The Ledbury - The Cider Box - Whisky Live

Guest Post from Jane - 

I don't often venture far west, so when I do it's usually for something worthwhile.  Lunch at The Ledbury was such an occasion, so on a rainy Friday afternoon we set off on the walk from Notting Hill Gate. After fighting through the tourists of Portobello Road, the pillar-doored, four-story houses, endless designer baby clothes shops and estate agents selling flats for £4m my mind was full of images of a restaurant stuffy and for the privileged, not unlike Gordon Ramsay’s in Chelsea.

However, the atmosphere at lunchtime was nothing of the sort.  Formal yes, the service was as impeccable as you would expect for the two Michelin stars that adorn The Ledbury, but there was a warmth and laid back attitude to the place that was genuinely pleasing.

Brett Graham at The Ledbury

We opted for the three course set lunch menu at £37.50 (recently changed to a four course menu for £45) and the food did not disappoint.

To start I had Ceviche of Hand Dived Scallops with Kabu Turnips, Seaweed Oil and Frozen Horseradish.   The dish came very cold with nicely balanced but subtle flavours. Certainly interesting and not something you eat every day, but lacking the intensity of the milk curd with morels that made up the alternative menu option.   For main I selected the Baked Chinese Water Deer with Juniper and Bone Marrow.  This provoked a deal of conversation around the table.  What is Chinese Water Deer? Do we want to eat it?  Resembling Bambi & Dracula's lovechild, it's a small fanged creature from east Asia. And in the hands of Brett Graham and team you definitely do want to eat it, especially with juniper and bone marrow.  Matched with a fantastic but modestly priced (for this end of town) Montepulciano, we were very happy.

Ceviche of Hand Dived Scallops with Kabu Turnips, Seaweed Oil and Frozen Horseradish

Baked Chinese Water Deer with Juniper and Bone Marrow

Yorkshire Rhubarb Soufflé and Sorbets filled our table for dessert.  The soufflé was immaculately prepared and we've never tasted anything as good yet. Delicious.

 

All in all the lunch improved as the courses went on.  We felt that by opting for the set lunch menu we may have been missing out, but there’s no doubt that what we had was superbly arranged and we definitely got value for money (a not dissimilar experience to our time at the wonderful Martin Wishart’s in Edinburgh).

In stark contrast to the formality and food-centred Ledbury, I should mention a couple of stand-out events I attended this month.

The Cider Box put on a great afternoon in the sun on 15th March at Wigwambam at the Queen of Hoxton. Showcasing the best ciders from the country, they also matched it with some great pork burgers and chops in the teepee.  I particularly enjoyed the champagne-style Keeved cider, sweet and sparkling it was perfect for the first signs of spring.  The dry Wilkins also went down very well.

Dan Heath demonstrated his love for cider and extensive knowledge; coming from the West Country myself it hit a bit of a soft spot.  Keep an eye on their website www.ciderbox.com for future events.

Dan Heath of The Cider Box

Dan Heath of The Cider Box

The Cider Box & Strummerville presents: Republic of Somerset from Stuart York on Vimeo.

The annual Whisky Live event, held this year in the Honorable Artillery Company, Armoury House was its usual success.  For the price of a ticket (£36 half day/£48 full day) you get a dram glass and as many whisky tastings as you can handle.

It was good to see Few Rye and Bourbon (with Todd over from Chicago), Spirit of Hven and Smooth Ambler there, all presented by Michael, Geoff & co. at Maverick Drinks who are responsible for bringing some of the best craft and small batch spirits to the UK.  Stay tuned for a Maverick Drinks related post from Matt's night at Gin Sin soon.  I know Matt is also planning to track down Maverick's NY Distilling and Few in their natural habitat when he hops across the pond later this year.

Outstanding and interesting exhibitors for me included Old Pulteney, whose 17 year old was a fantastic discovery, and That Boutique-y Whisky Company (another Maverick product), with their 'Lost  Distilleries' special - a blend of six whiskies from distilleries that no longer exist including the scarce Islay Port Ellen (Diageo recently released 2,950 bottles of Port Ellen at £1,500 each!).

Compass Box also impressed as usual, passing around a rather special 10th Anniversary Edition of Peat Monster.  We chatted to Chris about their Spice Tree which went through a bit of a battle to be called Scotch - read the full story here.

