Hello foodie world!

Welcome to the No Expert food blog.   Our reviews cover some of the Worlds Top Restaurants, along with other interesting places, products and food related events. The opinions on these pages are our own or those of our dining companions. We’re not food experts that can describe the ins and outs of cooking techniques and ingredients so don’t expect autopsies on every dish we’ve ever eaten.  What we do know is what we like.

Not everyone will agree but we hope you might find our culinary experiences useful as some of  these restaurants can be very expensive and maybe we will save you some time and money by avoiding the disappointing and recommending the very best.

Apologies for the quality of some of the photographs, we try to be unobtrusive when taking pictures, so generally no flash.

We are also happy to review Food and Wine products, but suppliers should be aware that our reviews are independent and are our honest opinion. We will only publish reviews on products that we consider to be good and worthy of a recommendation.  Email us if you wish to make arrangements for a product review.

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We use a Restaurant Rating System to allocate marks to restaurants.

Posted in Product Reviews, Restaurant Bookings | No Comments »

RSJ – Something old and reliable

Not many London Restaurants have been around for as long as RSJ, it opened way back in 1980 and has been in The Good Food Guide since 1981 and not many London Restaurants are fully booked on wet Wednesday Evenings in April either. I suspect RSJs longevity and success are based more on repeat business rather than as a potential pre/post theatre venue – it is a short walk from there to the IMAX and the Old and New Vic Theatres.

RSJ is a rare find, it feels like a “neighbourhood” Restaurant, but is actually in a back street near Waterloo Station. It is also one of the best places in London to sample Loire Valley wines (in fact they specialise in them and run regular wine tasting events – check out the Wine List).

The food is not cutting edge nor is it trying to be – it’s good quality perfectly cooked comfort food. The menu is not large (always a good sign in my view), there are a few a la carte dishes and a nice range of options in the reasonably priced set menu.

I choose from the set menu and started with the Whisky cured mackerel with beetroot salad and orange dressing – a flavour combination that worked very well. I followed this with a tasty Confit shoulder of Lamb served with Mediterranean Cous Cous and a refreshing cucumber and mint yogurt – perfect, and for dessert I had a pretty large portion of Parkin (Yorkshire Gingerbread) with Liquorish ice cream.  However the star of the show here is always the wines. We started with a bottle of La Taille aux Loups Montlouis Pétillant Triple Zero NV, a zero dosage wine – sweetened only with ripe grapes and followed this with a bottle of 2011  Sancerre  ‘Les Pierris’ Domaine Roger Champault, a red wine that works well with Fish. Then for our main courses one of my dining companions ordered a bottle of 1997  St. Nicolas de Bourgueil Les Graviers, the delivery of which was rather entertaining – basically we were offered the very last bottle in the cellar complete with a badly damaged label. There was also a concern that the wine might not be ok – check out the pictures – the bottle looks ancient and full of character. The wine thankfully was perfect, and after that indulgence we finished with a bottle of  Coteaux de L’Aubance Trie de Vendange Domaine Richou dessert wine before decanting ourselves into a Taxi.

RSJ  is definitely the sort of place to take friends who appreciate good wines and one that I am always happy to return too. It is going to be around for a good few more years too I suspect.

Marks out of 10

Food 6.2

Wine 8

Service 5.8

Ambience 5.8

Rsj on Urbanspoon

Square Meal

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Posted in London, UK | No Comments »

Roganic – Pop up for flavour

Roganic is a two year pop up restaurant in Marylebone that still has a few more months to go. It’s sister restaurant is the rather more famous L’Enclume located in the medieval village of Cartmel in the Lake District. Roganic is very much a foodies destination, made all the more exciting by its inevitable expiry date.

The restaurant is small and minimalist as you might expect in a pop up restaurant. All the effort has gone into the food and service, which is no bad thing.  The staff are friendly, efficient and enthusiastic. You can choose from a 3, 6 or 10 course tasting menu. I felt a bit like Goldielocks in that 3 courses was not enough, 10 courses was too much and 6 courses was just right.

