187 replies to this topic

[Andy Fenn]

Great account Alex. I had the tasting menu with Rian a month ago, and I shared his enthusiasm for Brett Graham's cooking. I'll have another crack at uploading the photos. We met Brett afterwards, and he was an extremely likeable guy. Very young, energetic and enthusiastic, but humble with it. His staff clearly had a great deal of respect for him, and he spoke to us for a good 20 minutes with great honesty.

An astonishingly tiny rack piece (those were some seriously baby lambs, clearly)

He actually showed us a whole lamb in the kitchen, as it arrives from the supplier. Only 2 or 3 weeks old, it was tiny. I reckon at most 15 inches long, though as a male, I struggle with such estimations... He said he got them for £65 each, and even on tasting menu portions, we had a whole rump each. Apparently they don't make money on the dish, but serve it because Brett thinks they should at this time of the year. Remarkably pale and tender meat.

A nice smooth demiglace/pan juice sauce and well truffled potatos, although again I suspect the flavor was from juice or oil

It was indeed truffle juice, we were informed. I thought this was great stuff, but a little overpowering for the delicate flavour of the rump. But it paired well with the stronger, slower cooked parts of the dish. That was my only real criticism of our meal, and I mentioned this to Brett. That's the first time I've been able to bring myself to criticising a dish straight to a chef's face - he had asked us if we had any comments - and I think it's another testament to the guy that I felt comfortable doing that.

My problem was with the lasagne filling which was bound with a lot of egg and too omlettey as a result

I was trying to put my finger on why I didn't rave about this dish (well, the rabbit equivalent) quite as much as Rian, and you've hit the nail on the head. The rest of the dish was delicious though.

Does your brother always accept gastronomic treats as payment for plumbing services? If so, send him over!

[Rian]

Thanks for the review, Alex, sounds like you very much enjoyed it.

He actually showed us a whole lamb in the kitchen, as it arrives from the supplier. Only 2 or 3 weeks old, it was tiny. I reckon at most 15 inches long, though as a male, I struggle with such estimations... He said he got them for £65 each, and even on tasting menu portions, we had a whole rump each. Apparently they don't make money on the dish, but serve it because Brett thinks they should at this time of the year. Remarkably pale and tender meat.

Actually I think the lambs he showed us were about 6 weeks old. The only reason I remember is that at Aikens last week the lambs were even younger and the staff there revealed that Aikens' used 2-week old animals.

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.

I'm glad you liked this, Alex. I loved it. And it was even better as I'd been talking to Andy about how I'd been uniformly unimpressed by a number of recent scallop treatments.

Chocolate souffle -
Also the only outrageous sized portion of the meal, and kind of finished me of.

Can't agree with you more - this mammoth souffle was also the end of me.

I'd like to return for another tasting session, since I'm sure they'd be willing to construct an entirely different version. And only £10 more than the ALC, too.

[tony h]

Sunday Lunch @ Ledbury

Finally made it to the Ledbury for lunch yesterday. The restaurant was surprisingly quite – only 6 or 7 tables were occupied.

Amuse – simple wafer thin piece of flat bread with a couple of strands of creamed foie gras - full of flavour, wonderfully seasoned - quite stunning.

Pre-starters – delicately seared disc of tuna wrapped in basil & lettuce. Drizzles of basil puree with lovely little gathering of small salad leaves & herbs. Very prett,y refreshing & flavoursome. Seemed like a lot for a pre-starter. I think was given to us because there were so few people – its one of the course on the tasting menu.

Starters – rabbit lasagne is back on the menu after a 6 month break or so our waiter told us enthusiastically – like a long lost friend who just returned. How could you resist? I didn’t & it was quite marvellous – a couple of layers of densely packed rabbit & pasta with puree of mushroom, fried mushrooms & foamed sauce. Some deep fried herbs provided colour contrast. Confident dish form a confident chef.

The other starter was red mullet with roast red peppers, pine nuts, purees & salad. Although vibrant to look at it only was only really brought alive by the red pepper. The mullet itself was quite plain and one dimensional – don’t know why – it usually a succulent fish. Good but not great.

Mains – thinly sliced roast duck with sautéed foie gras, sweetcorn puree and sweetcorn pancakes. Wonderfully thick reduced sauce. Very, very good.

The other was beef two ways – one slow cooked which took on the deepest mahogany hue & melting texture; the other simply roasted to perfection. It came with mashed potatoes (more a sauce, really) with layered sliced potato cake/wedge; Yorkshire pudding; horseradish sauce & deeply reduced sauce. I think we missed out on the veg (we saw another table getting some) but it didn’t matter – we couldn’t have eaten them anyway. This was fab.

