We all know about The Ledbury by now….and i`m guessing that most of us have visited at one time or another so i won`t go repeating myself yet again. If you like your food rich, full of robust flavours , well cooked and scattered with luxurious ingredients then get yourself down there during game and truffle season…and as you can see you`ll be in for a treat. Brett doesn`t hold back on the ole “white diamonds” and chances are that the game you`ll be eating will also have been tracked and shot by chef himself. Part and parcel of a Ledbury visit normally involves a trip into the kitchen for a chin wag and on this occasion this also included a masterclass on cooking the `flame grilled Mackerel` and like it or not ( you dont get a choice) the `ins and outs` of killing small animals for our meal. I returned the favour by attempting to explain to chef Graham the principles behind Nuclear fusion…but of course this just fell on deaf ears and a puzzled stare…stick to the cooking Brett.
So here we are…Unleashing Brett Graham and the team on a winter tasting menu of White Truffle and seasonal game…it really is what he does best. 2 Michelin stars and pushing the boundaries of 3.Bretts cooking style now falling firmly into a lovely flow and I`m sure you`ll all agree that you could pick a plate of Ledbury food out from a line up now , its got its own unique style and branding.
Service as always was faultless , smiles and special treatment that made us feel like we were part of the family , same table as always and all those little things added together that will make us want to return over and over again.
Foie gras tarts.
Roasted Artichoke puree in its crispy skin.
Crispy quails eggs with truffle
Ceviche of scallops with kohlrabi, seaweed and herb oil, frozen English Horseradish.
“Risotto” of celeric and new potato with smoked eel and parsley
Boudin of wood pigeon and partridge with chestnut soup and veloute of white truffle
Fillet of roasted sea bass with broccoli stem, crab and black quinoa
Saddle of roe deer with red vegetables, leaves, and quince
Aged fillet of Belted Galloway with truffle purée and roast parsnips
Ledbury Cheese selection
Pre-dessert. Citrus, meringue
Pear cooked in brown butter with crispy porridge and walnut oil parfait
Passion fruit ice cream , Souffle.
Ledbury Petits fours.
To view more photos on Flickr , please click HERE
Cumbriafoodie 
This sounds like a great meal – thanks for giving us the low down and with the great photos. Just a couple of things – why do you think cheese is just, well, cheese as a course? Michelin chefs are happy to poach, roast, foam, etc. all other ingredients, but the cheese course is – well, just cheese? Also, you don’t say what you had to drink, but why is it that at restaurants such as the Ledbury, every dish appears to be suited to wine? So much care seems to have been taken with the flavours of the food yet conveniently every dish appears to be ideally paired with a form of fermented grape juice, one which entirely unrelatedly costs a great deal of money? Surely if chefs really were bothered about the flavours one had to combine in one’s mouth with each course they would specify certain kinds of liquids to drink – for example, perhaps pear juice with a game dish? Yet for some strange reason they remain silent on this, and again magically there is a fermented grape juice – available at high cost – that is always perfectly matched to the food (according to the sommelier)…
Some valid points there Marcus and yes…I agree with you. I actually prefer the way Keller serves cheese at The French Laundry…as a course. ( check out the cookbook ).Now that gastronomy is flying at breakneck speed in the UK then hopefully someone will kick the trend off here.Until then it looks like we have to make do with the ole cheese trolley my friend.
On the subject of “grape juice ” with food….well my friend Simon Rogan from Lenclume has already started making moves forward in pairing his cuisine to drinks with a difference….multi course tasting menus paired up with various wines , local beers , infusions and freshly pressed juices….which incidentally are pretty exciting to sit down to and enjoy as each course arrives….definitely different.
Last week i also done a photoshoot to promote real ales with Michelin food…so dont go giving up hope just yet.
We’ve just booked a table at Alyn Williams and I noticed that they will pair beers to the tasting menu as well as wines. I’ve seen this in some other places recently too. However, ALL drinks in restaurants tend to be always aggressively marked up though, not just wine- if you really want to be ripped off, have a coke! The reason is simple enough; margins on food are generally extremely slim, especially in top restaurants so the restaurant will look to make its money on the drinks. This would be unlikely to change just because a restaurant started pairing, for example, fruit juices with their food. And from a flavour perspective, wine offers such a phenomenal range of styles that you’d be hard pressed to come up with a dish that cannot be succesfully matched to some form of wine.
Alan, I’m interested; what do you think it is that creates the Ledbury’s “unique style and branding” on a plate? These dishes all look stunning of course, but visually speaking the style reminds me (especially on the deer, beef and bass dishes) of the plating at, for example, Texture.
I just think that Brett has honed his own style over the years. If ten different chefs done their own take on a dish i reckon i could confidently pick out Bretts plate of food.Agnar Sverrisson over at Texture also has his own styling which in turn has similarities with Simon Rogan …and so on.Brett loves cooking with Game and as long as he keeps that up then ill be a regular…he`s a master of his craft.
Hope you enjoy your meal at Alyns , hes a really nice guy…very talented also. Check out my blog post from there , we had a wonderful meal.
Cheers , Alan
I had seen your post on Alyn William’s previously, one of the reasons we’re headed there; living in Newcastle we don’t get many chances to head down to London for some proper posh scran, so yes, really looking forward to it.
“Match the chef to the plate”- sounds to me like an excellent idea for an game/app, although one that you would have a bit of an advantage on!