The ingredients used, vegetables, fruits, edible flowers and herbs all come directly from Simon Rogans farm in Cartmel, and the breads are all made on the premises. This level of control is very much illustrated by the depth of flavour found in every dish.

I can not remember the specifics of the amuse bouche apart from the mention of butternut squash, mint and onion ash, but it was a lovely start and a taste of things to come.

The home made bread was also very good, especially the onion bread, which went well with the blue cheese flavoured butter.

The first course on the menu was described as Leek custard with dill broth, salsify and mustard, very flavoursome. This was followed by our favourite, a really stunning dish of Artichoke dumplings with truffle and ragstone. Next we had Beets and butternut, parsley and hazelnuts, again with strong flavours. The fish course consisted of Halibut, chervil roots, clam and wood blewits. The clam puree gave this dish a real boost. The final savoury course was Guinea hen, parsley root, salt baked turnip and yarrow. Very filling and heavy on the salt. Then it was a dessert of roasted pears, chestnuts and crispy cake. A very light dish with really sweet juicy pears.

After dessert we were presented with a small glass of Douglas Fir Milkshake, an unusual way to finish a meal but a nice change from petit fours.

We also asked the Sommelier to select glasses of matching wines, which gave us the chance to try some more unusual wines such as El Bandito – an orange wine from South Africa.

Roganic is unconventional, but all the better for it in my view and is certainly a good advertisement for L’Enclume.  I really hope that after the lease ends in Marylebone that a new London premises is found. For more information on that, see Square Meal article – Roganic on the hunt for new Marylebone site.

UPDATE : Roganic to close on 23rd June 2013 – see Square Meal article – No new site planned for Roganic

Marks out of 10

Food 7.7

Service 7.5

Ambience 5

Roganic on Urbanspoon

Square Meal

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Posted in London, UK | No Comments »

Medlar – under the influence

Anyone who has read our blog knows how much we appreciate Chez Bruce and the other restaurants in the Nigel Platts-Martin stable. The Medlar in Chelsea although not directly connected with that group of restaurants, is certainly influenced by them. The head chef Joe Mercer Nairne used to work at Chez Bruce and his business partner David O’Connor also managed front of house at Chez Bruce, The Ledbury and The Square.  So it was no surprise that we found that the menu and the service style was reminiscent of these restaurants.

I started with a lovely dish, Crab raviolo with samphire, brown shrimps, fondue of leeks and bisque sauce. This was matched with a glass of Domaine des Baumard Savennières Clos St Yves 2007, a beautifully smooth fresh tasting wine that I could so easily have consumed by the bottle. My companion was not so enamoured by the Lambs Tongue and Lentil salad which was rather dominated by the lentils, he did however very much enjoy the matching wine, a glass of  Egri Bikaver, Bolyki a smooth light red wine from Hungary.

For main course I had Cornish brill with jerusalem artichoke purée, braised chicken wings, crisp pancetta and salsify, which was another good choice, this was matched with a Marlborough Pinor Noir. My companion also had a rather nice fish dish. The Roast cod with a ragoût of mussels, pieds de mouton and charlotte potatoes. It went well with a glass of  Chardonnay, Kooyong “Clonale”.

The wines were selected by Clement Robert the UK young sommelier of the year 2010 and were uniformly excellent.

We knew we could not manage to squeeze in a cheese course, so went straight to dessert instead.  I had a rather good Chocolate tart with pistachio ice cream and my companion had the Almond panna cotta with PX, poached pear and ricciarelli. He really liked the panna cotta part of the dessert, but did not feel that it particularly went with the other elements.

The dress code here is fairly casual, although we did spot one chap who I am sure is on a fashion police wanted poster (there is a certain shade of pink that should only be worn by 5 year old girls).  The customers are very much the Chelsea set. We would not have been at all surprised to see  the crew from that dire show “Made in Chelsea” swanning in.

The food at the Medlar is good, we enjoyed everything we ate, although the wine did rather eclipse a couple of the dishes. It’s not going to replace Chez Bruce as a favourite, but it’s pretty good for Chelsea.

