 September 2005 - 12:46 AM.

[Conor]

Good stuff about the ledbury, i'm supposed be trying ity next week so now i'm rather looking forward to it.

Interesting you mentioned the Ladbroke Arms. Easily my favourite pub in London. Good beer, well thought wine list, and excellent food.

[Andy Lynes]

The hanging baskets at the Ladbroke are looking magnificent at the moment if you're into that sort of thing.

[Andy Lynes]

Forgot to mention that The Ledbury are now offering an 8 course tasting menu for a pretty reasonable £55.00. Its mostly made up of items from the a la carte such as lasgane of rabbit with girolles and veloute of thyme but a few courses such as roast foie gras with grilled fig, fig puree and grue de cocoa and raspberry souffle with mascarpone and lemon verbena particular to it.

(BTW - will their website ever be launched?)

[howardlong]

The lovely Helena Hell was sadly absent

I read in an unhistoric Winner review in the Sunday Times ten days ago or so that The Lovely Helena Hell ™ has left the Ledbury... I don't know where she's gone though.

A bottle of excellent Limoux chardonnay from the Languedoc was a snip at £25.00,

That is a lovely drop and always value for money.

Cheers, Howard

(Editted 'cos my HTML quoting didn't work)

Edited by howardlong, 21 September 2005 - 02:24 AM.

[Andy Lynes]

The lovely Helena Hell was sadly absent

I read in an unhistoric Winner review in the Sunday Times ten days ago or so that The Lovely Helena Hell ™ has left the Ledbury... I don't know where she's gone though.

Sweden apparently - very sad news indeed. The good news though is that The Ledbury has just won Best New Restaurant in the Restaurateur's restaurant awards.

[Matthew Grant]

I ate again at the Ledbury on Saturday, I won't go into detail with the food, I thought it was good, however, my other half was this time a little less enthusiastic. The rabbit Lasagne was a good start, Dover sole with Chicken wings, Chicken jus and cockscomb was a rich dish which perhaps didn't show the Fish off to its best. I finished with the cheese trolley which was a bit hit and miss. Good vacherin, poor Comte. A friends plate had a cheese I don't remember but was pretty poor.

The main problem with the meal was the service, whilst well meaning it was, to be honest a little shoddy. Menus were delivered and within 90 seconds we were asked if we had any questions regarding themenu. Dirty plates remained on the table for 10 minutes or more, my starter plate hadn't been polished and was very smeary. It was difficult to attract the waiters attention, tables were crowded. It was impossible to move the cheese trolley effectively and the waiter was unable to serve the cheese up straight from the trolley due to a lack of space. I hope this was just an off night, it was very busy but that isn't really an excuse.

[Matthew Grant]

The more I think abou this the more it annoys me, luckily I was distracted on the night as we had company. They also delivered a Souffle a good couple of minutes before the other dessert/cheese and managed to place the dishes in front of the wrong person 3 times!

[MobyP]

Went here last night - called at the last minute on the off chance of a table, and was accomodated charmingly. All round, a very nice FOH bunch, especilly the (Dutch?) manager/maitre. The food was very up and down, however.

To start an amuse of pumpkin soup (oh dear, we're back on the bloody pumpkin amuses until blinkin' February, are we?) with a stunningly clever addition of a layer of vacherin veloute poured on top. Eh eh, I thought, a brilliant way to save a dull convention - until I tasted the thing, and found the gun powder wet, so to speak. The vacherin was too light, and so didn't contribute much in flavour.

Still, a modest problem.

Next, I ordered the two specials - scallops with mushrooms (chantrelles I think) and white truffles, and the assiette of game.

With a 15 pound supplement, the scallop dish had problems in every direction. Three very large scallops (where two would have done), placed on a platform of squished mushrooms. That is, they pan fried a large quantity of good fungi, and then squished them into a mold until they lost any possible shape they might have once held. Onto these, they shaved a poor amount of white truffle, from what appeared to be either miniscule truffles, or truffle scraps. There wasn't a shaving larger than a centimetre.

