the ledbury

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 andmenuvery 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 very good sign.

there were two menuoptions. the special lunchmenuat £45 or the tastingmenuat £75, both available with matching wine. such a tough choice, but it was the ledbury and we just had to go down the "more" route. we had matching wines for each course (including a matching wine for the amuse bouche) making a total of 8 glasses each (i think). pretty heavy for lunch time drinking i have to say. in retrospect the "less" route might have been the more sensible choice.

we started with chantilly of colchester oysters with a tartare of scallop and oyster, horseradish and dill - a very elegant dish, this was followed by flame grilled mackerel with smoked eel, celtic mustard and shiso. then we had hampshire buffalo milk curd with saint-nectaire and truffle toast. the truffle toast was the highlight for me, delicious. we were four glasses down at this point when we moved on to the fish course of roast native lobster with broccoli stem, natural yogurt and indian spices in brown butter. this was followed by pork cheek cooked in pedro ximenez with puffed grains and spiced cream and roast haunch of fallow deer with white beetroot and smoked bone marrow and several more glasses of well matched wines. we finished with a light pre-dessert and the dessert of pave of chocolate with milk puree and lovage ice cream.

the food was universally good, we just felt that we had over done it. i am always happy to go to the ledbury but i think next time i will stick to the set lunch.

one tip though, if you do want to go down the tastingmenuroute, is to do it at lunch time - the tastingmenuis £30 cheaper then than the one offered in the evening.

have not seen such a cohesive, harmonised team in operation for a while, michelin of not. all the stuff were fab but a special mention goes to javier and natalie. the food is fab, the highlights for me from the tastingmenuwere the smoked eel surprise, and the most amazing pigeon dish i have ever had! fantastic lunch! wine matchingmenuexcellent!

last night we headed over to notting hill for dinner at the ledbury. after a stroll down portobello road & a quick stop at the portobello star, we headed across for what was to be an amazing experience. as is our standard, we went with the 7 course tastingmenu(plus optional cheese course). it is really hard to pick a favourite dish, as they were all fantastic. coupled with some beautiful wines, it was certainly worth our while.

my last meal at the ledbury was back in january, the day after new year’s day to be exact. the kitchen was working on a limitedmenuand they were very upfront with the fact that this was because of restrictions to supplies at that time of the year. nevertheless, it was a very solid meal and it was nice to see brett cooking in his own kitchen during the holidays, a refreshing change in this day and age when many chefs are much more interested in showing up on tv than they are maintaining the high standards in their own kitchen. for this meal, kang of londoneater had kindly gone to the trouble of booking us a table which these days are booked solid two months in advance. you can read his take of our meal here.

it's weird, i've never liked the look of the ledburymenuso i've constantly put off going despite it constantly coming out as the no 1 tastingmenuin london and often the uk. every tastingmenui'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 amenuwhere 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 tastingmenuwith 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 a good thing 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 a good manager 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.

we visited here for lunch earlier in the year. we opted for the tastingmenuand it didn't disappoint. the restaurant itself was a bit subdued being sunday lunch but is very well presented and i'd imagine would have a great atmosphere in the evening. a slight criticism would be the tables perhaps being a little too close together.

the food and service were top notch as you'd expect. the snacks at the beginning were excellent (especially the dumpling) and the meal throughout was of a very high quality with the highlights being the agen prune and the belted galloway dishes. they even gave us an extra desert to share which was a really nice touch. the manager was very charismatic, knowledgable and passionate about the food.

this is rightfully in the upper echelon of fine dining establishments, it certainly won't disappoint.

really amazing choice for our first meal in london. we opted for the 4 courses set lunchmenuand although the dishes started out small we walked away perfectly satisfied. i wasn't a huge fan of the scallop cevice but couldn't fault how fresh the scallops themselves were. the strawberry tart is definitely one of my fave deserts ever. it seemed so simple in theory but the combination of textures and flavours were perfect.

we ate here on the 16th of october for a friday lunch, we were on our honeymoon from australia. the ledbury is a formal and serious fine dining restaurant. my wife and myself both had the full tastingmenuwith matching wines. the service and food was impeccable, my only critique would be if the service staff could announce the food and wine more clearly and with a greater depth of understanding and passion. when you are a foodie and you undertake a tasting menu, the interpretations and motivations behind the dishes are as important as the balance and techniques used in the actual dish. one of the gentlemen that served us was excellent the others were in need of some practice and guidance. ths food was amazing, spot on every dish. our favourite was the tomato dish, incredible. as silly as it sounds the house bread and whipped goats whey butter was also a high light :) we were treated wonderfully and loved our experience at the ledbury, the chef was even kind enough to show us the kitchen. will definitely return when we venture back to this side of the globe. thank you ledbury team!

for me food is an art and this restaurant was like going to an exhibition. in my opinion one of london's finest restaurant. i went for the tastingmenualthough have to say its on the expensive side so i would personally chose to go to celebrate something or for a special occasion. 115gbp per head for the tasting menu. the service was top notch not pretentious at all either with a friendly very knowledgeable staff.  
themenuconsisted of :
fresh almonds, salad of green beans and white peach
tomatoes; green zebra, noire de crimee, pineapple ribbed, fresh curd and olives
flame grilled mackerel, pickled cucumber, celtic mustard and shiso
scottish langoustine wrapped in shiitake, white asparagus and smoked dulse
jowl of pork, carrots, girolles and crackling
breast and confit leg of pigeon, cherries, red vegetables and leaves
tartlet of english strawberries, flowers and honey cream
i couldn't fault any dish everything was perfect and the presentation was just wow
verdict a place on the expensive side but worth checking out if you are a foodie

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 tastingmenuwhich at about £100 a head, was actually really good value. 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

located in the heart of the memorable neighbourhood nothing hill you are going to find the ledbury restaurant.  the venue offer french, european and birtish cuisine. 
the resturant is also know with its contemporary cuisine with 2 michelin stars. 
would recommend to try their lunchmenuset with four course with overall price of 45 pounds.
as i am a fan of fish i have been ordered in the venue wild salmon, tomato butter, crayfish & basil with a glass of white  wine! delicious meal and excellent services!

i do love a good list; 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 tastingmenuwill 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.

themenufor 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 coursemenu(£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 coursemenufor £95 though the dishes are different. right now to start saving again for the next top 10...

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this place is absolutely amazing and offers the bestmenuin the whole city. if you are short on cash then you might have to give this place a miss though. i have eaten at a lot of restaurants in the city and found this to be the best. we had risotto, roe deer and some dessert, which all tasted like heaven itself. the staff, however, lacked attention and were slow to catch up on our order. the tasty food, however, made up for all of that and i will be returning nevertheless.

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 cartemenuat £90 for four courses or the setmenufor £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 as good as 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 lunchmenuthe 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.