Post number five, 'The Ledbury'

Something tells me Notting Hill is no longer the bastion of cutting edge urban coolness that it used to be. It seems to be a much more established area, more grown up and serious than before, or is that just me? 

I remember my visits to W11 years back and it all seemed a bit edgier, '192' on Kensington Park Road, those late bars and tricky named restaurants on All Saints road, mad, but good memories. In any case it is hard to ignore the significant shift towards the east of our great city in terms of new and 'happening' restaurants, bars, clubs and more. 


Still whatever Notting Hill is in 2010 there is no doubting it is still a major force of an area. There are more high level boutiques than ever before and it has some serious restaurants too. Last Saturday I visited 'The Ledbury' for the first time and unfortunately I left rather unimpressed;


We were greeted very nicely by what seemed like a red carpet of waiters and waitresses all nodding and extolling pleasantries at us. The rooms exudes class and quality and it all looked the part, first impressions were very good. The menu looked interesting and my decision was made pretty quickly;

Ravioli with hens egg (they do love eggs these boys) potato puree and white truffle shavings to start was, I would say, just OK. The egg was perfect as was the Ravioli but the potato puree was rather bland which effected the enjoyment of the dish. The truffle shavings a wee bit light on quantity too.


For main course the popular choice was the pressed suckling pig which came with salsify, nuggets of confit belly, a carrot puree and a tad of over salted mushroom (at least I think that's what it was). Fundamentally it was all a bit too one dimensional. The centre piece of pressed pork was excellent, crispy and succulent but it lacked support and ideed balance around it, the puree was not cleverly flavoured,  the dish was just too dry. Ham was mentioned on the menu as part of the dish, unless it was in incredible disguise there was no sign of it on the plate.


For dessert we all chose some cheese, the chariot was grand. Mini loaves of bread were then delivered, too much bread by far. The small offering of biscuits/crackers were poor.


Ironically the most memorable parts of the meal were the 'Amuse Bouches'. Lovely little Foie Gras laden beetroot macaroons to start, a brilliant pot of Tuna, fishy tomtoey eggs and creme fraiche after our first course, then finally after the cheese, a delicious baby beaker of Panacotta with berry coulis.

The wine we selected of their excellent list was a Meursault, unfortunately the first bottle was too warm. The wine waiter explained, after we queried it's temperature, that they had a problem with their fridges, one would have expected to have been advised of that as we ordered, or as it was poured.


Service was generally not up to scratch, we had to wait too long for our plates to be cleared after our main course and despite the nice lady making a big point at the beginning of the meal, about anyone in our party having allergys, they proceeded to deliver my nut allergenic friend nutty bread and walnuts all over his cheese. A break down in their system there. To be fair this was deducted from the bill and profuse apologies were offered.


That bill was one hundred and forty pounds a head. The Ledbury experience was significantly let down by the main course and elements of the service. I have had some great meals at other two michelin star establishments in London, namely Gavroche and Hibiscus and this particular night did not compare well. In fact it didn't measure up well against some lunches or dinners I have had at one star London establishments. 

The Ledbury clearly can be an excellent restaurant, I have only read good things. Maybe it was a very uncommon off night, it can happen, but I tend to feel you generally only get one chance to seduce a diner at this very high, demanding level. Sadly, I suspect that chance has gone with the four people in our party on saturday.





Two point five out of five stars




The Ledbury
127 Ledbury Road
W11 2AQ


0207 797 9090

Post number four, 'The Canton Arms'

Stockwell is a funny old place. I lived there in the mid nineties when I first left the safety of East Sheen, it proved a post code too far and have been heading back west ever since.

Over the years there has been little reason to return in terms of food and drink establishments apart from the draw of that brilliant little east african/indian jewell 'Hotstuff'. I have taken refuge there many times after well watered days at the Oval.

Anyway there is now another reason to return to SW8, The Canton Arms. It is a grand old lady of a 'boozer' situated on a corner site of South Lambeth Road. Broadly speaking it's heart belongs to that wonderful Great Queen Street, Anchor and Hope 'sect' but its is definitely more of a boozer than the latter. The night I was there there were was interesting music seeping through the speakers and a television was on showing football.