The point is, if they'd taken two of these oversized scallops and cut each of them in two or three slices, then served the mushrooms around the side, it would have been a better dish. It just seemed messy, meagre, and disrespectful of its ingredients.

Kate had the 'Papillote of Red Mullet with Creamed Fennel, Green Olives and Red Mullet Brandade.' This was a beautiful presentation. The mullet, deboned and reassembled, wrapped in the grease-proof paper with only the tail fins extruding. A paint brush shmear of green across the plate. On the side, a nice presentation of brandade in a glass with a small spoon. This brandade was full of flavour, delicious, but the main dish was incredibly light in flavour. It tasted of cooked fish, and although it was cooked adequately, it was certainly not the most delicately prepared example I could think of, with not much else going on.

For mains, with a £5 supplement, I had the assiette of game. Again, the presentation was lovely. Left to right, a split woodcock head (with a toothpick to get at the brains), a breast resting on pumpkin puree, loin of venison on red cabbage, a lasagne of partridge and cèpes. A game jus. In a separate cup-sized copper pot, ballotine of hare (and quite a baby at that) resting on pomme purée. This was pretty good eating, and I enjoyed the opportunity to dig into some woodcock brains. The venison was quite good - exceptionally tender.

They had, however, bolloxed up the partridge and cèpe lasagne. Using a chicken or partridge mousseline to bind the thing together, it had completely siezed up from over cooking, and had the texture of a well done omelet.

Kate had the 'Assiette of Lamb with Borlotti Beans, Artichokes and Herb Oil' which she seemed to enjoy (more so after I swiped her sweetbreads). Again it looked like a really accomplished dish - very French Laundry in appearance, for those who have seen the picture in the book - and the lamb was clearly young.

At this point neither of us had much room for dessert, so we waved the white flag and asked for the bill. Still, along came a couple of pre-desserts (I can't remember what) and some chocolates, which we ate, anyway.

Still, I was surprised when the bill came to find they had charged us for the full three courses each, plus supplements. It might well have been a prix fixe meal, and not a very expensive one at that considering the general standard of cooking. In addition, there were two sets of amuses, and a pre-dessert, and none of that is free. But if they had reduced the bill by even a token amount, they would have done more to ensure our repeat custom. I didn't complain because 45 pounds in the grand scheme of haute cooking is not an ostentatious sum. Still, if the cooking had lived up to its own standard, I would return sooner than I shall.

Edited by MobyP, 06 December 2005 - 01:55 AM.

[Andy Lynes]

Call me a tight-fisted philistine, but I hardly ever think its worth paying such whopping supplements for truffles, white or black. I've had a number of dishes with them in this year and none of them have even remotely blown my socks off.

Its interesting that you had issues with he food and not the service, its been the other way round for me on my two visits. Was the place busy? Do you think the kitchen might have been stretched hence the over-cooked mousse?

[MobyP]

No - we were the first table seated - 6.30. By the time we left - before 9 - it was barely 3/4 full.

The service throughout was impeccable. Charming, quiet, helpful when asked, absent when not needed.

[degusto]

Call me a tight-fisted philistine, but I hardly ever think its worth paying such whopping supplements for truffles, white or black. I've had a number of dishes with them in this year and none of them have even remotely blown my socks off.

So far this year I have not either had any Alba truffles that have blown me out of the socks. My feeling is that it has been a pretty average year from a quality point of view. However, I had the first black truffles of the season last weekend and they showed a maturity that was surprisingly good for early December. Whether these were freaks or a sign of lots of early maturing high quality black truffles this year is too soon to say.

[MobyP]

The truffles recently at the River cafe were worth the entry fee.

[degusto]

The truffles recently at the River cafe were worth the entry fee.

Yes, but did they blow you out of the socks? That is the issue.

