the ledbury

----3rd september 2014----

this meal began with a series of excellent nibbles. a cylinder of red mullet was wrapped in green apple, along with cauliflower and cheese tartlet, foie gras and mead rice cracker, sunflower crisp with artichoke emulsion, and finally steamed brioche with bacon and onion. the latter was particularly enjoyable (18/20).

green beans came with frozen grated foie gras, cobnut and peach. this was an unusual combination of textures but it worked very well (18/20). it was followed by beetroot and smoked eel garnished with horseradish, a pretty dish where the horseradish nicely lifted the flavor of the eel (18/20).

fresh milk curd from hampshire buffalo was served with aged comte, crispy shallots, mushrooms and onion broth. on the side was poilane bread with st nectaire and australian truffle. the truffled bread in particular was superb (18/20).

langoustine tail was wrapped in shiitake, with braised cauliflower sheet and pine nuts; the shellfish was lightly cooked and hadgoodinherent sweetness, pairing nicely with the mushroom and pine nuts (18/20). wild salmon was served with courgette and sauce of lobster coral with chardonnay butter. although the salmon was wild, its flavour was not that wonderful, and the dish for me lacked something to cut through the inherent oiliness of the fish (16/20).

grouse came with a layer of toasted seeds and grain, baked celeriac, girolles and an earl grey and foie gras sauce, with the wing and heart of the grouse served on the side along with a confit grouse sauce. the bird had verygoodflavour, not hung for too long and so not overly gamey, and the celeriac provided a nice earthy balance (17/20). herdwick lamb came with salt-baked turnip, kohlrabi, padron pepper and garlic, the lamb carefully cooked, the pepper working well with the meat (17/20).

cream of apple and elderflower in vanilla custard was the pre-dessert, very pleasant though for me the elderflower was slightly too dominant (16/20). this was followed by black figs with sourdough ice cream, with the quality of the figs rather letting down the dish; it is hard to eat figs in london after you have sampled those from the markets of the mediterranean (15/20). finally, a red fruit tart featured raspberry, red currant, flavoured with basil and pepper. this hadgoodpastry and the fruit was fine, the pepper an interesting touch (16/20). the bill came to £107 a head at lunch, with water and the odd glass of wine. service was excellent, as it always seems to be here. overall this was an excellent meal, though for me the desserts were unable to keep up the standard set by many of the earlier savoury dishes

----3rd may 2013----

without doubt one of the finest restaurants in london. brett graham is unusually passionate about ingredients, and his cuisine is stylish and inventive. service is terrific here, and the only problem is getting a reservation.

the ledbury is not somewhere you will easily get a booking at short notice, full for months ahead and forgoodreason too, it's a restaurant whose global reputation is well justified, we had a fabulous long lunch and some truly outstanding food. open up your calendars, flick forward a few months and pencil in a day, you won't be disappointed.

a truly incredible dining experience.

the ledbury is a fine dining restaurant with a real emphasis on fine, as every part of our visit was truly exceptional.

the staff were really friendly and from varied locations. they knew their products, dishes and menu very well. they managed to achieve the perfect mix between professional and personal.

when having a meal with diverse food and many courses, i like to ask that we only find out about the fish after we’ve finished eating it. it adds a whole extra level of enjoyment and appreciation to the food. plus, i always find that my tastebuds are more generous to trying new flavours and items in this scenario.

whilst it is a pricey experience, it is one that was 100% worth it. every dish was made to perfection and i couldn’t stop making yummy noises - always a verygoodsign.

the presentation was extremelygoodthe ambiences was lit and so was the food you have to check out ghis place in north hill i love this place i will return this place for sure

this restaurant is best , design is toogood,food taste isgoodand best dish is sandwiches,truffles,wines etc
service aregood, environment is nice

when planning our recent vacation, realizing we would have a few hours in london, i knew i had to get my priorities straight, starting with where to eat.  as i polled various foodie friends who had been through the city, i received a number of suggestions, but one was listed over and over again — the ledbury.  thus, like anygoodglobal food lover, i watched the reservation window and pounced on an appointment for a long lunch on our one full afternoon in the city.  given our short stay in london (under 48 hours), i had booked a hotel in nearby notting hill — the laslett (more on that experience later).  i chose the property primarily because of its location, thus, we could easily stroll to lunch.  hubs and i lucked out for our brief visit, and had a clear walk to make our 1:15 reservation.