Desserts were caramel soufflé with banana ice cream – I can never get enthusiastic about soufflés – always too eggy for my liking. I had warm figs with crushed apple, mini-donuts and ice cream. This dish didn’t work for me – all the components were fine but it didn’t come together as a single dish.

I almost forgot to mention the bread – the bacon brioche easily amongst the best bread I’ve had in a long time.

Set lunch is £35. I’m not a big fan of the Square – too formal & stuffy. I’d very happily come back here.

[tony h]

A question.

The floor tiles in the gents loo - don't suppose anyone knows where they come from?

Ta

[Andy Fenn]

Finally, the Ledbury has itself a website

I go here a lot, and now know Brett and the team quite well. I suppose I'm biased, but it's one of my favourite places in London.

[Andy Lynes]

I thought they were never going to get rid of that bloody holding page. Nice job, although Brett looks a bit like a homeless person slumped next to the Ledbury Road sign.

[muichoi]

Damn good wine list.

[adt]

they've a great course on the tasting menu here at the moment -- celeriac baked in ash, which they cook in a crust and bring to the table to show you what they've been up to, breaking it open to reveal the neat ash-coated celeriac and to rather ostentatiously waft it around to show off the aroma, then whisk it away again to return some time later sliced sans crust and with shavings of truffle, hazelnut, hard-boiled egg and a crescent of some very tasty pork in breadcrumbs. For some reason, this was all absolutely brilliant -- black truffle and celeriac is a very safe bet but the other flavours really elevated it, and the wine pairing (forget what, perhaps on website?) was absolutely brilliant. I loved the fact that the humble celeriac was the grand centre-piece of the dish, with the pork relegated to a (very effective) supporting role.

rest of the tasting menu was superb, indeed better than considerably more expensive recent experiences at the Greenhouse and Midsummer House, with some superb wine pairings... I was very impressed. the yorkshire rhubarb raviolo with a melting, delicate lime ice-cream captured my attention more than any dessert I can remember for a long time...

[Andy Fenn]

Funny you should post that Ian - I was about to post on the very same dish. I eat at the Ledbury a lot (probably too much!), and it is easy to become complacent about the quality of the food that is being churned out.

But my meal on Saturday was the first since before Christmas, and the quality really jumped out at me. The celeriac dish (and the roe deer dish - did you have this?) was stunning.

The crust is almost totally salt, but with a little egg and flour to hold together, and it actually looks like pastry.

Brett is trying to bring more tableside service dishes to the menu, which I look forward to. They also have a new restaurant manager, who is pretty top drawer, and a much bigger sommelier team. So it seems to be hitting a higher level, with greater consistency. Unfortunately, the restaurant really struggles with the lunch trade, due to location, which is a shame.

[Scottf]

Chef been to L'Arpege recently?

[Andy Fenn]

Not as far as I know! What's the Arpege element? Salt crust? Celeriac? The whole lot?

[adt]

But my meal on Saturday was the first since before Christmas, and the quality really jumped out at me. The celeriac dish (and the roe deer dish - did you have this?) was stunning.

Yes, the roe deer was wonderful -- fairly straightforward in composition, and flawlessly executed, really well-flavoured, meaty sausage with a subtle offal note, offsetting the refinement of the rare loin slices. the wine pairing was, once again, really good (2004 Valpolicella Superiore DOC, Corte Sant’ Alda, Veneto, Italy apparently).

no clue on the website as to the wine with the celeriac, but the wine with the basil and tuna -- 2006 Ribeiro, Vino do Campo, Bodegas Docampo, Castilla Y Leon, Spain -- was remarkable for the way it came alive with the food (it didn't really impress on its own, but when combined... very cleverly chosen)

Perhaps the least impressive course was the sea bass, with the smoked butter emulsion not seeming very smoky to me, and the remainder not doing anything particularly arresting, but it was still very well executed and entirely delicious... very good friendly service... there was nothing I could fault in the whole evening really :) it's quite a while since I was previously here (more than a year) and I was impressed then, but if my memory is correct it seems to have got even better...

[Scottf]

Not as far as I know! What's the Arpege element? Salt crust? Celeriac? The whole lot?

The whole lot. I can see a few Passard touches on the online menu too though I guess there are worse influences to have.
I may be mistaken but I reckon there's some LCS in there too.

[tony h]

Not as far as I know! What's the Arpege element? Salt crust? Celeriac? The whole lot?

when I had lunch at arpege many years ago they centre piece was white beetroot cooked in salt - the whole restaurant was made to stop and look no matter where you were in your meal. The beets were then removed and everyone was served some (a few slices with 50 yr old balsamic) - even if you were haivng pud.
quite wonderful

[Siharris28]

Tasting menu at The Ledbury last night, and bloody good it was too.