[MobyP]

The truffles recently at the River cafe were worth the entry fee.

Yes, but did they blow you out of the socks? That is the issue.

Weeell... I did sense a little levitation, but I admit, I think I kept my footwear.

[balex]

Lunch today. I was very impressed. In general I have been very underwhelmed by restaurants of this type, so I was surprised to enjoy this meal so much.
A wafer of filo pstary with some truffled cream
A deep fried ball of salt cod in a jerusalem artichoke veloute

starters
lasagne of rabbit in a thyme veloute'. Not a veloute really, but very tasty foamy sauce and a very smooth puree of cepes. Lots of small chanterelles and I think other mushrooms (oops, there go my foodie credentials) Nice textures -- the filling of the lasagne was a quite firm forcemeat so the textural experience was very unlike a true lasgne -- the filling was firmer than the pasta. Flavours were fab. This was really nice to eat.

the mulllet en papillote mentioned upstream. My daughter loved this.

mains
Roast hare. Interesting presentation: saddle meat was cut off the backbone and coiled up against the fanned ribs (hard to explain). Bed of sauteed mushrooms, slightly sticky sauce. A couple of leafs of spinach wilted in. Tender, flavourful meat, maybe slightly underdone to my taste. Again succesful.

pudding was not quite so nice: caramelised pear, some crisp tuiley type things with chestnut puree and something else in. A bit too elaborate and the pear got lost.

Lovely wine, excellent service. I liked it a lot. I'll be back.

[Matthew Tomkinson]

My girlfriend and I went for dinner last night (saturday) and had a table booked for 9.45pm.
We arrived to be told our table would not be ready for another 15 minutes and that the small seating area they have is full We were advised of two local pubs and ended going just down the road. After 30 mins or so we returned to be told it still wasnt ready and there was still no where to sit so would we like to have some champagne at the reception? We did and were kind of regretting returning and if it hadnt been 10.30 would probably have gone somewhere else.
This is the first time this has happened to us at a starred place and were a bit suprised.
We were so glad we stayed!

We opted for the tasting menu and after talking to the fantastic female sommelier went for mainly Italian wines. We ate

Bread was bacon brioche roulade slices and sourdough with good salty butter. Both very good

*Canape of crispy brique pastry with foie gras parfait and cress, lovely with the champagne, tasty and simple.

*Amuse of liquorice roasted scallop with onion puree, crispy shallots and mushroom puree. Absoluteley superb dish and given as a suprise, the menu simpy states 'Amuse'

*Loin of tuna wrapped in Basil with a salad of radish and soy. Again lovely and light, fragrant and with the radish, basil and citrus flavours it was palate cleansing.

*Lasagne of rabbit and chanterelles with thyme veloute. The well documented signiture dish that for me more than lived up to its reputation

*Roasted seabass with pumpkin gnocchi and ginger. Perfectly cooked, crispy bass with julienne confit ginger, mushroom duxelle, pumpkin gnocchi and pumpkin puree. The dish was spicy, earthy and very well balanced with several strong flavours all complementing the bass and not outdoing it.

*Roasted foie gras with port glazed pear, fig puree and grue de cocoa. For me the weakest dish we had but still very interesting. Ther foie gras was crusted in a toasted hazlenut caramel, served with the cocoa sauce and the pear and fig. The dish was nice to eat but the sauce alone was slightly off putting and it was not the best liver i have eaten

*Pyrenean milk fed lamb baked in hay with creamed potato, truffle and celery
The dish was served as an assiette of lamb with rump, liver, kidney, shoulder and best end and is almost gently smoked by the hot hay in the oven. A super buttery potato laced with grated truffle and truffle slices and garnished with diced celery and crispy celery leaves. An outstanding simply presented dish and showed the lamb in all its glory it just missed some sweetbreads for me.