Marks out of 10

Food 6.8

Service  6.9

Ambience 6

Medlar on Urbanspoon

Square Meal

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Posted in 1 Michelin star, London, UK | No Comments »

What’s coming Next?

Christmas holidays of course. This is the time of year where it’s often difficult to find that special meal. Either the restaurant you want is fully booked, or it’s just doing a boring and overpriced Christmas Menu or it’s closed for the holidays. However over the last few years we have found that if you look carefully and book with enough advance notice you can still find some gems around the Christmas season.

This year we have chosen two very different but highly acclaimed restaurants that we have not visited yet :-

One of this years shining stars, it is run by an ex-Chez Bruce team, so it has quite a pedigree to go with its newly acquired Michelin Star and its string of stellar reviews.

Simon Rogan’s famous London Pop-up (an off shot of L’Enclume)

Click here to view some of the amazing dishes that come out of the Kitchen.

We are also returning to a couple of favorites:-

  • Jose – Best Tapas in London!

Can’t wait ;)

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Royal Harbour Brasserie – How dramatic

Locations for a new cafe/restaurant opening don’t come much more dramatic than the newly opened Royal Harbour Brasserie on the extreme tip of Ramsgate Royal Harbour. On a freezing but sunny day there can’t be many venues with views to rival this one with sea on both sides and views of Ramsgate’s Victorian skyline.

As the cafe has just newly opened the menu has been limited. A wise move in order to judge its popularity with the local and visiting clientele. While I was there it had a good turn around of customers and the venue had a cosy atmosphere. The decor has a nautical feel without going over the top. A nice touch was the hessian sacking used to upholster some of the seating.

As a lone diner, I was not in a position to try more than one item on the menu, so I settled for the big breakfast which while not the cheapest in Ramsgate (£6.00) was better than the average with a nice runny egg and savoury sausages.

On my way out I was struck by some quirky touches like the toilet signage and toilet roll decor. Sounds dreadful but I was amused.

The Chef Patron of Royal Harbour Brasserie is Adrian Mowl, formally of the Turner Contempory Gallery Cafe, Adrian has cooked for a few VIPs, like the Queen when she visited the aforementioned gallery and he also worked at the Athletes Village for the London Olympics serving the likes of Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt.  Wonder if they would get a kick out of braving the elements trying to get to this remote outpost when the weather gets interesting!

We certainly plan to return again to do a more comprehensive review in the Spring or Summer, where hopefully we can take advantage of the large outdoor terrace with great views of the Harbour, the Marina, the English Channel and even France.

Marks out of 10

Food 5.2  (based on one dish only)

Service 6

Ambience 7

View 8

Royal Harbour Brasserie on Urbanspoon

 

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Posted in Breakfast and Brunch, Kent, New Openings, Out door seating, UK | No Comments »

The Chocolate Festival – Christmas Treats!

Bah! Humbug! I so nearly didn’t go to the conveniently timed pre christmas Chocolate Festival in London this year… but I am so glad I did. There is such a great selection of stalls and the festival is just full of quality chocolate goods and fun ideas for Christmas presents. I had been gauging how busy it was via my Twitter feed and thought it would be too much of a pain to battle my way through the crowds as this Festival seems to be an example of being spoilt by success. Maybe they will get more space next year based on just how popular an event this has become.  Fortunately I did manage to find a quiet time on the Sunday – I am not saying when exactly as that might spoil it for me next year.

As it was quieter I was able to chat with probably one of the busiest and well known Chocolatiers in the business Paul A Young.  Pauls session in the Chocolate Cookery Theatre was on Saturday so I was very surprised to spot him manning the stand on the Sunday, he was there just prior to making a tour of his London shops – it’s a hard life being a Chocolatier!  We spoke about the success of the festival and he told me that Saturday had been the busiest day that the festival had ever had. One of the reasons I think that this festival works so well is that it provides access to both new innovations and to some of the UKs world class Chocolatiers.  William Curley also had a stand and Duffy’s were there too, however I couldn’t get near their stand as it was busy even during the quiet time!

