The Ledbury (28th March 2010)

Notting hill gate is not quite the area one would usually associate with haute cuisine. The first thing that comes to mind is probably the annual carnival in the summer – party atmosphere, piri-piri chicken and Jamaican beer. Given the area does boast the famous Portobello market and some upper-end boutique shops (still a fairly posh area after all), I thought it might bear its own gem in haute cuisine as well.

Being the sister restaurant to the well-established 2 Michelin starred restaurant – the Square, Ledbury itself was recently promoted to become a 2 star Michelin restaurant and has received praises from various reviews. It was my brother’s birthday and he has never had a meal in a Michelin starred restaurant. To be honest, he is not really into the fancy cooking and thinks it’s all a little pretentious. Anyway, I decided that it is about time he tries it out and I was eager to change his opinion on what he calls “pretentious cuisine”.

The restaurant itself is situated in a very quiet residential area, much like Gordon Ramsay’s Royal hospital road restaurant. The dining room itself is not grand but feels very comfortable. The décor is contemporary but not radical; I would say it’s tidy and neat. As for the menu, since it was a birthday meal, of course we went for the tasting menu is actually surprisingly affordable for a 2 starred restaurant.

We started off with some amuse bouche (2 of them), the first was composed of tiny cubes of raw tuna and caviar-shaped ingredient along with some crispy flakes ingredient on top of a light sour cream (not at all a professional description here I’m afraid, I could hardly understand a word the waiter was saying :p) (6/10) - light on the pallet, and a nice little start to the evening. The second amuse bouche was thin strips of foie gras pate on a crispy pastry (8/10). The foie gras was rich and palatable, and the combination with the crispy pastry was fabulous. Before we move onto the rest of the meal, I have to mention their homemade braed – they are simply fantastic! I had the bacon and onion brioche, and it was probably one of the tastiest brioches I’ve ever had. Not sure if it was because I was hungry or what, I ended up having 3 of them! The chestnut brioche was also good as well.

Moving onto the starters. First was the “flame grilled mackerel with cucumber, Celtic mustard and shiso” (8/10). The mackerel was grilled to perfection - the skin was crisp while the meat was tender and juicy. Interesting that they used shiso as an ingredient, giving the course a little Japanese fusion feel.

Next up was a lovely risotto. “Risotto of squid with pine nuts, sherry and cauliflower” (9/10). The contrast between the rice and squid gives the course a very interesting texture, and the foam and sauce of cauliflower was just delicious along with pine nuts. The sweetness of the sherry sauce was lovely and had me guessing for a while until I looked at the menu to see what it was. The only downside in preventing the course getting a 10/10 is probably the slight bitterness of the cauliflower slices on the side.

For the next few courses, I had asked the restaurant to make some adjustments from the original tasting menu where my brother will resume with the original and they will replace mine with something else, just to sample a wider variety of their food.

So the next course for my brother was the “celeriac baked in ash with hazelnuts and a kromeski of wild boar” (7/10) and I had the “Ravioli of potato and egg yolk with Bianchetti Truffle, Onions cooked in White Beer and Grated vacherin” (9/10). The celeriac was interestingly cooked or shall I say, baked inside some bread. The waiter explained that in doing so, it locks in the moisture of the celeriac. Anyway, the celeriac tasted ok (maybe I don’t know how to appreciate it) but the kromeski of wild boar was very tasty. On the other hand, my ravioli was gorgeous. I didn’t really know what was in the ravioii since it wasn’t on the menu, and it made me think “wow” when I tasted it. The yolk sprouted out from the pastry blending with the smooth potato mash and the subtle truffle flavour. If anything I would criticize about this course is probably the presentation. It really did taste much more special than it looked.

Next up is “roast cod with grilled leeks, hand rolled macaroni and truffle puree” for my brother (8/10) and I had the John Dory with blood orange sauce (8/10). Both courses were brilliantly cooked and the presentation was top-notch.

This was followed by “loin of Sika deer with beetroot, bone marrow and malt” (8/10). The venison was very tender and not too gamey, probably one of the better venison I have tasted. The downside of the course is the beetroot, which I somehow felt it had a slight bitter taste.

The final mains course we had was an extra that the chef had prepared for us - breast of pigeon, a skewer of pigeon visceral, a puff pastry and cube of pan fried foie gras (9/10). The pigeon breast was rare and tender, and the skewer was, er… let say, interesting.

To finish off the meal, we had a pre-dessert which was “mixed berries with berry sorbet on panna cotta” (7/10), followed by the main dessert “chocolate cremeux with walnut ice cream and warm chocolate madeleines” (9/10). The desserts were tasty yet not overpowering in the sense that it’s not too rich which makes you feel totally stuffed at the end of the meal. Also, I want to mention the presentation of the dessert was fantastic – it was so visually tempting as if I was picking fruits off a dessert tree (see pic to see what I mean)

As we were running a bit short of time (after 3 hrs), we decided to skip tea and asked for the bill. However, there were more sweeties to come – they presented us some choices of nibbles - macaroons, white chocolate truffle etc. The meal as a whole was better than I had expected. For a newly promoted 2 star restaurant, I had some doubt in whether it was going to be another 1 Michelin star disappointment like many others I have tasted. The cooking throughout the night was tasty and imaginative and no rollercoaster ride in terms of quality. One thing that really stood out for me was the presentation of the food (except the yolk ravioli one I suppose) – it was neat and you can really tell that some efforts ad design had gone into making the food not only delicious, but also fulfil the visual part of the meal. It was a shame that I was off alcohol on the night, else I would be able to give a better review on the restaurant. Ledbury in my opinion, totally deserves its second Michelin star and it is bold for me to say that with good work and consistent high standards, may be has the 3rd star in sight. I am definitely coming back some time in the future and look forward to the next treat!