* Cheese. Nice selection with a good double gloucester and several options of British cheeses with the usual french suspects

* Sauternes custard with dried apricots and vanilla. A small shot glass arranged like a trifle of layers with a rich custard, vanilla cream and juicy, chewy dried friut. Very good and suprisingly light and tangy

*Chocolate souffle with honeycomb and banana. A Square quality perfect chocolate souffle with pieces of chewy honycom, banana ice cream and chocolate sauce. A little too generous in size but delicious with classic combinations of flavours

*Petit fours. Simple chocolate mint discs, small financiers and another i cannot remember!

We drank

2001 Roncus Bianco, Vecchie Vigne
2004 Essenzia, Pojer and Sandri, Trentino Alto Adige
2004 Aglianico IGT, Terredora, Campania
2002 VDP Collines Rhodaniennes, La rosine, Rhone Valley
We also had tasters of two different dessert wines and two small glasses of wine with the cheese

Total bill for two including £5 supplement for the cheese, coffee and service was £260 which we felt was fantasic value for money. We were lucky enough to have a good chat with Brett afterwards and got the tour of the kitchen. We didnt end up leaving until nearly 2 am. Very good friendly service , superb wine selection and the best food we have eaten in a long time. We will definately be back but maybe for an earlier table!

Edited by Matthew Tomkinson, 22 January 2006 - 07:44 PM.

[Jon Tseng]

had same menu sun before, apart from with a rather ho-hum venison dish instead of the lamb

agree easily * cooking, although the studied neo-classicism feels very much like the square-writ-small

rabbit lasagne interesting, particularly the use of a mousse for the filling (doesn't Square also use a mousse for its signature shellfish lasagne dish)

the crackly caramel on the foie gas was also unusual; the first time have seen this preparation although foie gras a touch overdone (endemic problem unless you have pretty thick slices).

sea bass and tuna were also likeable - the latter a surprise as cold seared tuna loin normally much of a muchness in London... or anywhere (one criticism of the tuna dish - the deep-friend crispy shallots on the top were a little overpowering).

Chef Brett clearly going places, though still think he needs to find his own voice - something Tom Aikens and Bjorn Whathisface at the Greenhouse have done very effectively over the last year or two

ta

J

[Andy Lynes]

Bjorn Whathisface

That's Bjorn van Whathisface if you don't mind.

[Jon Tseng]

Bjorn Whathisface

That's Bjorn van Whathisface if you don't mind.

Presumably to distinguish him from that bloke off of Abba, right

Actually looking up some stuff on the Greenhouse I noticed that Bjorn van Whathisface does the foie gras with a caramel brulee crust as well (no idea if the execution is anything like what Ledbury do)... so maybe its not that original after all...

J

Edited by Jon Tseng, 23 January 2006 - 01:14 PM.

[Rian]

On the spur of the moment, called The Ledbury on Tuesday night and booked a table for 9.15pm. Ended up taking what transpired to be a great value tasting menu with Andy (Fenn). I hope that he is able to upload the pictures, since I am currently having trouble doing so.

We were soon treated to a tasty canapé, of an ultra-light wafer with foie gras parfait and ground cayenne pepper. Salty, crunchy, and appetising, I’m sure this would have been well-matched to a decent champagne had our budgets stretched that far.

Our amuse was miniature bowl of Jerusalem artichoke soup, in which sat a sphere of salt cod. The cod was hot, crisp, and well-seasoned, but actually drew attention away from the sweet, fragrant pale liquid. The soup itself was truffled, but with a lightness of touch that allured rather than overwhelmed.

Loin of Tuna wrapped in Basil with a Salad of Radish and Soy

Having experienced a number of oriental-inspired tuna amuses/starters recently (most notably at Pied a Terre and Le Gavroche), the fish here stood out amongst the competition. The tuna itself was clean and fresh and rested on a wafer-thin slice of pickled daikon, which provided a touch of citrus sweetness. Deep-fried shallots lifted the accompanying salad, which impressed Andy no end, as I’m sure he will confirm. A few streaks of oyster mayonnaise lent a background of minerality, and the streak of basil a sweet fragrance. A lip-smacking, cleansing dish.

