During the month of August, The Ledbury restaurant in W11 has turned into the poshest BYOB in town and is charging zero corkage. So when a friend announced that he was organising his birthday dinner there, myself and Gav didn’t need asking twice.
London isn’t short of great restaurants, but I have been meaning to visit The Ledbury for ages due to the sheer number of positive things I have heard and read about the food. I knew the wine list was great (much of it comes from us!), but Aussie chef Brett Graham has got a burgeoning reputation as one of the best young chefs around and has a Michelin star to prove it.
The food:
The first thing that arrived was a biscuit like creation with Foie Gras piped onto it. Bizarre to look at, but absolutely delicious. Then the amuse bouche came out (although the foie gras had already amused my bouche), a very well dressed tomato dish of which I forget the details but remember enjoying very much.
For my starter I could have gladly had anything on the menu, but in the end I plumped for a ceviche of scallops. Ceviche is a preparation much loved in South America and Japan, whereby the raw fish is ‘cooked’ by bathing it in the juice of citrus fruit (lime in this case). I had never eaten something cooked this way before, but the dish was beautifully fresh and the combination of flavours was mouthwatering. Special mention must go the starter of celeriac (half the group went for this option) which is something of a house specialty. Very special it was too.
The menu again provided a wealth of options for the main course so I went for the waiter’s recommendation of lamb. The dish was an ‘asiette’ showcasing a variety of cuts prepared in different ways, all of which were cooked to perfection. I could have eaten this course 9 or 10 times over – not to say that there was nothing of it, but the flavours were so delicate and moorish that it certainly left me wanting more.
For desert i went for the pressed strawberries, which was lovely but in hindsight I should have gone for cheese. One of the group gave me a taste of his morbier and another one which I forget – both were off the charts fantastic. Gavin went for the souffle, which was light as a feather and absolutely delicious.
The wine:
Those of you that know me will appreciate that there is something of a theme to the wines we were drinking. Im clearly not the only Burgundy fanatic in London!
We kicked off proceedings with 1990 Bollinger Grand Annee. Showing maturity but in no way over the hill, it was rich, toasty and a great start to the evening. We moved on to a 2000 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru ‘Combettes’ (Etienne Sauzet). Sauzet has had a lot of issues with premature-oxidation , so it was fingers crossed for the first white of the night. We needn’t have worried as it was showing beautifully, with delicate butter and brioche notes working alongside a vibrant freshness and minerality that is all too often lacking in 2000 white Burgundy. Then our prem-ox fears returned as we opened two ‘02 Meursault 1er ‘Perrieres’ from Pierre Morey and Albert Givault. Both had seen better days, although we were all dismayed that a stunning white vintage like 2002 can throw up so many examples that are already well past their best. Luckily, one member of our group lived locally and he dived out to grab a replacement bottle. The 1999 Puligny-Montrachet 1er ‘Truffiere’ (Bernard Morey) was weighty, viscous and still very fresh. I mistook it for a Meursault, but all agreed that it was showing very well indeed.
The reds began with a spectacular 1990 Clos Vougeot from Anne Gros. Maturing but not yet at peak, there were layers of red fruit, earth and truffles and although it was served a little on the cold side it stood out as class act. Next up was a 1996 Clos Vougeot from Meo-Camuzet and here was a wine to take back to the cellar and forget about for years. Big, rich, dense and brooding, it is clearly a wine of great stature but as is the case with many of the top ’96s there is still much more to come. The final red was 1998 Clos de la Roche from Armand Rousseau. Not the greatest vintage of recent times, but sometimes the great years can be ungenerous (as we saw with the ‘96). Rousseau is the master of elegance and the CdlR was soft and delicate while never being weak.
We ended with a sweet wine, a 1989 Vouvray Haut Lieu from Gaston Huet. I’ve had many of Huet’s wines before (we did a vertical tasting back to 1929 not long ago) and although I can appreciate them, they never blow me away. The ‘89 was exactly the same, but even so it was a great way to round off the evening.
All in all, I was very very impressed with The Ledbury. The food was superb and the service was excellent. Of course great company and great wine always makes for a wonderful evening, but I will now be adding my voice to those extolling the virtues of this fantastic corner of Notting Hill.
Happy birthday Thomas!