it's weird, i've never liked the look of the ledbury menu so i've constantly put off going despite it constantly coming out as the no 1 tasting menu in london and often the uk. every tasting menu i've had anywhere there's been an item on it that i don't think works, and i'm consistently proven wrong, given that, i figured that a menu where i didn't think anything worked must mean that i was again wrong about it, and i was - it was superb.

let's start at the beginning; the ledbury's a small restaurant in notting hill, located on the corner of 2 residential roads and is utterly unassuming, from the outside it could really be anything, inside it oozes style, the tables are laid out such that you're not sitting on top of each other and it's all nice and serene as you'd expect. so, to the food....

we had the 8 item tasting menu with paired wines, the first course was tomatoes and langoustine oil, i don't really know how to describe it except textures and flavours of tomato, each different but excellent together, the rich langoustine balanced it all and held it together really well. the white beetroot with smoked eel (and i admit i'm biased as i love smoked eel) was again perfectly balanced as i expected the beetroot to overpower the eel but no, it was mild enough to complement it perfectly. the warm bantam's egg with dried ham and truffle was a sunday morning fry up given an up market make over, absolutely awesome (i admit to holding some bread back to mop up the egg), it was the mildest dish with truffle i have ever encountered and this is agoodthing as i find truffle more often than not kills the flavour of everything else on the plate, this was really well balanced and the truffle was just one of the flavours not the heavy flavour killer i'm used to. the steamed romanesco with shellfish, crab and parmesan crisp was full of the flavour of the sea and the parmesan just enhanced the sea flavours with it's own saltiness. the glazed aubergine if i'm honest was the weakest item on the menu, more a texture than a flavour but then i dislike aubergine, however the meat sauce was amazing. the galloway beef was to die for, perfectly cooked, melt in your mouth beef with bone marrow, just perfection. the first dessert was a set custard and doughnut, i loathe set trifle, mainly for the horribly gelatinous cold custard within so this was a massive shift from what i was expecting, far from being the claggy lump of vanilla i expected it was a light delicate little thing with tasted amazing, coupled with the tiny delicate doughnut it was a real surprise, two things that should be heavy both in taste and texture were light, delicate and refined. the brown sugar tart with stem ginger ice cream was a struggle, not because of anything to do with the food just because we were stuffed. even though we'd only eaten brunch that day and it was now 10 hours later we had to fight to make room for it.

so, the service, there's no dress code, which is great, and the service is as informal as the dress, this is no bad thing, no stuffy waiters, just attentive, friendly staff who realise that the slightest slip up from them can ruin your meal. sam was excellent, a really nice guy, happy to answer questions about the food and everything agoodmanager should be, he gets himself out to the front of house and meets the diners rather than hiding out the back. our sommelier was excellent (i'm really sorry i can't remember her name which is appalling as she was fantastic), explaining every wine and very helpful when i explained that i don't particularly like red so she swapped out the heavier of the 2 reds (a malbec) for a south african white which was not dissimilar to a white burgundy and could hold its own against heavy flavours (great choice btw). and of course dylan with his very dry sense of humour. i have to say that i think the service here was better than at the waterside inn under diego and the food was on a par, perhaps the waterside has 3 michelin stars because it's a prettier building, who knows? but the ledbury blows the only other 2 star restaurant i've visited, the hand and flowers, out of the water. well done guys and thank you very much for an excellent anniversary meal.

regardless of what santa might decide come christmas day, judging by how utterly spoilt i've been for my birthday, i must have been verygoodthis year... or i'm just surrounded by the best people. probably the latter. the best of the best being, of course, my incredible husband e. he always spoils me rotten (not just on special occasions, and i don't mean in a material sense - he does a lot for me, all the time), and he knows me so well. he'd already gifted me a dreamy present from when we went to new york (i am subsequently obsessed with all things henri bendel), so i definitely did not expect him to take me out for what was the best lunch i've ever had in london. a bold statement, and one that means it surpassed the likes of alain ducasse (ok, only by a hair, but still) and l'atelier de joel robuchon.