Artwork for That Boutique-y Whisky Company

It was also great to meet Daniel Szor of the new Cotswolds Distillery which will release its first Single Malt in 2017.   The first limited edition of 5,000 bottles of ‘single estate’ Cotswolds Single Malt Whisky will be available for reservation and pre-sale at the end of March 2014.  In the meantime, Daniel and his wife Katia are creating Cotswold Dry Gin.  They will also produce a range of brandies and liqueurs made from local fruits and berries, as well as Cotswolds cream liqueur and a fortified sherry.

Balblair put a year on their whisky, rather than an age

Berry Bros & Rudd range includes Glenrothes, No.3 Gin & King's Ginger

Surprisingly drinkable 61.5% Poitin from Teeling Whisky Co.

El Dorado sneaking some rum in to a whisky festival

If this sounds like your kind of thing, try The London Whisky Weekender 16th-18th May in Bethnal Green (www.whiskylounge.com) or for smaller events the Whisky Squad are celebrating their fourth birthday this year - they offer small, specialised whisky events across London (www.whiskysquad.com). 

Finally some tips for the month:

Bermondsey Thai restaurant, Suchard, is an independent, affordable and reliable Thai near London Bridge.  I returned there recently and was not disappointed; service is rapid and food delicious.

If you happen to be enjoying the recent good weather in the Greenwich area don't be tempted by the myriad of ice-cream vans lining every tourist street, instead try some of the fantastic gelato from Black Vanilla.  The salted caramel comes highly recommended, and is the perfect fuel for a walk through the park to Blackheath for a freshly brewed craft beer or two at Zerodegrees microbrewery.

Seasonal specials include Chilli & Ginger, Turkey & Cranberry, Mulled Wine & Bourbon Salted Caramel

Coal Vaults - Scoop - The Harp - Maison Bertaux

Monday 26th August - Restaurants are opening left, right and centre at the moment (Chop Shop, Le Coq, Smokehouse, Gin Joint and many more), and Team List managed to grab a table for the first soft opening night at Coal Vaults on Wardour Street.  This restaurant & bar is situated in an underground space that was used for storing coal in the early 19th Century, and focuses on tapas style British food, with matching cocktails.

As it was a soft opening, we had 50% off the food bill, and a free glass of champagne to start us off.  There were a few teething problems - no aircon, lingering paint smell, broken dishwasher - that will no doubt be fixed shortly.  We were very well looked after anyway, and it's all part of the fun of opening night!  The cocktails are designed to match the food, though no pairings are suggested on the menu.  Wine and beer are also in good supply, with bottled beers from the Crate and Camden breweries on offer.  We decided to stick with the champagne and get stuck in to the food.  Our first two courses to arrive were 'Pulled' Rabbit with smoked black beans, sweetcorn and pineapple relish, avocado, sour cream & flatbread and '5 hour' shoulder of lamb cooked in hay & lavender with caper, mint and spiced anchovy couscous.  They set the bar extremely high, especially the rabbit which was beautifully cooked, though I would never have guessed at there being any anchovies present in the delicious couscous.

"Pulled" Rabbit & Lamb cooked in hay - both wonderful

Next up we had Charred courgette, caramelized red pepper, goats curd and hazelnut salad and I Camisa antipasti platter with black olive and fennel bread & home pickles. Two more good choices, though they should perhaps have brought these first? The food menu reminds me of The Shed in Notting Hill (read more here) where the chefs decide on the best order for dishes to be brought out once you have made your decisions.  Everything on the antipasti platter deserved its place - the pickled broad beans were lovely, and we fought over the last piece of bread.  The goats curd was wonderfully light and complimented the other flavours in the salad.

Goat's Curd & Hazelnut Salad & Antipasti Plate with fresh bread

We finished off with a generous portion of Bombay chips with roast tomato, mango & lime chutney, and coriander yoghurt - interesting to serve the chips with dips traditionally associated with popadoms.  The chips were fantastic even on their own, and the roast tomato was a welcome addition.  We decided to skip desserts, though I might need to go back to try their Earl Grey Bread with vanilla butter and homemade strawberry jam as a loaf of the bread was taunting me from a distance.