A night at The Ledbury
During the month of August, The Ledbury restaurant in W11 has turned into the poshest BYOB in town and is charging zero corkage. So when a friend announced that he was organising his birthday dinner there, myself and Gav didn’t need asking twice.
London isn’t short of great restaurants, but I have been meaning to visit The Ledbury for ages due to the sheer number of positive things I have heard and read about the food. I knew the wine list was great (much of it comes from us!), but Aussie chef Brett Graham has got a burgeoning reputation as one of the best young chefs around and has a Michelin star to prove it.
The food:
The first thing that arrived was a biscuit like creation with Foie Gras piped onto it. Bizarre to look at, but absolutely delicious. Then the amuse bouche came out (although the foie gras had already amused my bouche), a very well dressed tomato dish of which I forget the details but remember enjoying very much.
For my starter I could have gladly had anything on the menu, but in the end I plumped for a ceviche of scallops. Ceviche is a preparation much loved in South America and Japan, whereby the raw fish is ‘cooked’ by bathing it in the juice of citrus fruit (lime in this case). I had never eaten something cooked this way before, but the dish was beautifully fresh and the combination of flavours was mouthwatering. Special mention must go the starter of celeriac (half the group went for this option) which is something of a house specialty. Very special it was too.
The menu again provided a wealth of options for the main course so I went for the waiter’s recommendation of lamb. The dish was an ‘asiette’ showcasing a variety of cuts prepared in different ways, all of which were cooked to perfection. I could have eaten this course 9 or 10 times over – not to say that there was nothing of it, but the flavours were so delicate and moorish that it certainly left me wanting more.
For desert i went for the pressed strawberries, which was lovely but in hindsight I should have gone for cheese. One of the group gave me a taste of his morbier and another one which I forget – both were off the charts fantastic. Gavin went for the souffle, which was light as a feather and absolutely delicious.
The wine:
Those of you that know me will appreciate that there is something of a theme to the wines we were drinking. Im clearly not the only Burgundy fanatic in London!
We kicked off proceedings with 1990 Bollinger Grand Annee. Showing maturity but in no way over the hill, it was rich, toasty and a great start to the evening. We moved on to a 2000 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru ‘Combettes’ (Etienne Sauzet). Sauzet has had a lot of issues with premature-oxidation , so it was fingers crossed for the first white of the night. We needn’t have worried as it was showing beautifully, with delicate butter and brioche notes working alongside a vibrant freshness and minerality that is all too often lacking in 2000 white Burgundy. Then our prem-ox fears returned as we opened two ‘02 Meursault 1er ‘Perrieres’ from Pierre Morey and Albert Givault. Both had seen better days, although we were all dismayed that a stunning white vintage like 2002 can throw up so many examples that are already well past their best. Luckily, one member of our group lived locally and he dived out to grab a replacement bottle. The 1999 Puligny-Montrachet 1er ‘Truffiere’ (Bernard Morey) was weighty, viscous and still very fresh. I mistook it for a Meursault, but all agreed that it was showing very well indeed.
The reds began with a spectacular 1990 Clos Vougeot from Anne Gros. Maturing but not yet at peak, there were layers of red fruit, earth and truffles and although it was served a little on the cold side it stood out as class act. Next up was a 1996 Clos Vougeot from Meo-Camuzet and here was a wine to take back to the cellar and forget about for years. Big, rich, dense and brooding, it is clearly a wine of great stature but as is the case with many of the top ’96s there is still much more to come. The final red was 1998 Clos de la Roche from Armand Rousseau. Not the greatest vintage of recent times, but sometimes the great years can be ungenerous (as we saw with the ‘96). Rousseau is the master of elegance and the CdlR was soft and delicate while never being weak.
We ended with a sweet wine, a 1989 Vouvray Haut Lieu from Gaston Huet. I’ve had many of Huet’s wines before (we did a vertical tasting back to 1929 not long ago) and although I can appreciate them, they never blow me away. The ‘89 was exactly the same, but even so it was a great way to round off the evening.
All in all, I was very very impressed with The Ledbury. The food was superb and the service was excellent. Of course great company and great wine always makes for a wonderful evening, but I will now be adding my voice to those extolling the virtues of this fantastic corner of Notting Hill.
Happy birthday Thomas!