Lasagne of Rabbit and Chanterelles with a Veloute of Thyme

This was my favourite dish of the evening, and it is easy to see why it has been on the menu from day one. We were later informed that this was to be it’s last night in its current form. I could have eaten this a million times over. The pasta was slippery and dense, and I sensed a light cheese flavour, though I may be wrong. Graham’s love of mushrooms is clear and there were some unadvertised cepes in the dish, in addition to a deep, rich mushroom puree. The accompanying veloute was light and frothy, with the subtlest sniff of thyme, a sprig of which topped the dish (which I ate). The rabbit was moist and gamey, and this adds up to an exceptional seasonal dish.

Seabass with Pumpkin Gnocchi, Pumpkin Puree, and Ginger

Andy will wax lyrical about this dish, since it was by far his favourite of the evening. I did suggest that was in part motivated by the slightly disappointing fish preparations he had during our lunch at Tom Aikens the Friday before, since the sea bass here was an essay in texture: chunky, moist flesh fused to a salty, crispy skin. Pumpkin gnocchi were sweet and bouncy, with a crisp edge, having been finished off in the pan. These were topped by a smattering of trompettes de la mort, which provided a nice nutty contrast to the sweet gnocchi. A smear of pumpkin puree was similarly sweet next to half a tiger prawn. Warmth and spice fizzed lightly across the plate in the form of a pumpkin foam touched with ginger. Another impressive dish.

Roast Foie Gras with Port Glazed Pear, Fig Puree, and Grue de Cocoa

This dish commands a £5 supplement on the a la carte, giving an indication of the value represented by the tasting menu. Overall, I think this is a dish that will polarise judgment. Whilst I thought that bitterness of the grue (the husk of the cocoa bean) prevented the potential sickliness of a foie gras preparation, Andy disagreed. In the least, the layer of grue had been caramelised so as to give a crisp edge to the soft foie, which I liked. Poached pear was a nice, sharp twist on the (infuriatingly common) fruit/foie combo. A light foam of cocoa also had a light touch of coffee flavour, which married well with the grue. There was a light sprinkling of (I think) five-spice to finish off the dish. The liver itself was melthingly soft: Andy and I saved the kitchen a job my mopping up the unctuous fat with good rye bread. Budget-conscious, the sommelier was more than happy to split a glass of sweet wine for us here.

Incidentally, it is worth noting at this point that whilst the service was largely fantastic, it lacked the telepathic quality of the best 2 and 3-star venues: a number of times we had to ask for bread, and even then it often took its time to arrive. Even so, this was a very minor flaw on what was otherwise wonderfully attentive treatment.


Assiette of Pyrnenean Milk-Fed Lamb with Creamed potatoes, Truffle, and Celery

3 treatments of lamb here: braised shoulder, rump, and a beignet, which also contained the braised shoulder meat. Andy quickly identified a smoky edge to the rump. Brett later informed us that this is a result of baking the lamb in hay for a short time. The rump was very pink and sweet, which bespoke youth: these were 2-month old animals. Unfortunately this delicate cut didn’t quite stand up to the truffled mash, which had a more natural truffle flavour thanks to the incorporation of truffle juice. The gamier, meatier shoulder cut fared much better in this regard, as did the crisp, salty beignet.

Thinking back, a second minor gripe – our lamb arrived almost immediately after they had cleared out foie gras, to the extent that we had not had time to order a glass of red to accompany this course.

Cheese

Having eyed the trolley on a trip to the bathroom, we decided to split a cheese course. Again, the staff were very accommodating, and allowed us a very generous portion of cheese, served with knowledge and interest. I struggle to remember the names, but we had a wonderfully soft Italian cheese (at 3 o’clock on the plate) which really stood out.