I tried a few samples as I worked my way around the stalls -  the highlights were Paul Wayne Gregory’s stand where they were pushing his new salted caramel flavour lollipops, a divine idea and Artisain du Chocolat where I tried their honeycomb and gingerbread chocolates, which are a tasty new seasonal addition.

Another stand that caught my eye was the rather glamorous looking Herzog one, showcasing Chocolatier Pâtissier Sven Herzogs wares. I was also rather impressed by the Chocmotif stand. I like the idea of chocolate greetings cards and they have a great selection, just think off all the paper Christmas cards you throw out after Christmas, isn’t eating them a much better idea?

Yes, Christmas is definitely a great time for Chocolate and like the Chocmotif cards, it’s not just for Christmas.

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Serious about Dessert Wines

Product Review for Fine Wines Direct UK

When it comes to Wine I know I am no expert, but I do know what I like, and over the years have been lucky enough to have endulged in quite a wide range of different dessert wines.  I started off playing it safe with some basic Sauternes, moved on to Tokaji, found some bargain Coteaux du Layon wines, tried some great bottles of late harvest Riesling and Gewürztraminer, got blown away by PX, found a favorite in Eiswein, got hooked on Moscato d’Asti long before it got popular with the US Rapper fraternity and even had the chance to share a bottle of ridiculously expensive Chateau d’Yquem (arguably the most prestigious of all Dessert Wines).  So when Fine Wines Direct UK said they would get someone who specialises in Dessert Wines to pick out a couple of bottles for us to review I was happy to oblige.

Fine Wines Direct UK supplied:-

A bottle of Santinela Semi-Dulce Marques de Caceres Rioja 2011 which is very new to the UK market and popular in Spain.

A bottle of Vale Perdido Late Harvest Chardonnay from Patagonia Estate Winery 2009 – this is exclusive to Fine Wines Direct

I had not tried either of these before.

The Marques de Caceres Rioja is a very light refreshing wine, with a  pleasant fruity bouquet.  To me it had a faint taste of peaches. It reminded me a little of  Moscato d’Asti but without the fizz.  This is an easy wine to drink on its own. I tried it with some rather fabulous baklava from Arabica Food and Spice which was a bit too overpowering to be a good match, but it did work surprising well with the Comté Cheese I recently purchased from Borough Cheese Company. This is the kind of wine you would have no problems drinking a lot of, especially on a nice summer evening. So can fully understand why it’s popular in Spain. It’s a fun wine with a low alcohol volume (12%) and a very practical one with a screw top cap which you might use if you don’t decide to drink it all at once.

The Vale Perdido Late Harvest Chardonnay is very different (I think it is a wine that you would more typically drink with food), it has a higher alcohol volume (15%) and is a lovely golden color. It’s almost sherry like, not overly sweet and has subtle hints of caramel (at least to my untrained palette), it worked really well as an accompaniment to both the rich nutty baklava and to the Jomara Date Chocolates my drinking companions brought back from Jordan.  That is after I managed to open the bottle as it had one of these new synthetic wine corks that I hate (they may be safer but they can be a pain to open).

A bottle of good dessert wine is generally a lot more expensive than the equivalent volume of non dessert wine, which is why it makes a lot more sense to order online rather than pay the restaurant mark up. Having said that I still love to see a good dessert wine selection on a Wine List, generally because so few places give Dessert Wines the prominence they deserve, for example on one of my trips to Scotland, we had dinner at a modern rather flash venue that was perhaps trying a bit too hard to be cool. The Restaurant Manager served us and he was really enthusiastic about having put a Dessert Wine on the Wine list for the first time. We ordered it (off course), but didn’t have the heart to tell him that it was not a particularly good one. Regardless I applaud him for the effort, a lot of places sadly just do not take Dessert Wine seriously. We casually mentioned a few of the better Dessert Wines and hoped that he would take the hint, because if you are going to treat yourself to a dessert wine, you really want it to be a good one.

