Sunday 7 November 2010

The Ledbury - Part 3

It's always a relief to find that after the dizzying excitement of the first time you fell in love with a restaurant, the third visit is just as good. The Ledbury is my favourite restaurant in London and the third lunch we had there was just as stunning as the second and first. After a glass of fizz, these goats cheese canapes topped with black olive tapenade foretold the meal to come; deliciously delicate and it got the mouth watering for more.

From the £33.50 set lunch menu, a raviolo stuffed with grouse and pheasant was sauced by a brown bread veloute, nestled on strands of cabbage and topped with little vibrant purple berries. The gaminess of the meat was subtle, but there. Mushrooms added an autumnal depth to the plate.

Sea bass was nice and crispy, giving way to tender white flakes. In a lightly curried sauce, the florets had been roasted to a dust and had the intense flavour of broccoli. Our waitress had misheard us and so our companion was given the wrong dish; her face flushed with embarrassment but we were the real winners, as the dish was left for us to share rather than it going to waste. Cod with confit squid was very clever indeed; the squid was shaved into thin, translucent strands and were just like pho-style noodles.

Excellently kept cheeses were well matched on fig and walnut bread. Later, when we queried the bill as they'd seemingly forgotten the cheeses, they told us it was with their compliments; along with some decent wines by the glass, they more than made up for their earlier blunder.

Vanilla and prune custard tart with pear sorbet had us all cooing over it. It had an amazingly smooth texture to it, the pastry impossibly thin and crisp.

Coffee and petit fours soon followed, and we rolled out into the night, a good 4 hours after we sat down, vowing to return at least three times next year.

The Ledbury

127 Ledbury Road,
Notting Hill,
London W11 2AQ


Tel: +44 (0) 20 7792 9090

14 comments:

aforkfulofspaghetti said...

Aww, jeez...

How have I not been to the Ledbury? How? Too late now, though, as am shipping out of London for good. I'll just have to dribble over your photos instead...

Great pics + review.

Helen said...

Yep. Amazing. I want to go every week. Three times a year is probably more sensible though, let's do that.

Greedy Diva said...

Hi Lizzie - I was there on Friday night and I have to agree - after 3 visits, it's still my favourite London fine dining restaurant too. Great food and a lovely atmosphere.

LexEat! said...

I hate you! Was meant to go on Friday night w Aussie food bloggers and got sick. SO jealous. Must get there asap.

Hazel - Chicken in a Cherry Sauce said...

I have heard so much about this place and am dying to go! I am drooling over the whole meal but especially over the raviolo. Stunning!

An American in London said...

I love how I've visited your blog, Gourmet Chick's and Greedy Diva's this morning . . . and the Ledbury is on everyone's mind! Must be something in the air. : )

It's been ages since I've been to the Ledbury, but it's still my favorite high-end resto in London. Too bad it's such a schlepp to NH.

Northern Snippet said...

It all looks lovely and what a bargain!

A BRIT GREEK said...

Oh my, it's been a while since I last ate at the Ledbury and these images are simply amazing, i'm drooling over my laptop now!
x.o.x.o

Su-Lin said...

Excellent - I'm booked in for Dec with a friend and am looking forward to it!

Unknown said...

Just posted on The Ledbury as well - was well overdue a return visit and it was even better than I remembered. Really such a brilliant restaurant.

TomEats said...

One of the few restaurants which I kept meaning to go but also stuffed up bookings for when I was in London. Thankfully that will soon be rectified and this just makes me hungrier!

catty said...

I'm so in love with The Ledbury right now it almost hurts. Wish I could afford to eat there every week!!! Perhaps I'll aim for errr... every quarter.

gourmet traveller said...

ADORE Ledbury - have eaten there (somewhat) regularly since it opened and it's remained consistently excellent over the years. None of my visiting mates ever escape London without being brought there (any excuse...).

Oh god, that raviolo! *swoon*

Unknown said...

Absolutely deserved the praise and becoming the best New Entrant onto the World's Best 50 Restaurants List (not that I really think much about it :P).


My visit to here was absolutely great from start to finish, bar some minor niggles which could easily be forgiven. Even though I scored The Ledbury the same as my meal at El Celler de can Roca exactly the same, if given a chance I will pick to revisit here again. That's how good it is, apart from the desserts which needed more work still!


Absolutely stunning meal !

HK Epicurus (from Hong Kong)