A pre-dessert of sauternes jelly with apricot and vanilla arrived before cheese, but we held off until afterwards. This was perfectly pleasant: subtly sweet, and lightly perfumed with vanilla.

Chocolate soufflé with honeycomb and banana

As this arrived at the table, the surface was pierced and a quenelle of banana ice cream dropped in, followed by a beautiful sauce of dark chocolate. The soufflé itself was fantastic – feather-light, it frothed and evaporated on the tongue. I am a huge fan of hot and cold dessert combinations, and loved the contrast of temperatures and textures here. This said, I did feel that the honeycomb was a texture too far: the coarse edges jarred a little in the soft, frothy surroundings. We both enjoyed this, but, having both been to Aubergine recently, couldn’t help but compare it to the phenomenal banana crumble variety there.

By this time it was close to 1am and we shared the room with only one other table. Andy and I went down to the kitchen, which is compact, to say the least. Brett Graham showed us the tiny lambs (£65 each) and the new morels for use in the updated lasagne. The youth and enthusiasm displayed by the front of house is clearly reflective of the chef himself, who chatted to us for a good 20 minutes about the atmosphere in the kitchen and the logic behind the tasting menu. Refreshingly, he asked us for our thoughts on the meal and listened intently to the few minor criticisms we had. It was a great way to end the evening.

Graham’s cooking is commendable given the number of covers the restaurant does. The menu bespeaks a passion for quality, seasonal native produce. This was also clear from talking to Brett, who continues to offer the lamb despite making a loss on the dish.

Two tasting menus with 4 glasses of wine and a split cheese course came to just over £150, which we agreed was a steal both for the level of cooking and the value of the experience. Future visits are guaranteed (see below).

[Rian]

A second meal at The Ledbury this week, following Tuesday evening’s tasting menu. The team greeted us enthusiastically and led us to a table with a great view of the whole dining space. We started with a gin and tonic and took our time over the menu. I was assured that I could construct a new tasting menu, given my recent visit, but one of us was entertaining that evening and was keen to maintain an appetite. Canapes were the same as Tuesday.

The amuse of truffled artichoke soup with salt cod arrived. Unlike Tuesday evening, black truffle shavings appeared this time. This addition served only to accentuate the superfluity of the cod, which was over-seasoned this time and detracted from the sweet elegance of the soup.

On Tuesday night the lasagne of rabbit had been my favourite dish, and I was disappointed to learn from the chef that it was due to be replaced. I debated over the new lasagne or the terrine of veal cheek, but was persuaded by the prospect of the morels Andy and I had seen in the kitchen a few days earlier. The updated lasagne is with confit chicken, and arrived with two large morels, two pieces of caramelised chicken, and a foam of arbois and thyme. Lasagne mk. II is an improvement. Again, the pasta was sleek and light, with sufficient bite. There is a subtle pungency to the filling that suggests a cheese, but I have yet to confirm this. However, the new lasagne wins out thanks to the introduction of diverse textures. The accompanying chicken had its skin crisped, and the morels were fat, firm, and toothsome. I must admit that my judgement is in part motivated by my excitement over the new season’s morels, but I still expect the kitchen to shift a lot of lasagne.

Main course was a fillet and daube of beef with a croustillant of celeriac and cepes. Fillet was dense and nicely underdone, with deep scarlet interior. The smaller piece of daube was spectacular: dark, glossy, with the deep red colour of port. As I flaked into it with a fork (knife not required), the melting strands of fat revealed themselves before sinking back into the rich flesh. The daube sat atop a mound of spinach, which was tasty, if not remarkable. The croustillant revealed the chef’s love of seasonal ingredients, and particularly his judicious use of wild mushrooms, which appear heavily on the menu. As such, the filling was the sort of jazzed-up mash the dish required, with the light, crunchy casing providing a nice crispy contrast to the soft meat.

Having washed the sticky beef down with an equally sticky red, at this point my concentration erred slightly from dessert. The yuzu parfait I had was light and sunny, with excellent tuiles. My only frustration was that the kitchen kept us waiting some time for this, by which time I needed another glass of the excellent dessert wine.