the gf and i didn't have as many days in london as we did in paris. but even with our limited time, i knew we had to make it out to notting hill. not for the blue door. rather, i was looking forward to trying chef brett graham's offerings at the ledbury. first thing's first. i was lost. agoodthirty-plus minutes lost. yet, without a frown or any expression of dismay, we were welcomed with a smile and taken to a wonderful table showcasing the dining room. it should be no surprise considering the ledbury has consistently maintained 2 michelin stars and, at the time, it was ranked 10th on san pellegrino's world's best restaurants list (it's now ranked 20th). regardless, the warm welcome was appreciated amidst my disarray.

the ledbury’s reputation preceded it and we were prepared to be disappointed, but it truly lived up to its hype and then some. looking back on it, it's definitely one of the greatest dining experiences we've had to date. we had the tasting menu which at about £100 a head, was actually reallygoodvalue. yes, that is expensive but many restaurants of its calibre charge significantly more, and the food and the service justified it. this is simply not the case with a lot of these 'modern', michelin starred, hatted, top 100 list-esque restaurants. yes there are many great ones, but there are also many that don't justify the prices they charge and don't deserve the accolades. the ledbury sits firmly in the 'great' camp. the experience was truly memorable. everything was just so creative and utterly delicious. we started with (three?) amuse-bouches and the house made bread which was generously dished out throughout the evening. my favourite  proper course of the night was the mackerel while the simple pre-dessert of a clementine granita with meringue is up there with the torija at tickets (review to come) as the best dessert i've ever had. but while the food deserves the abounding superlatives thrown at it, it's the ledbury's service, ambiance and overall 'experience' which truly sets it apart. in contrast to that at pollen street social, the service here, while unmistakably refined, was not at all stuffy and pretentious. the service was just genuinely friendly, warm and not at all in your face. the sommelier who served us was sympathetic to the mild stomach complaint i brought with me that evening and diligently got me a ginger ale to calm my belly. m still talks about the amazing americano

i do love agoodlist; shopping lists, wish lists, schindler's list; so you'll find me understandably giddy when the "worlds 50 best restaurants" is announced annually which basically doubles as a bucket list for any foodie. to make this prestigious list is an achievement in itself but to make the top 10 puts a restaurant at a whole other level. that is the position that the ledbury and head chef brett graham find themselves in as they crack the upper echelons for the first time in 2014, not only vindicating their 2 michelin star status, but also sending my already high expectations higher.

being a special occasion (because you don't go to the ledbury unless it is one - well not me anyway!) only the 7 course tasting menu will do on this night. well, "7" course they say but as with any tasting menu, it ends up feeling like more as 16 individual dishes came to our table over the course of the meal.

the menu for the night:

appetisers:
cured mullet with apple;
sunflower seed crisps with artichoke puree;
cauliflower cream in a cheese tart; and
steam grilled sourdough with cheese & crispy onion.

mains:
artichoke, muscat grapes, hazelnut, and sorrel topped with grated foie gras;
flame grilled makerel with pickled cucumber, celtic mustard and shiso;
hampshire buffalo milk curd with truffle toast and a wild mushroom broth;
roast scallops with brassicas, seaweed and sherry;
jowl of pork with fresh walnut, fig and crackling; and
aged pigeon with blackcurrant, red leaves and vegetables.

pre-dessert:
a vanilla and rubarb cream topped with frozen yuzu.

dessert:
a tartlet of blackberries, spiced cream and lovage; and
a brown sugar tart with poached grapes, crumble and stem ginger ice cream.

and lastly, some petits four to finish.

instead of taking you through each item (given it will surely change with time), let's go straight to the highlights which for me were the mackerel, the pork and the pigeon.

the mackerel is the ledbury's signature dish and rightly so. it was just melt-in-your-mouth exquisite and tasted like no other fish dish i'd ever had. the jowl of pork, steamed cooked for 8 hours, was equally mind blowing and i wished so hard it didn't have to end. however that pain was lessened when i was presented with the pigeon which, once viewed as a pest by me, is now a beautiful culinary experience.

