The Ledbury was last visited in April of 2018  for a lunch and in Nov. 2014 for a dinner, on this blog.   It’s now been elevated to a 3 Michelin star rating under Chef Brett Graham’s direction for the last 17 years and now with Chef Tom Spenceley running the kitchen.  They offer 6 or 8 course tastings at lunch but only the 8-course in the evening with optional wine pairings.  Rennovated in 2022 they made many interior decorating changes to the dining room as well as reduced the number of seats from 55 to 45 to make space for a center serving table.   Dried plants hang from the ceiling in the lowly lit room filled with shades of beige.  The pedestal tables were set with fine white linens and table decorations that coordinated with the ceiling ones.  Staff are attentive but not intrusive and go the extra mile in service.   We were delighted to find one of the fine servers we met last year at Da Terra now working here and Chef Graham helping present many of the dishes and taking time to visit with guests.  Each dish was presented with in depth descriptions that I’m afraid I missed much of or can’t decifer my quickly written notes.  Trust me that all was good with lots of flavors and textures in the dishes.  Go if you get a chance and can afford it.  (It will set you back 275 pounds or about $340/person and then there’s the cost of beverages and service.)

Set-up

Food

Starting snacks were housemade Charcuterie including ham loin, pork leg, salami, cured veal cheeks and a hazelnut biscuit.  They were all lovely.

 

Next they added some warm amuse bouche of pancakes topped with truffle and yuzu and a scallop tempura decorated with scallop roe with a hollandaise/finger lime dip.  The scallop had an amazing coating – light and airy but totally crisp. The sauce tasted mostly of lime which accented the sweet scallop nicely.  The truffles on the pancake actually had flavor which was divine.

 

Ike Jime Chalk Stream Trout was smoked on Douglas fir then combined with dried tangelo, shiso and Mirabelle plum and freshly grated lime added tableside.  Some jelly was made from the dashi, lime rind was in the dressing and frozen shiso leaves were on the top.  It was light and lovely with a pop from something.  A great start.

 

Mylor prawn was with white currant, Swede, apple marigold oil and N25 Kaluga caviar.  These prawns are known for their intense flavor and the boiled heads were turned into a caramel. Some freshly grated wasabi grown in the UK and the caviar were added tableside.  This one had lots of texture in the dish as well as wonderful flavors.

 

Brioche and rye sourdough breads were served with a goat’s milk butter sprayed with molasses.  The sourdough was dense with a crisp crust while the brioche was layers of sticky, buttery goodness.  Not sure I was a big fan of goat’s milk butter.

 

Royale Vendée quail with Kentish quince and licorice was topped with parsnip and Costa Rican vanilla sauce and surrounded by chicken consomme.  The quail was nicely rare and moist and the vanilla was a dominant flavor in the sauce.  Lots going on in this plate for a good end result.

 

Cornish Dover Sole with Hoshigaki persimmon, turnip “Beer-Goule”, Myoga ginger, chervil and black winter truffle.  The sole was with scallops and truffle in a seaweed wrap topped with the amazingly sweet persimmon.   The surrounding rich sauce had a fantastic flavor and brought everything together perfectly.  This was a delicious course.

 

Mushrooms from the Cabinet included Shitake, 36 month aged Parmesan, Cep and chestnuts.    Some rosehip jelly was also mixed with the roasted chestnuts.  The mushrooms were exquisite and perfect with the parmesan and creamy sauce.  I loved this one.

 

Nidderdale Mallard with Vadouvan, forced Yorkshire rhubarb, coffee and Amazake was on several plates.  The plate held the medium rare meat, beets and a number of different sauces which all mixed together well. The meat from the leg was in a fried ball and a thin crisp pastry shell held some other parts.

 

Curguirrell Farm Meyer lemon was with Aynhoe Park honey, fennel, stem ginger and long pepper for a transition course.  A granita was made from honey and lemon to top it off.  It was good.

 

85% Hacienda Victoria chocolate was with Blood orange, olive oil, anise and Cherrywood Lapsang for the main dessert which was layers of puff pastry with a separate dish of ice cream/custard.  The pastry dessert was very difficult to eat and flew everywhere with mildly sweet overtones.  This one was okay.

 

I enjoyed a glass of grappa to go with the final treats of mushroom macarons (delicious), black truffle fudge (Yum), lemon gel with sugar coating (okay) and an Earl Grey tea canele with vanilla bean bergamot (fun).