Coffee and petits fours are nothing to write home about, thankfully, since they were accompanied by a glass of amaretto.

A second visit reveals the a la carte to be as distinguished as the tasting menu. My first two courses were largely faultless, and I reserve judgement of dessert for my next visit, which is on Friday (lucky, I know). It is worth noting that Brett was not in the kitchen (though he did come over and say hello when he dropped by), yet the quality remains exceptionally high.

Apologies of the lack of photographs, but this was a business lunch. Ditto lack of ballpark cost.

Edited by Rian, 26 March 2006 - 04:38 PM.

[alexhills]

Time for the twice a year haute cuisine blowout, plus paying my brother back for some plumbing he did for me! Was supposed to be Champignon Sauvage, but a lack of organization on my part meant a London place was needed instead, so the Ledbury fit the bill very nicely indeed. The lunch menu didn't set the pulse racing, and the tasting is only a tenner more than the carte, so there was no helping ourselves and we settled in for a really very very long lunch indeed. Pretty much the same menu as people have had above, but here's my tuppence regardless...


Canape -

A cream of goat cheese and truffle on tuile. Good, much better truffles than I've been getting myself this season, although definitely some (very good) truffle oil in there as well.

Amuse -

A single seared scallop with a liquorice skewer running through it, on top of a mushroom duxelle with a white onion puree on the side. A quality scallop and cooked right, with nice caramalization on the outside, every so slightly gritty though. Both accompaniments were spot on.

Seared tuna with basil, radish salad -

One of the best dishes of the meal, super fish, only the first quarter inch showing any signs of cooking, wrapped in basil leaves with a basil oil dressing. Sitting on a incredibly thin 2 inch square piece of pickled daikon, with a lovely fresh salad on the other side, including some very interesting purple mint leaves. Everything working together here, quality ingredients showing themselves off to best advantage.

Chicken lasagne, morel, chicken wing, thyme veloute -

Not as sold on this one as Rian was. The morel was very good, although not as earthy as the ones I love the most. The chicken wing piece stunning, cooked soft then given a hard sear on the grill, perfectly crisping one side. The veloute a classic piece of modern foamy fluffiness, well done but to become a little ubiquitous in the meal as a whole. My problem was with the lasagne filling which was bound with a lot of egg and too omlettey as a result. Top marks for the chicken wing though.

Sea bass, a prawn, pumpkin gnocchi and puree, black trumpets, ginger veloute -

Good execution and ingredients here, the only dish of the meal where I had doubts about the composition. Although tasty in itself, I don't really know what the prawn was doing there, and the gnocchi likewise seemed heavy and a little out of place. The plus side was the fish cooking, which seemed to have somehow infused it with ginger despite only being a sear.

All this was washed down by a white St.Joseph, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc. A little more new oak than I like, but a nice match with the food. The list in general was good and not outrageous in markup, the wine waiter very pleasant and helpful also. We saw him taste the first bottle of the St. Joseph he opened and set it aside, so doing his job properly too. Good to see.

Roasted foie, cocoa crust, port poached pear, fig puree, chocolate sauce -

A very classical dish, and immaculate composition. A healthy sized piece of very good, eggy, foie also. Still had one vein in it, but not a serious problem. I'm not quite sure about roasting for foie though, I do love the crusty outside searing gives you. The cocoa crust was a clever simalcrum of this, but not really the same.

Split a glass (but still two perfectly good sized pours) of excellent Austrian pseudo-Sauternes. Great for the dish, but how can that combination go wrong...

