The Ledbury restaurant in Notting Hill has been on my wish list for a few years, because of how highly rated it is, but I hadn’t been there until now because either it was full when I tried, or I didn’t want to wander so far from the centre of London. Anything over 5 tube stops is a long journey for me!  I took a taxi from Notting Hill Gate tube station in very pleasant autumn sunshine and arrived outside The Ledbury in time for my 12 noon reservation, four days after Michelin confirmed it had retained its 2 Michelin stars for the 7th year, in the 2019 UK guide.  I’d booked over the phone and they managed to squeeze me in so long as I vacated my table at 13:45, and for that reason I would not be able to order the tasting menu. That was fine with me.

I was sat with my back to the rear wall (which is actually a huge mirror divided by pleated curtains), with a good view of the dining room and its parquet floor and its comfortable cream leather chairs with integrated back cushions.  As more diners arrived I noticed that seven of the tables were taken by East Asian Foodies, which is a reflection of how far the Ledbury’s fame has spread.  I also noted there seemed to be no dress code at all, although most people had dressed to impress.

 

 

 

Declining the offer of an aperitif, I enjoyed house-filtered sparkling water whilst reading the menu and devouring the canapés brought to my table.  There was a ‘guinea fowl “puff” with mead jelly’ 8/10, a ‘brown crab and potted shrimp muffin’ which was sweet and tasty and oozing with melted butter 8/10 but my favourite (which I forgot to photograph) was a ‘smoked mussel puree on a seaweed crisp’ which had a fantastic flavour of the sea 10/10

I ordered my four courses from the menu and asked for the Sommelier to propose a wine to go with each. I was told they had a “wine flight”, and without seeing what it was, or its price I agreed to have that. Mistake!

BTW the restaurant didn’t have ‘handbag stools’, so my bag and my walking stick had to rest against a curtain behind me, but waiters knocked them over 3 times during my meal.

BTW2 the £125 for 4 courses menu included service and water, which I thought was a helpful touch.

My first course was Veal Tartare. A relatively small disc of tartare was nicely seasoned, including a small dice of mozzarella, and tasted light and fresh. Some artichoke added a texture and flavour balance. On the side was a piece of sourdough “toast” fried in and topped with aged beef dripping, and covered with parmesan, which was very pleasant indeed. 9/10 The accompanying wine was a small glass of a light but zingy red from Tenerife, which I thought went very well with the veal.

Unusualy, it was after this course that I was presented with some sourdough made with porridge and a whipped goat’s butter with dark molasses. The butter was a new one on me; it was very nice, but I couldn’t detect the reason for the molasses being there. 8.5/10

My next course was brined and steamed cuttlefish strips which had been rolled up, sitting in a dashi cream sauce, with fresh sugar snap peas and a lemon and pea puree.    I thought this was a lovely light dish. The puree sounded like it wouldn’t work, but it was really delicious and fresh, and the peas were crunchy and very fresh. The cuttlefish was al dente without being rubbery. For me, the dashi sauce was the highlight: light and bursting with bonito flavour, it went very well with the cuttlefish. 9/10. The wine was a 2015 gruener veltliner from Austria, whose light crispness worked very nicely.

My main course was “Aynhoe Estate Fallow Deer”, which came in the form of three thick slices of roasted shoulder, served with girolles, a rolled and stuffed leaf of red cabbage, a beetroot puree and a square of smoked bone marrow.  The meat was very tender and totally lean and it had a good gamey flavour. A small dribble of jus was too subtle for me, but the bone marrow added depth (though it was shame they used cow rather than deer marrow).  Half way through this dish I was brought a bon-bon of venison topped with a berry compote, sitting on pine needles.  It was only so-so and I was left very confused by its late arrival. I was disappointed by the lack of carbs on the plate, and ended up leaving some of my meat because I’d run out of things to eat with it. 8/10. A 2009 merlot from Pommerol, Le Croix de Gay, had a great flavour, but my small and costly glass was very heavy with sediment.  I sought the opinion some wine trade professionals at the next table, who all thought sediment was a good thing, but I’m personally off-put by its presence and believe a Sommelier should have decanted the bottle and avoided pouring the sediment to a customer. Especially when paying £25 for a small 125ml glass!

After the somewhat disappointing main course and wine I was presented with a pre-dessert of mango sorbet covered with a thick creme anglais on one plate and a small donut on the other.  They were both pleasant, but I couldn’t work out why they were served, as they certainly didn’t cleanse or refresh my palate!

My dessert was a very pretty raspberry tartlet with a crunchy (but not too hard) pastry can filled with chamomile clotted cream, some meringue pieces and topped with juicy raspberries and small quenelles of raspberry sorbet and a very nice vanilla sorbet.  But good as it was, the tartlet appeared a bit lonely on the plate and it didn’t really meet the standard or chef skills of a 2 star kitchen. A bit too simple. 8/10 My dessert wine was a 2013 Royal Tokaji, whose 5 “puttonyos” flavour grading was adequate for the dish.

When I finished my dessert it was already 13:45, the time I had to vacate my table, but they allowed me to order a swift double espresso, which was good and hot, and which came with ‘petit fours’ of a chocolate truffle and a very nice ‘juniper caramel stick’.

I settled my £211.75 bill without question, but later on when I studied it I was quite shocked to see that my wine flight had cost £80 – an average of £20 per small glass, and the coffee was a hefty £6.75.    When I got home and checked the wine listed on the restaurant’s website I saw that the 125ml glasses of the wines I’d had would have cost me £81.50 if ordered ‘a la carte’, and I strongly feel The Ledbury should have been able to offer a better choice of more reasonably priced wines by the glass, or at the very least they should offer a choice of accompanying wines fir each dish, so that guests can choose how much they want to spend.

Overall I score my lunch at The Ledbury just 8/10. It didn’t match my expectations of a celebrated 2 Michelin star restaurant.  It was only the cuttlefish dish which truly impressed with its technical cooking and innovative flavours.  I did appreciate the restaurant’s lack of formality, but without close attention this could get very close to a ‘couldn’t care less’ kind of attitude.  My experience was more akin to a 1 star restaurant: there are better places to eat in London right now.  And £25 for 125ml of the cloudy dregs of a bottle of Pomerol was taking the proverbial!