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This Review of The Ledbury, London (Three Michelin Stars) is from our recent lunch at Chef Brett Graham's restaurant (currently under Head Chef Tom Spenceley), relaunched in 2022 after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
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The Ledbury Location and Hours
The Ledbury is located at 127 Ledbury Road in Notting Hill; the closest Underground Station is Westbourne Park, on the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines. Since its reopening in 2022, The Ledbury serves dinner Tuesdays-Saturdays 6-9:15pm, and serves lunch 12-1:30pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Note that the times given are the reservation times; our 1:30pm lunch on Friday concluded around 4:15pm, so ensure you have close to 3 hours for your meal. Reservations open 90 days in advance and can be made online at OpenTable. Note that a valid credit card is required to make a reservation, and no-shows and cancellations made less than 48 hours prior to the reservation incur a GBP 225 fee per person if the restaurant is unable to resell the table. Also note that the restaurant is unable to accommodate vegans and guests with allergies to dairy or egg, or guests with anaphylactic allergies.
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The Ledbury Tasting Menu and Food
Since its reopening, The Ledbury exclusively serves a tasting menu. At time of dining, the dinner tasting menu costs GBP 225 per person (with optional GBP 140 wine tasting), while the Friday and Saturday lunch tasting menu is GBP 180 for 6 courses, or GBP 200 for 8 courses. The menu changes frequently, based on new provisions the team is able to source; for example, we were fortunate enough to taste some of the first grouse of the season (the season begins August 12).
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There was quite a pause between when we were given menus and when we were asked which tasting menu we'd like, as well as after we'd chosen our 6-course-menu before any amuses bouches were served, so I'd love to see that pacing improved. To be fair, the dining room was completely full, so the kitchen was likely stretched thin.
We were served a trio of amuses bouches: a chestnut cracker topped by duck liver pate, preserved pine cone, and Seville orange (my favorite of the three), as well as Iberico pork salami and Iberico ham; the pork is supplied by Graham's own herd, a cross between Iberian pigs and Duroc pigs.
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Next came an impressive amuse bouche duo: smoked trout with horseradish (my favorite amuse bouche of the five), and a celeriac mousse wrapped with pork and topped with black truffle (a close second).
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I should have taken a photo of our first course of Cornish Blue Fin Tuna Otoro as initially presented, as it was beautifully plated, but I was distracted by having our server freshly grate wasabi tableside, which was then added to it, along with the edible flowers visible in the photo. This was a gorgeous dish both to look at and to eat, and a very strong first course.
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Interestingly, bread was served after the first course instead of after the amuses bouches. It was well worth waiting for: the flaky brioche with tomato sofrito and black honey was incredible, and for me, competed with the best of the savory courses for pure enjoyment. There was also warm rye sourdough (I love when restaurants serve bread warm), along with goat milk butter.
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Next was the second course of Veal Sweetbread, its heartiness enhanced with Devon smoked eel, kanzuri chili/yuzu paste, and corn providing a lovely sweetness and crunch. A creamy sauce was poured tableside.
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The Cornish Turbot was next, invitingly crowned with Australian Black Truffle. I wouldn't have thought to pair turbot with earthy girolle mushrooms and black truffle, or to gild the lily with a chamomile and wild garlic cream sauce, but it was very delicious, even if the topping with cream sauce was a bit repetitive given the preceding course.
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The crown jewel in terms of savory courses was the Yorkshire Dales Grouse; this was the first day the Ledbury was serving this dish, since as mentioned previously, the season had just started. All the components were perfectly rendered in their own right, and also paired beautifully: succulent meat, sweet cherries, black olive sauce, and slow roasted beets bursting with sweet flavor. My teen scraped his plate clean and eyed my plate hungrily until I gave him a third of it.
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It's hard to please everyone all the time, and in my case, the pre-dessert of gooseberry with lavender, yogurt, and spruce sorbet, while refreshing, was more a palate cleanser and not impressive enough to be a course in its own right.
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The Blood Peach dessert was gorgeous to look at and very fresh tasting, but not quite satisfying enough as a dessert.
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Three dishes of petits fours concluded the meal. My teen's favorite were the creamy mushroom petits fours (the rectangles on the glass plate), for their combination of sweet, creamy, salty, and umami. The accompanying jellies were less satisfying than any good French pâte de fruits. The chocolate petits fours were just not memorable, leaving my favorite as the cannele with passion fruit.
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The Verdict
I've been wanting to dine at The Ledbury for almost 10 years. Inevitably, with something so highly anticipated, some parts of the experience were slightly disappointing: I was hoping for a bit less time between being seated and ordering and between courses, although perhaps if I'd mentioned at the outset that I preferred a shorter dining time, this could have been accommodated. I also would have liked to have been “wowed” a bit more by the pre-dessert, dessert, and petits fours; I'd have preferred an excellent cheese course and a Pierre Herme-quality dessert, although as with anything food-related, this is also down to personal preference.
On the other hand, for a 3-Michelin-star restaurant, I was expecting it to be stuffier and more formal than it actually was, so the friendly conversations I had with several members of the team were a very pleasant surprise. Food-wise, highlights were the trout amuse, the otoro with fresh wasabi, brioche with tomato sofrito, sweetbread with smoked eel, turbot with black truffle, and grouse with cherry.
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