There are some restaurants around the world that have become legends in their own right: Noma in Copenhagen, the sadly shuttered El Bulli in Spain and The Ledbury in London. Helmed by Brett Graham, The Ledbury was top of its game for years, gaining two Michelin stars in quick succession and featuring as a mainstay on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list year on year. It was infallible, until a nasty little germ that we are all too familiar with came along, shut everything down and in doing so, forced The Ledbury to shut permanently (or so we were told at the time). The food world was devastated; I was personally pissed off as I hadn't yet made the trip to visit this legendary address.
The reason that Brett announced it couldn't reopen was that the restaurant could not survive with restrictions in place around diner numbers and distances. As it is, it's a small dining room with no more than 40 covers per night and while the prices are high (£185 per head for the tasting menu, which is the only menu), you're paying for the absolute best ingredients so the profits are not as high as you might expect. Fast forward however and The Ledbury has returned like a phoenix from the ashes, back once again to serve an ever-growing crowd of loyal fans its tasting menus.
Of course, an interior refresh was in order for this second coming and Brett looked to interior design studio These White Walls for an overhaul. Founder Rose Murray has quite the portfolio when it comes to high end restaurant design and it was her work at Hide in Piccadilly that caught Brett's eye. The restaurant before was a little stuffy and outdated, but now, it has a cool formality that suits the menu but allows for a much more relaxed atmosphere. There is no pomp and circumstance here but a mix of tactile, soft materials that allow you to ease into your surroundings. Centre stage is a wall of stone slabs, except it's actually a wall of mushrooms as the incredibly textured material that clads one wall is made of mycelium. Everything feeds back to Brett's philosophy to food and as a man obsessed with mushrooms and truffles (you can expect a lot of truffle shavings on your dishes), it made perfect sense to choose a statement mycelium focal point. The light fittings too are of the same material, with walnut wood and marble mixing in seamlessly.
The overall effect is inky, intimate and luxurious but not in a way that causes you to straighten your back. This is helped by the staff who are–as you are probably expecting to read–at the absolute top of their game. Rose and her team took the staff into consideration too, creating a space that allows them to flow easily and seamlessly, meaning they are always there yet never intrusive. A central table by London studio Based Upon serves as a sort of bar area (though the real bar is hidden away) and stops that awkward feeling of any one table of diners being the centre of it all. An artwork from the same company is the sole artwork on show–bar a suspended floral display in muted tones–and seems to move and change as you look at it.
I was ever so slightly worried that heading to a world-renowned temple of food with a tasting menu as a pregnant woman with a lengthy list of new dietary restrictions would cause a few sighs and eye rolls, but they could not have been more welcoming and accommodating. The same would be the case for a vegan or coeliac, I am sure. Luckily, there wasn't too much I had to miss out on; my cured mackerel was cooked through instead, and where my husband had delightfully pink Iberian pork, I had beef short rib that wielded effortlessly to the slightest touch of my fork.
There is little point in going dish by dish through the menu, as it changes all the time to suit the ingredients Brett and his team think look to be their absolute best from their suppliers. There are things that will never change though; it will be inventive, yet thoughtful and familiar; mushrooms will most certainly appear, and seeing as they take centre stage on any trip to the bathrooms (I'll say no more and let you enjoy the surprise), they are all the more delightful for it; truffle is king when in season and you will be treated to it on more than one dish; all the senses are taken into account for every plate, and every plate is impeccable. In my opinion–and what is a review of not one lengthy opinion–there are better tasting menus to be had and more exciting things happening in the London food scene, but for a masterclass in fine dining and how to do it right, it certainly has the edge on the competition.
It goes without saying that the wine pairings were spot on, not that I had the pleasure of trying them. Rather than simply pair what the sommelier thought was best with each dish, she took the time to talk to my husband and decipher his general preferences before doing a bespoke pairing based on that conversation. If pairing isn't your thing, the wine list itself is a weighty tome of absolute belters, to say the least.
I cannot compare The Ledbury's grand return to its original iteration, but I can marvel at what a pairing Rose and Brett proved to be and have no doubt that the new interiors are far better suited to Brett's vision and food than what preceded it. As with the dishes and plating, there is a restraint to the dining room, a modern elegance that shows Rose's understanding of how the interiors of a restaurant are equally important to what you're being served. There's no doubt that The Ledbury is still one of the best restaurants around, and you can expect it to regain at least its two former Michelin stars in no time.
The Ledbury: theledbury.com | These White Walls: thesewhitewalls.com