There are familiar A&H, GQSt facets to the place, the 'blood clot' walls, parts of the menu, but there are subtle differences and movements forward notably the bar snacks(happily 'sans' scotch eggs) dominated by Toasties'. We tried both the Haggis and the pace setting Foie Gras toastie, the Haggis with brown sauce having the edge for me, totally delicious and fairly priced at three pounds. 'Toasties' are a truly great bar snack offering, never has the thought of purchasing a Breville crossed my mind, until now.

For our main meal we moved through to the dining area at the back of the pub. It really is a grand space, I can see why the owners chose the site, it is a slightly off beat location but this is more than compensated for by the ornate, original interior.

The menu is compact at the moment and I guess in time this will grow. No matter there are plenty of attractions; Leeks Gribiche, Bayonne Ham and Mussels to start were all heartily devoured, the perfectly room temperature leeks with very fresh egg and tarragon herbed sauce the pick. 

Main courses of cassoulet, rabbit stew and slow roasted belly pork with fennel and green sauce arrived looking the part. My rabbit stew was excellent, spanish in style and nicely piquant with the chorizo and peppers, ably supported with swollen pillows of joy(butterbeans). I tried the cassoulet, it was slightly lacking moisture but tasted perfect. The pork belly was perhaps missing crispier skin but according to its owner it tasted delicious. It's early days for the place.

Desserts eaten by my fellow diners were chocolate pots, for myself Creme Fraiche Tart with stewed rhubarb which was brilliant. The soft creamy sweetness of the tart with the gentle gnaar of the rhubarb worked so well, and looked so pretty.

I didn't really study the wine offering, everyone kept to pints of Ale of which there are four relatively obscure brews to choose from.

The bill, incorporating lots of pints, toasties, starters, main courses and desserts was about forty pounds a head including service. Not bad at all. 

Due to it's location The Canton Arms will be allowed to grow organically. I can see it drawing punters from miles around in the evenings and at weekends, maybe midweek lunchtimes will be more challenging due to the location. That said the 'Toastie' tip will certainly help draw in some casual drinking and eating throughout the day.

I found the place thoroughly charming. It is clearly a movement on from it's contemporaries in the respect that it is trying to remain a proper pub, genuinely mixing drinkers with eaters. Because of the space they have and the clever people behind it I have no doubt it will be a roaring success.

Four, no sod it, five out of five stars.

Post number three, 'White (Haricot) Beans'

I simply adore white beans, in fact I almost have an fascination with them. I am not quite sure how this manifested itself in me, maybe because from childhood we get introduced and grow to love them as a 'tomatoey' sweet pulse of joy then, in my case at least, they return some years later in a 'grown up' fashion. Like reacquainting oneself with an old friend.

They are flexible as an ingredient, so pleasing to have in the store cupboard dried waiting for a soaking, or once this is done and a batch is cooked, swimming happily in their own liquor in the fridge. A knowing and nourishing accompaniment to many foods,fish or foul,meat,game,they have great gastronomic friends. In winter they can help create stews, in summer add substance and texture to salads. White beans have integrity.

I can recount with ease great meals I have had where white beans have played a big part in the magic; a cassoulet at The Anchor and Hope a few years back on a bleak winters day, Bentleys in an intense fishy creamy broth with Smoked haddock, St John with Rabbit and aioli, at a Karl Goward(ex St John now @DrapersArms)outpost in Suffolk braised with octopus and served with pork belly.

The basic dried white bean preparation I use is to soak them for three hours or so(over night soaking is not required unless they are very old), then simmer in unsalted water for twenty minutes or so, rinse then cover with fresh water, throw a couple of heads of garlic in with two bay leafs. Put lid on the pan and into a slow to medium oven for about one and a half hours, until the beans are still intact but tender. They can then be seasoned put into a container,cooled and refridgerated for a good week or two.

They have so much flavour already at this stage, just some good olive oil is a perfect marriage. I frequently eat them with good quality tinned tuna, maybe capers, thinly sliced shallot, lemon juice and parsley added. Delicious.