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Broadstairs Food Festival – Going Medieval at the Seaside

After the Real Food Festival in London, we thought it would be interesting to highlight an out of town festival in the seaside resort of Broadstairs.  Broadstairs Food Festival or Food Fayre as it is also known is an annual event and this year had over 100 stalls showcasing Kent produce. I visited on the third day of the Fayre, it was fairly busy when I arrived mid-morning, but by the afternoon it was packed with visitors sampling the free wares.

There was lots of English Wine, Flavoured Cider, Cheese and Chutney on display, along with the obligatory burger stands, which in this instance at least included local butchers selling venison burgers and wild boar and venison sausages.

Kent restaurants like the The Ambrette (Rye and Margate) and The Siam Kitchen (Broadstairs) were also represented and I couldn’t miss O’re the Moon the award winning Kent fudge company’s display of  Scottish Tablet (not sure where that fits in as traditional Kent produce, but as a Scot I am not complaining).

The highlight of the day though had to be the Medieval Cooking demonstration from Mo Joslin of Farmhouse Kitchen. It was entertaining in between the disruptions from the dodgy sound system (the bane of so many outdoor festivals).  I also got a good picture of another typical Food Festival event “The Swarm” (pictured above) homing in on the samples from the Cooking demonstration – a rather tasty pigeon dish. Funny it’s normally the Pigeons that do the swarming,  although in Broadstairs it’s more likely to be Seagulls, which is all part of the British Seaside experience.

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Real Food Festival on the Southbank

I am something of a fan of the Real Food Markets that take place on London’s South Bank every week, but until now had never been to the annual Real Food Festival. The  last food festival I went to was such a disappointment that it put me off the whole food festival concept (Foodies in Battersea Park).  Today was different. Foodies for example cost £15 a ticket and all the Chef Theatre events had to be pre booked.  The Real Food Festival in contrast is free and the Theatre events are on a first come basis. I actually got a front seat in the Theatre, something I have rarely managed to do at other festivals – it’s so nice to get pictures that don’t involve zooming in, not to mention being in a good postion to sample the food post demonstration before the swarm (see picture).

There were plenty of stands lining the river taking over a fair bit of the outdoor space around the Southbank centre. All nicely laid out, so you could actually see what was on offer. Lots of food festival regulars like The Little Round Cake Company and Outsider Tart were there. Cono Sur had free wine tasting, Thunder Vodka were providing samples of their award winning Toffee Vodka, and I was spoilt for choice on the savory front. I eventually decided to try some Takoyaki (Japanese dumplings) – Octopus, spring onion, Japanese red ginger, tempura topped with takoyaki sauce, mayonnaise, aonori seaweed and katsuobushi, they were piping hot and very tasty.

The first event in the Chefs Theatre I attended was advertised as Ben Tish from the Salt Yard restaurant but he could not make it, so his Sous Chef was there to fill the breach. The next chef scheduled was Jun Tanaka, but the timings were a bit off, so instead chocolatier Fiona Sciolti stepped in at literally the last minute to plug the gap with amusing stories of her foraging to get the natural ingredients for her rather special chocolates. She came armed with lots of samples, so we had the chance to try her new Sea Buckthorn chocolates. I had been told that Sea Buckthorn was an acquired taste, and boy did I acquire it – the chocolates are great. The filling has a sharp flavour that is reminiscent of passion fruit and it works very well indeed when mixed with white chocolate ganache.  Other chocolates we tried were spiced masala chai, elderberry & sambuca and garden mint thins (a really good palette cleanser). She also mentioned the new range of ice cream her company have launched this year.  Fiona hit a few problems with the sound system during her session so poor Jun Tanaka ended up going low tech with a hand mic, which he quite rightly pointed out was not designed with a chef in mind, but he took it as a challenge and received a round of applause for his one handed egg breaking skills. He demonstrated how to cook a rather appetizing dish of salt crusted beef, served with potatoes where he added “a little butter” much to the audiences amusement – it was the whole 1/2 lb pack. I had to leave just as he was handing over to Cyrus Todiwala of Cafe Spice Namasti. Which was a shame as Mr Todiwala is always entertaining.