Thought the decor of the place was a bit bland, but not a major problem, there was a nice buzz about the place. Very friendly welcome.

Filo pastry with foie gras was a tasty pre-meal snack, nice pepperiness offsetting the rich foie. We were then given a palate-cleansing glass of champagne on the house. Which was nice.

Amuse bouche was a chilled courgette and basil soup. Very refreshing, the courgette flavour came through strongly, which impressed me given that courgette is not the strongest tasting vegetable.

Next up was a salad of various roots and flowers, with a pheasant egg and white truffle. Light and crisp, the flavours and textures melded perfectly. A Gaillac to accompany was really unusual, almost a grassy flavour, reminiscent of some olive oils. Went very well with the salad.

The following course was possibly the best for me. Seared mackerel with pureed avocado and shiso, very tasty, but the best bit was mackerel tartare encased in cucumber jelly - the textures worked really well together and the mackerel flavour sang through. A nice mineral Greek white to accompany.

Foie gras terrine with mango salsa and poilane was accompanied by a sweetish Riesling which had a long finish which offset the sweetness somewhat. Cut through the richness of the foie very well. A fairly straightforward dish but delicious and one of my favourites of the night.

Cod next, served simply seared and accompanied by various spring vegetables, meaty morels and a nice reduction. Very tasty but lacked the wow factor of some of the other dishes. Interestingly paired with an Italian pinot noir, very complex and worked well with the fish.

We moved onto slices of lamb, accompanied with a delicious aubergine dauphinois-type construction and some other veg - best vegetable of the night. Again, a fairly simple dish but the saucing was spot on, we savoured the flavours. A bold South African syrah was again a good match.

Getting quite full now, we progressed onto blue cheese pannacotta with pear ice. Really intense pear flavour. Think the pannacotta had vanilla in it as well. Great combination, although the panacotta was very rich for a pre-dessert and neither of us finished it.

Last but by no means least, a full size passion fruit souffle. Absolutely superb, again right up there with the best of the night, so light but bursting with flavour. A glass of Moscato de Pantelleria was delicious, we remembered it well from our trip to Sicily last year.

Finished off with tea and petits fours, which were great, three hours had passed and we absolutely loved it. Great, unpretentious food, really interesting wine selections, nice ambience and friendly staff. Will have to be done again.

[Paul Reynard]

Gutted. Was meant to be at the Ledbury on friday night as well but had to cancel at the last minute Although one of the main reasons I was going was for the celariac baked in ash dish - do you know if this was still on the a la carte or not?

[Siharris28]

Gutted. Was meant to be at the Ledbury on friday night as well but had to cancel at the last minute    Although one of the main reasons I was going was for the celariac baked in ash dish - do you know if this was still on the a la carte or not?

I think it was on the ALC if I remember rightly. I was a tad disappointed it wasn't on the tasting menu...

[Andy Fenn]

You should have asked - they would have subbed it in for you. Sounds like a good meal though.

[nikkib]

A stunning lunch here at the weekend - can't believe i left it so long to return. Canapes were truffled cod brandade "lollipops" which were delicious - not really sure it needed the truffle but whos complianing? I started with the Salt baked ash rolled celeriac with kromeski of suckling pig as i seemed to remember reading something about it one one of the previous posts. It wsa absolutely fantastic - mthey bought it to the table and sliced it in half, wriggling the celeriac around inside to demonstrate the ash as well. The smell of the celeriac when they cut into it was delicious and when it returned to the table it had been sliced and served with the kromeski. When i enquired as to what this was they explained it rather neatly as a sort of pig fish cake - made from "all the best bits" of the pig - they needn't have worried about my being squeamish as this was brilliant - i would happily return for that alone and am already trying to work out if i could attempt this at home (has to be worth a shot)For mains i opted for the john dory with ras al hanout. This was steamed and served with broccoli, crab and toasted pinenuts as well as a little yoghurt(?) and a light foam. This was another very good dish, with all the flavours coming through. For dessert i chose the white chocolate, elderflower and strawberry trifle mmmmmmm. I chose a 1/2 btle of terlaner but raelised pretty soon this wouldn't stand up to the dory so had an extra glass of st aubin with that on the sommeliers recommendation which worked nicely. The Restaurant amnager was utterly charming, as were all the senior staff, my only gripe (and its a small one) was a chef de rang who seemed hell bent on putting his mise en place EXACTLY where he wanted to despite the fact i was reading a magazine and as a result made me move a couple of times to accomodate him which was a little intrusive but i was taking up a lot of room. With a glass of champagne, coffe, the aforementioned wine and water i left around £90 poorer but very happy indeed and if i can limit my alcohol intake (not easy) i will definitely be back soon - the asparagus with moriles and caramelised duck tongues looked delicious....

