The New Launceston Place

[felixhirsch]

just had a very good Sunday lunch here today. The food was rather traditional, but very well made. Especially some kind of gougeres and the roast potatoes. The only problems might have been the service and the slightly strange plates, they use for their dishes. Has anyone had similar thoughts upon seeing odd bowls holding your dessert?

For pics

http://felixhirsch.wordpress.com/

[david goodfellow]

just had a very good Sunday lunch here today. The food was rather traditional, but very well made. Especially some kind of gougeres and the roast potatoes. The only problems might have been the service and the slightly strange plates, they use for their dishes. Has anyone had similar thoughts upon seeing odd bowls holding your dessert?

For pics

http://felixhirsch.wordpress.com/

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Hi Felix just read your review and it reminded me of my lunch three Sundays ago.

Now I have to first point out that I have only just started to make notes of my meals out

So this is from memory.

Tristan Welch,clean cut,29 year old chef comes with some pedigree.

He was the darling of the food critics just under a year ago,widely tipped as a big star of the future.

Well, when the 2009 michelin guide hit the shelves a lot of folks including myself were surprised he was not included in the stars.

I would bet a lot of money he was too.

The restaurant itself has a cosy feel to it.depending on where you are sitting.

We had the lunch menu,three courses plus amuse and pre dessert at £24.

Quite fairly priced for the location.

We both unsurprisingly have similar tastes(my wife and I) so we had the following

An amuse of Velute' of Cauliflower,creme fraiche foam,dark truffle oil.

Nice and pleasant.

Spider Crab Risotto with garlic butter.

Now I'm a sucker for Crab and Risotto,this was right up my street,just the right amount of bite in the rice and very good Crab flavour.

It was nicely presented with the shell atop.

Mutton chop with?

I don't remember.

I was too busy fighting with the chop.

The waitress noticed this and asked if everything was ok .I said it was a bit tough but it was ok.

My wife's was fine,and we reasoned that the beast was obviously older than spring lamb, so perhaps would not be as tender.

I don't think so.

The restaurant manager Hadi Aknin asked if I would like another dish and I declined as I had eaten a fair bit of the food on the plate

Custard topped with crumble in an eggshell was,well ok.

Nice touch as a pre dessert though.

Apple tart of coxs orange pippins for two was very scrummy.

We enjoyed this a great deal and the portion size was very generous

We had two campari and sodas at a pretty steep £8 each and two glasses of Syrah at £6 each.

To sum up,the meal was lacking that little bit of umph that for instance, the recent sunday lunch at L'Autre Pied had

I know that Tristan was not in the kitchen,because I asked,however it should not make any difference.

On this showing and not knowing the chef I would have to say its definitely not star worthy

Although having said that,apart from the chop,it is a very good neighborhood restaurant

For me the service was attentive and to his very great credit Hadi removed one of the lunches from the bill.

This was over generous and I said so,but he reasoned that his guests have to leave the restaurant 100% happy or he has not done his job correctly

I salute you sir.

As a footnote Tristan Welch is competing against Mark Sargeant in the London and South East heat of Great British Menu which is due to be televised very soon.

Edited March 2, 2009 by david goodfellow (log)

[genuineness]

dave you summed up my experience at Launceston place. The food was good but never outstanding - certainly nothing I couldn't achieve at home if I could get my lazy ass off the couch. I suppose this is in response to the critiscm Welch received early on when the restaurant opened where many critics questioned his ' El bulli' methods. The main problem seems to be the price, especially the dinner menu which at £44 for 3 courses is rather pricey.

The service was attentive and friendly with huge emphasis placed on customer satisfaction.

[david goodfellow]

dave you summed up my experience at Launceston place. The food was good but never outstanding - certainly nothing I couldn't achieve at home if I could get my lazy ass off the couch. I suppose this is in response to the critiscm Welch received early on when the restaurant opened where many critics questioned his ' El bulli' methods. The main problem seems to be the price, especially the dinner menu which at £44 for 3 courses is rather pricey.

The service was attentive and friendly with huge emphasis placed on customer satisfaction.

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Hi Kian how was your midland food jaunt, are we to read it on your blog?

We will all be able to see Tristan's food first hand,be interesting to see what he comes up with.

[genuineness]

dave you summed up my experience at Launceston place. The food was good but never outstanding - certainly nothing I couldn't achieve at home if I could get my lazy ass off the couch. I suppose this is in response to the critiscm Welch received early on when the restaurant opened where many critics questioned his ' El bulli' methods. The main problem seems to be the price, especially the dinner menu which at £44 for 3 courses is rather pricey.

The service was attentive and friendly with huge emphasis placed on customer satisfaction.

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Hi Kian how was your midland food jaunt, are we to read it on your blog?

We will all be able to see Tristan's food first hand,be interesting to see what he comes up with.

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I'm going this weekend - went to Marcus Wareing last weekend and in the midst of writing the review up.

[david goodfellow]

dave you summed up my experience at Launceston place. The food was good but never outstanding - certainly nothing I couldn't achieve at home if I could get my lazy ass off the couch. I suppose this is in response to the critiscm Welch received early on when the restaurant opened where many critics questioned his ' El bulli' methods. The main problem seems to be the price, especially the dinner menu which at £44 for 3 courses is rather pricey.

The service was attentive and friendly with huge emphasis placed on customer satisfaction.

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Hi Kian how was your midland food jaunt, are we to read it on your blog?

We will all be able to see Tristan's food first hand,be interesting to see what he comes up with.

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I'm going this weekend - went to Marcus Wareing last weekend and in the midst of writing the review up.

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Good man,looking forward to reading that one.