So much to my surprise I have found a food festival I actually would recommend.

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Sketch – in a world of its own

A visit to Sketch is certainly an interesting and rather OTT experience.  I felt rather like a kid with a golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.  As you enter the building you have the Parlour on your right, where you can order an indulgent Breakfast, Afternoon Tea, Comfort food and Cocktails.  The rather low key Parlour is in stark contrast to Pierre Gagnaire’s Michelin stared restaurant in the Lecture Room. The name of the restaurant does not really conjure up what is revealed after you are escorted up the exotically lit staircase. The doors are dramatically thrown open and you find yourself in a jewel box like room, decorated with a red, orange, blue and gold palette.

My companion had brought his camera but had forgotten his SD card, so was annoyed that in such a photogenic environment we were not going to do the place justice, but by using our phones we managed to get a few shots of the experience.

The first hurdle is the Champagne Trolley, something I am not a fan off. If I want a glass I prefer to check the menu first to make sure I know what I am getting, so we just stuck to tap water while we made our menu selection. Despite the hefty prices you can still go down the less expensive route by ordering from the Gourmet Rapide Menu.  However as we wanted to get the full experience on our first visit we opted for the regular Tasting Menu (it is expensive, but as you will see from this post – you do get a lot for your money) and asked the Sommelier to recommend a bottle of wine that would suit the whole menu. He selected a reasonably priced bottle of Irouleguy, Xuri d’Ansa 2004 that was drinkable both on its own and as an accompaniment to the food.

Next came the bread, served with some rather spectacular tasting seaweed butter. Then the feast began.   We had a wonderful array of beautifully presented dishes served by Sketches very efficient staff.  Ironically though the presentation and service did eclipse the food a bit.  The food was very good, don’t get me wrong.  The Foie Gras Terrine with Mackerel Bouillon and Clams was an excellent start.  The Marinated Stone Bass, Peas, Spring Cabbage, Mint and
Smoked Lardons was quite lovely, nice flavour combinations and textures.  The huge King Scallop served with Nettle Cream, Haddock, Watercress Salad, Seaweed Butter and Rhubarb was fabulous. One of these could have been turned into a dozen servings at Apsleys (who served up scallop slivers rather than the more generous presentation delivered by Sketch) and the other dishes were enjoyable too. They just didn’t quite meet our expectations, which were perhaps a little too high, due to the rather excessive hype that Sketch gets.  We found ourselves inevitably making comparisons with meals we had in other restaurants. It wasn’t in the same class as Le Bristol in Paris (although the menu was very similar to the one we had there a few years back – especially the lobster and sweet bread dishes).  Moments at the Mandarin in Barcelona had the edge on food presentation and taste.  The Ledbury, The Kitchin and Tom Aikens (at his peak) also won on the flavour front.

This was a tasting menu that definitely filled you up though, we were getting full even before we started on the Grand Dessert which consists of no less than five desserts and a selection of petit fours. However sometimes less is more and I think I would have preferred just a couple of spectacular desserts, rather than five OK ones.  That said, it was still discernibly better than a lot of Michelin starred restaurants out there, and as such I would have no qualms about recommending the Sketch experience, and that’s even without having had the full tour of the premises – we didn’t get the chance to visit the Glade, the Gallery or the East Bar as Blackberry had reserved the rest of Sketch for a product launch, so there was a bit of a buzz around that, as Jessie J was providing the music.

Marks out of 10

Food 7.5

Service 8

Ambience 8

Sketch Lecture Room and Library on Urbanspoon

Square Meal

UPDATE : September 2012, Sketch has been awarded a second Michelin Star.

LOCATION INFORMATION

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Posted in 2 Michelin stars, Expensive, London, UK | 1 Comment »

Bob Bob Ricard – Fantasy Diner!

To the uninitiated a visit to Bob Bob Ricard in Soho is a bit like walking into one of those Carlsberg adverts, you know the ones about the Flat, the Hotel and the Bank.  Well BBR is a Diner and if Carlsberg did Diners this would be it.