Assiette of pyrennian lamb, celery, mushrooms, truffled potato puree -

Again 3 versions of the lamb. An astonishingly tiny rack piece (those were some seriously baby lambs, clearly), slices of loin (I think) and either shoulder or, more likely, neck, cooked much more slowly. Also a very cute addition of a slice of foie, the same size cooked exactly as pink as the slices of loin. To the casual eye just another slice of lamb, but ahhhhh.... A nice smooth demiglace/pan juice sauce and well truffled potatos, although again I suspect the flavor was from juice or oil. Not overwhelming and well integrated in to the dish though. Excellent meat perfectly cooked was the point of this plate though.

Cheese -

beaufort, valence, forme d'ambert, a corsican ewe's milk number with a wonderful rosemary and lavender ash coat and a not exactly epoisse. The forme and the corsican were the standouts for me, excellent condition and quality. Not so sure about the beaufort personally, but my brother has been a cheese salesman amongst many other things and thought it was spot on. Plenty of other nice looking things on the cart as well. The bread with this was with raisins, which I see all the time with cheese, but I'd really prefer something plainer. My fault for not asking, though. Bread was good - especially a bacon and onion brioche (the others were a soda bread and roasted garlic) - in general, incidentally.

A glass of Southern Rhone Syrah with the meat and cheese. Too young and brash for me really, should have gone with a half bottle of something classier, but quite enough opulence already...

Pre-dessert of Sauternes custard, apricot, vanilla foam.

Cute, nicely layered in a shot glass, very very good fresh vanilla, some liquor in the apricot that worked well too.

Chocolate souffle -

Banana ice cream dropped in tableside, along with a very dark chocolate sauce. Not totally sold on the ice cream, somehow a little artificial and in the souffle itself I prefer my chocolate darker. Perfectly made though - exceptional texture. Also the only outrageous sized portion of the meal, and kind of finished me of.

Espresso (excellent) and a couple of chocolates to end.

So the meal in general - really very little to criticize in terms of execution, construction of either the menu as a whole (an excellent flow, portion sizing and the most tempting dishes from the carte) or each dish, and ingredient quality. It isn't food that shows a very strong individual hand at the stove, rather being a sort of generic international haute style, with modern trimmings but basically safe in intent. That isn't really meant as a complaint though, it is obviously what the place is aiming for and they do it very well indeed. It didn't have the highly personal quality of the long menus I've had at Troisgros or Manresa, but as a way to spend a lazy afternoon you could do much much worse. Modern, comfortable room (although watch for the disintegrating tap in the men's room), friendly but correct and prompt service - although only 5 tables, clearly pretty easy for them - very well priced for what you get and being in central London.

A lot more fun than hiring a plumber and probably not much more expensive either.

[algy]

All this was washed down by a white St.Joseph, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc. A little more new oak than I like, but a nice match with the food. The list in general was good and not outrageous in markup, the wine waiter very pleasant and helpful also. We saw him taste the first bottle of the St. Joseph he opened and set it aside, so doing his job properly too. Good to see.

If he was selling a St Joseph Blanc made from Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay, he was doing an amazing job

[alexhills]

All this was washed down by a white St.Joseph, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc. A little more new oak than I like, but a nice match with the food. The list in general was good and not outrageous in markup, the wine waiter very pleasant and helpful also. We saw him taste the first bottle of the St. Joseph he opened and set it aside, so doing his job properly too. Good to see.

If he was selling a St Joseph Blanc made from Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay, he was doing an amazing job

Memory was a little addled by actually drinking the stuff when I wrote that. It was certainly Chenin, what's the rest of the blend more likely to be, Semillion? There's no reason to believe he actually said Chardonnay.... He seemed much more trustworthy than I am!

[algy]

all you're allowed in St Joseph Blanc is Marsanne (mainly) and Roussanne (sometimes).

[alexhills]

all you're allowed in St Joseph Blanc is Marsanne (mainly) and Roussanne (sometimes).

Hmmm, I don't think I was far enough gone to have made up that he said Chenin, maybe there was some confusion on his part as well as mine.... My wine knowledge, such as it is, is definitely on the red side of things. Still, a very nicely matched wine for the food regardless of what it was actually made of!!