[adt]

do you reckon the food could be ambitious enough for a second star if they continue in this vein? (and if so how long do they have to put in?) It sounds like their consistency is good, and I must admit I enjoyed my last meal there more than recent experiences at The Capital or Midsummer House, albeit tending towards the more straightforward.

[CheGuevara]

So I managed to make it over to the Ledbury last night, and before i give my views on our meal I must say that this crisis seems to be hitting hard - i booked only a few hours before, and of the 65 covers there were no more than 30. Granted it's a Tuesday night, but nonetheless...

We had the tasting menu (two of us) with a glass of St. Aubin to start which was excellent, at 11.40 each so it should. Followed by a Vosne Romanee 2001 from Engel - pricey at £62 as is the rest of the wine list, which i generally found quite lacking. There was only one red Bordeaux under £60.

I'll begin with our spend as to me value for money is how i judge a place. The total came out to £235. The evening was very pleasant, the service good throughout.

Were you to ask me later in the week and i would not remember half of the dishes - by this afternoon i had to go to the website to remember all of them. There is a mackerel dish with avocado which stands out, purely on the quality of the sourcing and cooking. Fantastically cooked fish, barely cooked inside with a lovely crispy skin (i cringed later on while my neighbour at the table next to us removed it). A very well conceived dish was the beetroot cooked in salt and marjoram, where it failed was in the detail; a poor balsamic reduction added tableside which to me ruins the concept of the dish. My personal feelings on balsamic vinegar are aggressively negative; it should be all but banned from the kitchen. Belive me i say this with an open mind: not only was the sauce poor, why add that level of flavour to a dish which centres around the purity of a vegetable? One could go further with this and question the use of a sweet sauce on a sweet vegetable.

The foie gras was a terrible let-down. I remember my comments well: it's enjoyable because it's foie gras. Litlle cubes of fresh mango with a terrine of foie gras? Amateurish combination which is poorly executed; reminds me of American fusion cooking. Foie gras won't handle an sharp and acidic fruit like mango when served fresh and cold - possibly processed mango would work.

Three dishes contained basil, possibly one more - two of them as a major ingredient. A bit much for my linking in a tasting menu. The final dish was a chcolate pudding served with a basil ice cream, both on their own were good; however albeit very small i was "empalagado" as we say in Spanish by the end. Terrible combination as the basil ice cream was not able to ease the dense chocolate; for ma a classic example of poor attempt at clever out of the ordinary parings which come far short of traditional practices - a great cream in any myriad of forms would have been far superior.

It needs reiterating - we had a lovely time and a very good meal of a high standard. I walked out of the Ledbury a very happy human. But, but, but, nothing i tried (except for the mackerel) was remotely inspiring, certainly nothing blew my mind. For £120 a head and all the fuss, under normal scrutiny i would expect much much more.

-che

Edited by CheGuevara, 17 September 2008 - 09:56 AM.

[muichoi]

I'm glad to read of your loathing of 'balsamic' vinegar. Its general substitution for proper vinegar is a horrific symptom of the infantilisation of gastronomy that has taken place over the last twenty years.
I like the Ledbury. It isn't worth £120 per head, but as the MD of Natoora are you sure you feel comfortable regretting high prices?

Edited by muichoi, 17 September 2008 - 12:02 PM.

[Food Snob]

I agree £120 is a lot for the Ledbury.

I feel that I enjoyed my experience more than you did yours. However, I did personalise the tasting menu quite significantly! My favourite dishes were the mackerel, grouse and venison, but you must have had lamb and foie gras with the mackerel.

How did you find the sea bass or have you completely forgotten it?


Food Snob

[Gary Marshall]

with regards to the wine i think they are amenable to BYO

[muichoi]

£50 per bottle.

[adt]

My favourite dishes were the mackerel, grouse and venison, but you must have had lamb and foie gras with the mackerel.

How did you find the sea bass or have you completely forgotten it?

Going by last night, it seems the turbot/sea bass has changed again -- into cod this time... which is a shame as it's just too boring a fish, with too uninspiring a texture, to carry a dish with such nice-but-unremarkable accompaniments. This said, the combination of raw and roasted cauliflower slices was deftly handled, and the beignet didn’t seem fish-and-chip-like to me… though the choice of fish itself was straying in this direction ;) .. I suspect the raw-plus-cooked trick was also used in the puree that accompanied the scallop, this one combined richness and freshness very successfully, and paired with the liquorice note of the scallop as well as you would expect – a simple course but really first rate.