at £110 for the 7 course menu (£180 with wine pairing), it certainly isn't cheap but for a once-off special occasion, is well worth the money. for those with a smaller appetite, there is a reduced 5 course menu for £95 though the dishes are different. right now to start saving again for the next top 10...

follow me also on twitter @wetrykai and @annixontong and on instagram @annixontong

perhaps one of the few restaurants i have been so eager to go to in the uk is the ledbury. getting a booking in the ledbury that suited the occasion proved far more difficult than trying to solve a poirot plot, nobody but hercule himself knows. the ledbury is not a restaurant you just try to book two weeks in advance, no you must have the idea that you are going months in advance.
well to celebrate the bfs not so special birthday (any birthday that doesn't end in an 0 is not so special) i had the magnificent idea to book the ledbury in july and made a booking for september. so last weekend across we trotted to westbourne park to have sunday lunch there.

so once we were sat, the bf and perused the menu. on a sunday you have two choices, either the al carte menu at £90 for four courses or the set menu for £45 for four courses with or without pairing wines. we opted for the set lunch with pairing wines at £80 per person.

what i absolutely love about fine dining is the attention to detail, the crisp white table cloth and the flowers. for me there is something beautiful about sitting down and having a formal meal. to start our feast we had an array of amuse-bouche, which were all really excellent.

next came the gazpacho, gazpacho is one of those things if done well, then it is delightful and if done badly well it is just a disaster. the gazpacho had an ever so delicate tomato taste, i say ever so delicate because if i didn't know what gazpacho was it would be difficult to find the tomato in it, it's far easier when you know what flavours you are looking for. the dish was so light, with such beautiful flavours that it made me think i could have gazpacho everyday. i loved the way the gazpacho was served, first came the bowl, then came the waiter who delicately poured the gazpacho into the bowl and viola, an amazing gazpacho was ready for us to eat.

the seafood risotto followed the gazpacho and all i can say is what a delight. i make a lot of risotto at home and i profess not a single one of my risottos have remotely come to tasting asgoodas this. the risotto itself was creamy like a feather on your tongue and then you got the wonderful seafood taste just came through giving you that ahhh feeling without overpowering you.

the beef soon followed the risotto and this was the moment that i felt that i had to take galvin at windows of its podium and put the ledbury on. i absolutely love beef, so once i tried a slice of the beef my exact words were 'omg, omg, omg ....' at which point the bf looked confused but i when i finished my sentence with 'it's so good, it's better than my all time favourite beef experience at galvins' he chuckled.

to finish off our meal with i had the meringue with mango and vanilla. when i ready the set lunch menu the desert was the only thing that put me off, i like rich, heavy luxurious chocolate deserts, so when i saw meringue with mango and vanilla it didn't jump out at me. more fool me. this desert taught me that light and creamy can be divine! the meringue was light, smooth and oh so tasty, and as for the mango well that was such a great compliment to the meal.

the bf opted for the cheese at an additional £10 supplement. the cheeseboard at the ledbury is not the best i have seen to date in terms of having an extensive selection but the quality of the cheese was certainly excellent.

great for - an extravagant meal for a special occassion . as much as i like amazing food and fabulous restaurants i think restaurants like the ledbury should be for a special occassion just because they are so special. after all the queen doesn't where her crown every day (secretly i think she does i know i would) so some things need to retain an element of magical moments only.

located in the calm and pristine notting hill neighbourhood, this place is a pleasurable experience if you order the 110 pounds tasting menu. the dishes keep coming in in small portions, filling you up so much that you may not be able to walk afterwards.
they do not have a bar area so one may want to consider reaching in time to get agoodtable. absolutely amazing for the price!

we had a dinner for two at this place. and even though we had agoodtime the dinner was pretty heavy on the pocket.
the selection of dishes and wines on the list were pretty great and was presented in a beautiful manner.
all in all, if i had to rate the place i would rate the service , food and the ambiance an average of 8 and the value for money a low 6.

interiors of the place were quite great, service was prompt and efficient. but that's about it. the food is nothing to write about. not at all authentic, bland and lacked texture. not at all agoodplace to satisfy your craving for a heart meal. a lot of other average restaurants are a much better option than this place!