One of my favorite's dishes to prepare from this stage is white bean, tomato and chorizo stew; sweat down(slowly) some shallots, onions, fennel and garlic. Throw in some booze if any is kicking around, cook it out, put your beans in with two squished tinned tomatoes(a decent pouring of passata works well if in stock), some tomato puree and cover with chicken stock. Throw in a handful of small whole cooking chorizo's, and cook for around 30 minutes slowly thickening. Remove the chorizo's and slice then return them to the pan, check seasoning and add some chopped parsley to finish. It's great on its own or to serve with pork, chicken or fish. Squid, chilli and preserved lemon can be added to this too(at the beginning)to make a more piquant, 'racey' version.

To sign off I leave you with a stunningly simple white bean and meat dish that always impresses those that eat it. It only requires bread, sharply dressed green salad and much red wine for a great winters evening with friends;

Jane Grigson White Bean and Meat stew

A good couple of handfuls of either lamb(ideal), beef or pork, cut into chunks

A packet of dried white haricot beans(soaked, boiled for 15 minutes drained and rinsed)

A good two or three tablespoons of gound Allspice

Two cloves of garlic chopped

A large onion chopped

Water

Splash of oil

Salt and pepper

Tinned tomatoes and Tomato puree

Chop the onion and throw into a heavy bottomed casserole dish, sweat slowly for ten to fifteen minutes adding the garlic after about ten minutes. Add the meat chunks and brown. Deglaze with touch of wine if you have it to hand if not water will suffice, then add the beans. Squish the tomatoes in and add a good squirt of puree. Cover well with cold water mix and season with the allspice and pepper. Pop into a slow-medium oven for about one and a half hours. About fifteen minutes before time check for taste and season with salt and add some more Allspice and pepper if required. The beans thicken the liquor, the taste from such simple and inexpensive ingredients is superb.

You can finish with chopped parsley if you like.

Post number two, 'The Harwood Arms '

Last Saturday I had lunch at the Harwood Arms, not a debut for me but the first time since its award of a Michelin Star. It has a great pedigree being related to The Square and The Ledbury. It is in an interesting location, minutes from the 'hussle and bolshy bussel' of North End road but at the end of a very fine street of Victorian Villas. The pub and what it now offers suits this street very much. I would in fact like to live in this street.

The room is attractive and bright, elegantly and softly decorated with black and white photography and pretty flower arrangements.

The menu is 'English country side meets fine dining' , intriguing. Lots of game, Venison 't' bones , Pheasant thighs. There is a fantastic Bar snack menu which is very hard to ignore, particularly their famous Scotch eggs. The wine list is not extensive in range but very detailed in explanation, I like that and it truly helps when ordering.

To start proceedings we ordered scotch eggs, freshly fried and served with a pleasing snowcap of sea salt. Cut into, the egg was delightfully fresh and fluid, surrounded by an adequate casing of seasoned minced venison. A great way to kick off the Harwood food experience particularly with the pint of perfectly kept Wandle ale I was drinking at the time.

Next Snails; beautifully presented in an egg cup format, stuffed with a touch of oxtail, parsley crumbs and to close it off a slice of bone marrow. I am not sure what these additions add in the overall experience of eating snails, maybe I am just too keen on eating them simply with 'snail butter' , but the challenge to oneself to extract all that lies deep in the shell with the little fork is fun and rewarding, if you succeed.

My main course , Cullen Skink. A deep grooved handsome looking bowl arrived on their trademark olive tree wood boards, nestling next to it a charred rosemary bread bun for dipping. Brilliantly fresh, bulbous, amber mussels gleefully supported the chunks of succulent smoked fish and potato, with vibrant green Kale as a garnish, all carefully plated in a intense broth, superb.

Other main courses eaten on our table were ox cheek, mashed potato ('Michelin mash', totally creamy, rich and buttery) and pickled walnut, the latter giving a lovely sweet sharp edge to the rich and unctuous melting cheek. Also Venison T bone, it looked a mighty specimen, cooked perfectly pink.

