I returned to The Ledbury today for its 3-course Sunday lunch, which is a good deal considering that it features several options for each course from the standard (read: more expensive) à la carte menu. I had noticed a couple of changes to the restaurant's offerings since my last visit and was keen to try some new dishes.
Canapé: parmesan tartlette with dried black olives, diced radish and fennel garnish.
The surprisingly light parmesan cream was studded with savoury dried olives and juicy sweet radishes, which made for a delightful combination of textures and flavours. The subtle but characteristic aroma of fennel enveloped this delicious morsel and left a very pleasant aftertaste in the mouth.
Amuse-bouche: salad of heritage (heirloom) tomatoes with fresh goat's cheese, dried olives, green tomato juice, herbs, and a dressing of tomato juice, shallots, balsamic vinegar and chives.
Though an amuse-bouche in name, this was in fact a standard menu item and a solid dish in its own right. The taste of this deceptively simple starter was as lovely as its vibrant colours. The sheer depth of flavour and juiciness of this special cultivar of tomatoes was amazing, and their subtle sweetness was perfectly complemented by a sourish dressing mixed with tiny balls made unusually from tomato consommé, as well as sprinklings of savoury dried olives. The chewy tomato balls and firm olive bits made for a nice bite in this salad. This wholesome dish was also given a more indulgent edge, in the form of a crispy roll generously filled out with thick and creamy goat's cheese. An aromatic garnishing of mixed herbs completed this immaculately crafted salad.
Starter: roasted hand-dived Scottish scallops with seaweed and brassicas (an umbrella term for cruciferous vegetables including cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli etc.).
I had an almost identical dish in the tasting menu way back in April, and remembering how good it had been, I definitely didn't mind ordering this again. The insertion of little pieces of nori (Japanese seaweed) into grooves cut in the scallops remains one of my favourite ways of treating this shellfish; the complex savoury flavours of the seaweed are allowed to fully infuse into the scallops by mingling with their natural juices. The other seaweed components (seaweed oil and seaweed butter) also contributed to the incredible umami of the scallops.
Main course: roasted Black Leg chicken breast with confit wing and thigh, creamed potato, shavings of autumn truffle, raw and poached ceps.
I normally wouldn't order a chicken dish in a fine restaurant simply because it is such a common meat, but the allure of truffle and cep accompaniments was too great to resist - and my, was I richly rewarded! A generous mound of poached and raw ceps topped with an incredible amount of shaved truffles was set within a ring of smooth potato mash, that was itself studded all round with small dollops of truffle butter; the combination of nutty & earthy ceps with characteristically pungent truffles was simply intoxicating for a fungi lover like me. The firm & meaty texture of the ceps was also the perfect complement to poultry.
The Black Leg variety used here (not to be confused with the black chickens used in Chinese herbal cuisine) comes specifically from the southwest of France near Toulouse (where it is known as poulet noir). These premier French free-range chickens are specially bred on an custom vegetarian diet, and the meat that results is commonly considered by chefs to be the best in Europe. This was certainly no ordinary chicken; the main breast portion - a leaner part of the chicken which could end up dry and tough if mishandled - was so tender, succulent and naturally tasty that it has to be tried to be believed. The small layer of skin was perfectly crisp and astonishingly fatless. The two small confited parts were very well-seasoned and had a very rich mouthfeel. The overall flavour of the dish was further enhanced by a savoury sprinkling of finely chopped chicken livers cooked in sherry. If only the chicken that I eat regularly would be a fraction as good as this!
I asked for a glass of sweet wine to go with my dessert, and was recommended this pleasant and reasonably-priced Sauternes by a very friendly Italian server Enrico - I don't think he was actually the sommelier, but anyway wine pairings by the glass at this price level are pretty standard and predictable, so I went with his suggestion.
This is a 1997 Château Coutet (premier cru classé, appellation Barsac contrôlée) from the Bordeaux region of France. Tasting notes: a very fresh, crisp, medium-bodied wine with a rich nose. Pleasant notes of honey and apricot, with a slight aftertaste of tropical fruit. Beautiful deep golden hue.
Pre-dessert: fresh mandarin pieces with lemon verbena ice-cream, soft meringue and crunchy dried meringue pieces, sea buckthorn mousse.
A wonderful palate cleanser full of citrusy flavours and possessing an astonishing range of textures. I found the lemon verbena ice cream and sea buckthorn mousse particularly interesting; the vanilla-based ice cream was infused with a zesty lemon-like flavour typical of this herb, while the mousse possessed the characteristically refreshing and astringent flavour of sea buckthorn berries. Sweet mandarin and meringue pieces kept the overall acidity of this dish in check whilst contributing an enjoyable bite to it.
Dessert: passionfruit soufflé with Sauternes ice-cream. Nothing new really - third time I was having it - but still good, as always!
I was secretly hoping to have an extra dessert (as the restaurant has always done for me so generously on my previous visits) but didn't get anything this time - to be fair though, except for one table which was celebrating a birthday, none of the others got a complimentary dessert this afternoon, as far as I could observe. You can't really take such things for granted I suppose.
Petit fours to end a pleasant Sunday afternoon, away from the pouring weather outside: Earl Grey biscuit, dark chocolate ganache with an eucalyptus filling, mandarin jelly.
Service was generally excellent, particularly from Laurens, the Dutch lad who was mainly taking care of me throughout today's lunch, and with whom I had a nice brief chat after my meal. Dasha (not sure about spelling...), the bubbly Czech girl who had served me during a previous visit to try the tasting menu, recognised me immediately when being tasked to serve me my scallop starter, and we also exchanged a few friendly words. Enrico, whom I saw for the first time and who recommended my dessert wine, was very warm and attentive to all tables and made sure periodically that everything was alright. Another lady was very sincere in asking me if I enjoyed my wine, when she collected my glass. In contrast, I found today's maître d' (not Stephen - he was on holiday) rather distant, even bordering on aloofness at times - but I was prepared to overlook that as we didn't have much contact anyway. I look forward to returning soon.
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