I substituted the grouse for the foie so can’t comment on the latter, but the grouse was superb, and they generously gave us a (presumably starter-sized) raviolo each. The flavour of the egg combined in with the grouse filling came across strongly but not displeasingly, put me in mind of Café Anglais. The veloute was lovely, and the elderberries were subtle and effective.

The beetroot was sound enough but I didn't think it an outstanding course – albeit beautifully presented, I found it a bit too simple and rustic in flavour, with nothing to sufficiently elevate it in the accompaniments, in spite of the successful incorporation of the marjoram. Didn’t manage to convincingly make a root vegetable the centrepiece in the way that the celeriac baked in ash did, and I agree the balsamic vinegar detracted rather than added… its serving at the table also seemed more fussy and needless than usual.

The mackerel was the best course – a truly impressive elevation of this humble ingredient – and various other touches, such as the use of hibiscus with the strawberry terrine, were very successful. I’m rather keen on the combination of basil and chocolate, so had no objection to the last course, and thought the pave was very well judged, extremely rich but light in texture. Also, the wine pairings were very well chosen, and fair value at £38 I thought (more enjoyable than some recent £60 pairings at hibiscus imho, and the meal too for that matter…)

Admittedly, nothing really stood out as much as the last time I was here, but the standard was extremely high, rather like pied-a-terre in the sheer level of consistency course after course… but not quite the same level of excitement, not so many things that really stand out and amaze. But a few more courses like the mackerel, the celeriac baked in ash etc. and it’ll be a different matter…

[Food Snob]

I agree with a lot of that, but why such a strong and common antipathy to balsamic vinegar; I feel almost bullied into silence - I like balsamic vinegar.
Disagree about the cod comment too. I, for one, quite like it. However, that may be from the fact that I eat it so rarely, that when I do, it's a pleasant change.
The fish+chips reference was relating to the odour from the dish; it was the first thing that hit me and stuck in my mind; the beignets were greasy though.
I was very close to asking for the new fish dish they had on the ALC (cod and tomato, I think), but I had already changed so much around, I didn't want to take liberties (though I am sure they would not have minded!).

Also, has anyone tried the pigeon main?

Food Snob

P.S. can chocolate ever be too rich?

[adt]

I agree with a lot of that, but why such a strong and common antipathy to balsamic vinegar; I feel almost bullied into silence - I like balsamic vinegar.

Me too, I wouldn't seek to ban it from the kitchen. I guess it has the same sort of middle-class-ketchup associations as truffle oil, but it remains a perfectly useful ingredient. (I even dare on occasion to mix a touch of it with olive oil for bread, which makes me highly non grata around here. Speaking of which, the excellent black olive bread at the Ledbury was served very slightly warm -- highly contentious stuff!)

I've not had good experiences of balsamic being added to things tableside though, in this case it strayed the beetroot slightly too far in the pickled direction for me. (It doesn't do much for chocolates either! Foliage??)

As for cod, although I like it I can't remember any really impressive dishes based around it that I've had in a fine dining sort of place, it usually seems to get used in a slightly macho context where something like monkfish would pull it off better. But no doubt it can and has been done...

[Food Snob]

Nonsense! I practically grew up on bread dipped in balsamic vinegar-olive oil. OK, slight exaggeration, but it is actually one of my strongest gastronomic memomries of childhood. lol

That reminds me of dark chocolate marmite truffles at Paul A. Young.

As for cod, neither have I bar one, at Hibiscus, where it came roasted with gnocchi, truffle, girolles, sage & onion purée and Lancashire mead sauce. That was very good. But, I must admit, I cannot recall the last time I ordered cod ALC; there is always some variety I prefer more on offer.

Food Snob

[chefmatt]

firstly balsamic vinegar, very similar to truffle oil, or any ingredient for that matter, in the wrong hands it can be horrible but a wonderful ingredient if used sparingly and with one of good quality.

only someone worrying more about food trends than what is actually good would ever call for the banning of any ingredient.

secondly, monk superior to cod? what planet are you on? cod is one of the finest fish known to man, especially from the thick end of a large fillet. monk is watery, tastless, talk about a fashionable ingredient that is far better talked about than eaten (not that i would ever want to ban it, the cheeks are especially good deep fried), but as an alternative to cod, no way. the only reason chefs use monk is that it presents nicely because you can carve it. you will very rarely see an ingredient led restaurant such as river cafe or st john using monk.

rant over, see you in another couple of months!