A New Zealand Peregrine Pinot Noir proved to be a splendid wine for the lunch, it required some cheese to see it off so I gratefully obliged and ordered the cheese plate, three or four cheeses nicely at one with the room temperature and individually good arrived.

It was felt by common consensus that we couldn't leave without a bowl of miniature marmalade doughnuts and cream, a delicious and clever sharing sweet to sign off.

As a mean over my three visits fifty or sixty pounds a head sees you right going through the card with good wine. Correct money for the quality of food and service(not the sharpest but it is a pub and charming attitudes more than compensated for delays) returned.

The Harwood Arms is really very good indeed. Uniquely so, in London that is, it offers a 'fine dining experience' in the surrounds of a Public House. The 'Gastro pub' bar is raised but to the Anchor and Hope- you are just fine.

Four out of five stars

The Harwood Arms

27 Walham Grove

SW6 1UR

0207 386 1847

Post number one, 'A background'

My real love of food was born when I started travelling with my job in Europe, particularly the south of France, north east Spain and Italy. What impressed me so was the way people took the subject of food so seriously, not just those in the fantastic restaurants I started to eat at, but everyone I met. I am in the fashion business but food was always so high on the agenda with the people I was visiting. Botafumeiro in Barcelona, La Petite Maison and Le Merenda in Nice, Coco Lezzone in Florence. I was frequently taken to these establishments and they all excited and inspired me. The simplicity, purity and quality of the food was magnificent.

I was of course subsequently duty bound to reciprocate lunches and dinners when I welcomed visitors in London and this drove me forward to research what London had to offer, what was new, what was hot. Time out became an essential weekly purchase and I started venturing out, trying and tasting. One of my spanish colleagues back then was particularly demanding when he came to London, each time he visited he craved new and cool, food and fun.

It was on a particular night with this amigo that the first defining moment in my food life occured, a dinner at St John on a winters eve in 1994. I remember we ate Middlewhite and swede, glorious milky white and yellow comfort on a plate, Pigeon and lentils, proper welsh rarebit. The room and it's stark coolness, the simplicity but beauty of the food, the pig on the ashtrays, the menu printed with those immortal words 'Nose to tail eating', the coat pegs, I was inspired and hooked. Regular visits ensued.

Some years later I purchased 'Nose to tail eating' by Fergus Henderson and a happy obsession began. It was not just the fantastically novel, non whimsical preparations in the book but the imaginative and captivating way in which they are described to the reader. Not to mention the innovative and superb photography.

The second defining moment in my food life to date was when my old mate @legbye donated me 'Roast chicken and other stories ' by Simon Hopkinson. Hopkinson's love for what he was writing about jumped out at me and I found it totally inspiring. I could at last roast a chicken brilliantly, I never looked back. I was intrigued by the 'fanfares' in the book, where he wonders away from the food/recipe narrative and champions certain people and what they meant to him; this is when Elizabeth David, Alice Waters and Richard Olney came into my life.

Since then I have read and referred back to Nose to tail eating, Roast Chicken and other stories, Simple French cooking by Richard Olney and various Liz David books time and time again. This set of books have become my bibles for the food I love to cook and eat. I try to stay within their confines not least so I have a certain 'way' in the kitchen I am used to and can therefore perform quite well at. Bits and bobs of innovation in terms of ingredients and preparation barge they way in every now and then but generally I like to practise and eat simple, seasonal cooking with the emphasis on quality ingredients.

I have continued to be interested in and visit new restaurants and pubs as well as frequenting the stalwarts I love; I have watched with great interest the influence Fergus Henderson has had on food in London in the last 15 years, his disciples leaving and opening their own establishments, also the growing trend for bistro style food that I also love so much. I do enjoy the occasional foray into the world of fine dining too.

On this blog I will share(with those kind enough to read it) my new restaurant experiences in the UK and overseas. I will also share anything interesting that pops up from my messing around in the kitchen at home and random tit bits relating to real ales and fine wines. I rather enjoy a good pint of bitter as well as a fine bottle of wine.