The Ledbury, London, 9/9/2017 (8-Course, £145 incl. VAT &
Gratuity), French, Michelin 2-Star
The Ledbury is located in the trendy Notting
Hill section of London. Its chef Brett Graham has been one of London’s most
celebrated chefs. Its cuisine is considered vibrant, inspirational and seasonal.
I chose the 8-Course Tasting menu and started
with Amuse Bouche.
Amuse Bouche
a). Mussel Mousse with Seaweed Cracker
At the bottom, there were some Kumbu dry
seaweed for display only because they were not cooked yet. On top of it, there
was a piece of fried seaweed cracker made of meshed rice and seaweed. On top of
cracker, some mussel mousse with many tiny transparent balls. These were made
by melting agar (unflavored gelatin) in hot apple juice and then drop it into
cold olive oil. It was an alternative to dipping sodium alginate into calcium
lactate. To boost the seafood flavor, some seaweed sprinkles were speckled on
the mussel mousse. It was a light and flavorful appetizer.
Sourdough bread was served with cultured butter
made by separating butter milk and fact during the whipping process and then
adding ½ of butter milk back to the fat part. Butter made this way would be
more flavorful and soft. What Ledbury practiced in making butter resembles what
MAAEMO does.
b). Parmigiano Puff with Fowl Mousse
At the bottom, a biscuit made of puffed
Parmigiano, not in pâte à choux style, which was topped by fowl mousse and
fermented honey jell, an imported cooking method from Nordic. Parmigiano was
medium flavored to make an overall balanced taste.
c). Muntjac Dumpling with Fruit Jelly
My server informed me there are 8 different types
of deer in UK. This dish used Muntjac deer’s meat which is available all year
around. Muntjac deer can be trained to be excellent pets, love affection and
may become attached to the owner. Its meat is not too gamy, tasted almost like beef. Kind of feeling bad to eat them. Fig, apple and mustard were served on
top of the dumpling to add depth and sharpness to the dish.
1st Course - Chantilly of Oyster, Tartare of Sea Bream and
Frozen English Wasabi
Oyster Chantilly was in cream sauce, with
tartare of sea bream underneath. On the side, there were diced celery and
caviar and freshly grated wasabi roots. Fresh wasabi gave a real punch to this
course, bringing out the full taste of oyster, sea bream and caviar.
2nd Course - Fresh Hazelnuts, Green Beans, Peach and Grated
Foie Gras
At the bottom, there were sautéed baby string
beans covered by shaved frozen foie gras and julienned peach slices. Foie gras
was topped by sliced fresh almond, fresh hazelnut and roasted hazelnut. Peach
added freshness and acidity to the mild-taste shaved foie gras.
3rd Course - Warm Bantam’s Egg, Celeriac, Arbois,
Dried Ham and Truffle
Bantam (one type of chicken) chicken egg
offered rich egg yolk. Poached egg yolk, in soft condition, was covered by
celeriac, toasted bread, button mushroom, toasted crispy Serrano ham and
Australian truffles. The type of Australian truffles used in this dish was
different from what I had in Sketch, the day before, in appearance as well as
in taste. The type that I had in Sketch was darker and with milder taste, and
the one that I had in the Ledbury looked more like the French/Italian type with
more mature taste. This dish, a perfectly balanced dish with the right amount
of richness and acidity, was certainly my favorite course for the evening at
the Ledbury.
4th Course - Roast Scallop, Fennel and Elderflower Wine
Fresh and creamy Scottish scallop, with a
licorice root kebab, was roasted to perfection. It was served along with diced
fennel, raw sliced fennel, fennel purée,
elder flower wine sauce and cep mushroom for the season. A little dill leave
was adorned on the top. Licorice root gave depth and sweetness to the dish.
5th Course - Hen of the Woods, Potato Emulsion and Rosemary
This was a vegetarian dish. A good size of Hen
of the Woods mushroom (had a firmer texture) was soaked and cooked in Kumbu
(the same type of seaweed served in the Amuse Bouche for display only) soy
sauce and barbecue sauce. It was served on top of potato purée with rosemary emulsion and porcini powder sprinkled on
top. This was my 2nd favorite dish for the evening.
6th Course - Sika Deer, Smoked Bone Marrow, Prune
Juice and Roscoff Onion
The Sika deer also known as the spotted deer or
Japanese deer, is a species of deer native to much of the East Asia and
introduced to other parts of the world. Sika deer can either be small or
medium, depending the area it happens to live. Autumn is the season for hunting
Sika deer. It feeds on many different plants, grasses, herbs and fruits. The importance
of good tasting deer meat lies more with the meat preparation. Venison is the
meat of any species of deer. Sika meat, lean, has a slighter darker color
resembling elk meat, but is less gamy than elk.
In this dish, Sika was roasted to rare-medium,
served with Roscoff onion, date stuffed with truffled potato, truffled potato,
venison sausage, smoked bone marrow and venison stew under the onion. Smoky flavor
was subtle and delightful. Sauce was made of prune and meat juice.
7th Course - Meadowsweet Cream, Plum and Timur Pepper
This was a pre-dessert. Meadowsweet herb cream was served with plum juice Granité and meringue with Timur pepper sprinkled on top. Plum juice Granité was very refreshing. There was also a small bite-size donut with plum powder. This was the palette cleanser before the major dessert.
8th Course - Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Chantilly and Mint
Petit
Fours
1).Juniper
Berry – Caramel Stick
2).Dark
Chocolate Ball
A dark chocolate mousse ball coated with cocoa powder.
The night before my appointment at the Ledbury, I had a
gorgeous dinner at Sketch. My experience at Sketch was so overwhelming in many
aspects, it was my 2nd fine dining experience in Chef Pierre
Gagnaire’s restaurant group. Without of doubt, quality, taste, flavor,
creativity and presentation of food at the Ledbury were all up to Michelin
2-Star standard. However, quality of services at Sketch was absolutely
impeccable, at least a notch better than what the Ledbury delivered.
At Sketch and Pierre Gagnaire (in Paris),
whenever a guest (especially a female guest) showed movement of getting up from
the chair, staff would fly to him/her to facilitate the process. When the guest
was returning, staff would fly to move the chair to facilitate the guest get
seated. I used the word “fly” because the staff were so swift in movement.
However, at the Ledbury, staff would just stay aside and watch you when you
were on your way back to your seat. They would not even attempt to move your
chair.
The Tasting menu was well constructed at the Ledbury, its
choices between light and more sumptuous dishes were well considered to provide
different levels of taste and horizon. However, the dessert perhaps could provide a bit
more complexity and attention, especially when my memory of Sketch was still
fresh.
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