Cross post from
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Solid dinner at The Ledbury. Dishes are multi-dimensional and complex yet straightforward to enjoy. They just simply want the diner to eat decadently and well rather than to weave some narrative of chef’s childhood / local terroir / (insert whatever relevant trope) as is too common nowadays. I first went in 2016 and then it felt fresh and modern. Now in 2023, this style feels almost classical in the best sense. There is a caveat though – if you are after a quiet and romantic spot, I must warn that this is one of the loudest fine dining rooms I ever been in.
Amuses:
– Potato puff, lovage, vinegar powder
– Oyster bavarois, beet jam, wasabi panna cotta (looks striking but tastes great too!)
– Charcuterie: house-made saucisson and jamón (both very tender, and also milder in flavour compared to the real deals)
– Toast with celeriac, white truffle paste, English gouda
– Scallop tempura with fennel flower and seaweed mustard (skillful frying, no greasiness, the crisp batter and scallop melts in the mouth!)
– Chalk Stream trout belly, frozen citrus and rose petals, apple marigold. What an opening salvo – grassy, cold, acidic, fatty, salty, and sweet…
– Smoked Poole Bay mackerel, fresh and fermented plums, sansho pepper oil.
– Bread service: sourdough, tomato croissant, whipped goat’s whey painted with molasses. Awesome chewy sourdough. Superb with the light and goaty butter. I could eat this everyday!
– Chardonnay from Newton Johnson Family Vineyard in South Africa’s Western Cape was so good with the butter. Very oaky. The wine and the butter brought out the barnyard yeastiness in each other.
– Veal sweetbread, aged beef ponzu, ceps, vin jaune foam. Perfectly crusted offal. Balanced off with a tang from the ponzu. Favorite of the night!
– Wild seabass, brown crab XO, courgette, caviar. Nice piece of fish but the caviar felt a little out of place and wasteful as the support act.
– Burgundy pairing with the mushroom course was great! A premier cru that is apparently not too expensive if you can find it at the shops. Very silky and elegant.
– Shiitake and king oyster mushroom from their cabinet downstairs (next to the washroom lol), ravioli with yeast (oh lord…) and cep cream, kombu ketchup. The pastas were great, but it’s hard to get excited at the two most pedestrian Asian mushrooms.
– Fallow deer in many guises: roasted loin, pressed belly, tongue, dried shaved heart. All tied in with a jus gras enriched with bone marrow and peppercorns. Maximum hedonism!
– Tibbs farm raspberry sorbet drops, fromage blanc gelato, violet, Madagascar black pepper. Lovely combination.
– Kombu and vanilla flan, strawberries.
– Menu
by vinoyvaca