It’s all booths. But instead of the Chrome, Plastic and Formica you’d expect its all  Brass, Leather and Marble.  The menu includes quite a bit of “Diner” type food and drink – Burgers, Ice Cream Sundaes, Milkshakes and Lemonade etc,  along with some more extravagant items, like the selection of Caviar and the Beef Wellington with Truffle gravy.  The impression we had was that BBR could have been the dream of a child of Soviet Russia imagining the glamour of an American Diner. It’s completely OTT, but in a good way (I have since discovered it’s actual design is based on an Edwardian Train – Time Out described the design as “working within a loose theme of Orient Express meets American diner”, which sounds about right to me).

We had a fairly mixed selection of dishes. We started with the Herring, Egg and Beetroot salad which was delicious and the Eggs Benedict. Then I had the Poached Salmon with Cucumber, Dill and Mustard along with a side order of New Potatoes. My companion went down the “Diner” route by ordering a Cheese Burger  & Fries complete with a Kraft Cheese slice topping (not the best Burger he’d had, after all we have been to Bar Boulud, but it was fine). I finished by indulging my sweet tooth and ordered the plate of BBR cakes.  A small section of cakes that also forms the top layer of the Afternoon Tea cake stand and my companion ordered some ice cream.  Peanut Butter and Banana, Salted Caramel (one he would not recommend unless you like it very salty) and Valrhona Chocolate.

We accompanied all of this with Champagne of course.  Bob Bob Ricard does have the famous Champagne button after all (although on our visit the restaurant was not busy and the service was efficient enough not to need it). The nicely chilled glasses of Pol Roger Champagne certainly succeeded in pushing our bill up beyond “Diner” prices though.

Our visit was during a quiet lunch time and I have to admit I would like to have seen the place in full swing in the evening, although I suspect that would seriously damage my bank balance. That Champagne button is a dangerous thing!

Marks out of 10

Food 5.9

Service 6

Ambience 7

Bob Bob Ricard on Urbanspoon

Square Meal

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The Ledbury – More or Less?

We started off the new year on a high, with lunch at The Ledbury.   There were two  menu options. The special lunch Menu at £45 or the Tasting Menu at £75, both available with matching wine.  Such a tough choice, but it was The Ledbury and we just had to go down the “More” route.   We had matching wines for each course (including a matching wine for the amuse bouche) making a total of 8 glasses each (I think).  Pretty heavy for lunch time drinking I have to say. In retrospect the “Less” route might have been the more sensible choice.

We found the restaurant to be rather quiet on this visit, only a few tables were in use during our mid week lunch. So if you pick your day carefully it is possible to get a reservation at this temple of gastronomy.

We started with Chantilly of Colchester Oysters with a Tartare of Scallop and Oyster, Horseradish and Dill – a very elegant dish, this was followed by Flame Grilled Mackerel with Smoked Eel, Celtic Mustard and Shiso. Then we had Hampshire Buffalo Milk Curd with Saint-Nectaire and Truffle Toast. The Truffle Toast was the highlight for me, delicious. We were four glasses down at this point when we moved on to the fish course of Roast Native Lobster with Broccoli stem, Natural Yogurt and Indian Spices in Brown Butter. This was followed by Pork Cheek cooked in Pedro Ximénez with Puffed Grains and Spiced Cream and Roast Haunch of Fallow Deer with White Beetroot and Smoked Bone Marrow and several more glasses of well matched wines. We finished with a light pre-dessert and the dessert of Pavé of Chocolate with Milk Purée and Lovage Ice Cream.

The food was universally good, we just felt that we had over done it.  I am always happy to go to The Ledbury but I think next time I will stick to the set lunch.

One tip though, if you do want to go down the Tasting Menu route,  is to do it at lunch time – the Tasting Menu is £30 cheaper then than the one offered in the evening.

Marks out of 10

Food 8

Service 7.8

Ambience 6.5

The Ledbury on Urbanspoon

Square Meal

LOCATION INFORMATION

Browse Google Map© :- NoExpert Food Blog – London, UK

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