We turned our thoughts to cocktails, and discussed some ideas with one of our entertaining waitresses.  She brought us over some tasters of Roasted Fennel Seed Vodka and Toasted Macadamia Liqueur to give us some ideas.  After a while we all decided that we were not drinking anything with macadamias in - it turned out to be some concoction of bitters left on the side by the barman!  We eventually decided upon New Rose (Gin, Cucumber, Dry Vermouth, Pink Pepper, served with Pickled Celery & Cucumber), Marano (Mirto Rosso, Gin and Crushed Blueberries, with a matching glass of Prosecco) and a Rodeo Drive (Bourbon, Roasted Macadamia Liqueur, Lemon & Egg White, with a fresh Cherry).  We were sadly quite underwhelmed by our choices, and felt they all lacked a bit of a kick.  Perhaps they come across better when drank alongside particular dishes, but this is not really an achievable plan if you are sharing several plates.  That said, I don't think it would take much to improve them, and the food was outstanding across the board.  Even without 50% off, Coal Vaults offers good value for high quality dining which will only get better as they settle in.  The decor is a little rough around the edges, and varies depending on where you sit.  Your best bet is hiring out one of the secluded vault spaces with a group of friends.  The atmosphere was enjoyable with just the right level of noise to enjoy chatting over dinner and drinks.  

Verdict: Sublime food outweighs our issues with cocktails (Crate IPA would do for me anyway) - give them some time to get air conditioning and then head on down!

Luke & List Leader Natalie were keen to get another List point so we headed back out into Soho to see what we could find. Before too long we found ourselves in Scoop on Brewer Street, ordering a load of ice cream.  It's a lovely little gelateria that also has waffles, crepes, cakes, milkshakes and "scoffee" - a blend of espresso coffee and ice cream of your choice.  They don't have any particularly crazy flavours that you might find at Gelupo or Chin Chin Ice Labs, but making your choice is extremely difficult.  Luckily they are happy to let you taste several varieties before you make your decision.  If you are feeling particularly indecisive, just order one of their mammoth cones that holds up to 6 flavours.  Hopefully they will have some Torroncino left next time, made from hazelnuts from Piedmont and almonds from Montelimar.  They also have shops in Covent Garden and South Kensington, and stay open as late is 23.30 most days.

Sunday 25th - A few quick mentions from the day before as I ended up in Soho with the same team on Sunday as well.  We started the day off at the Real Street Food festival on Southbank (which I have blogged about before - read more here), drinking some excellent craft beers from Craft Beer Rising, the Meantime Fresh Beer Truck and Look Mum No Hands beer popup - truly impressive to have three interesting options for quality beer in such a small space.  We munched our way through several dishes, starting with yummy Dirty Fries  (chips with cheese, lettuce, salt beef and probably more) from The Bell & Brisket van.

The Bell & Brisket Blowtorch

We also tried out Dosa Deli (delicious vegetable dosas), Community Kitchen (meaty wraps), and Kirsty's Kitchen (homemade scotch eggs) whilst soaking up the sun with our beers, before wandering over the river. There was no real plan for the day, so we decided to stop off in the Harp Pub, one of central London's greatest boozers.  It's a tiny little place which can get stupidly busy, but it is worth fighting through the crowds to get to the wonderful array of beers on offer.  It constantly wins awards, and was impressively crowned CAMRA National Pub of the Year in 2010/11.  They serve "award-winning" sausages which apparently run out very quickly.  Try and get a seat at the open windows where you can do some Covent Garden people watching, and chat with drinkers the other side of the wall.

We weren't sure whether to eat or drink anymore and so we rambled around the Seven Dials before heading in to Soho in search of inspiration.  We eventually settled at Maison Bertaux, a cosy patisserie and Soho institution - the perfect place to watch the world go by with a pot of tea and a cake.  We were served by a charming lady (Madame Bertaux?) who pottered around the café making chit chat, and made us feel at home.  Upstairs is not quite as glamorous as the ground floor and pavement seating, but there is interesting art on show all over the place, including stuff by Noel Fielding (The Mighty Boosh), Harry Hill and Sigur Ros, organised by Maison Bertaux co-owner and "Hooligan Art Dealer" Tania Wade.

Points aplenty for Luke and Natalie with more coming this week.  I'm off to celebrate National Burger Day at the Street Feast site in Dalston.  Many restaurants over London are offering 20% off burgers today - head here to get a voucher.  Mummy List has expressed concerns that I eat too many burgers (obviously looking at the pictures rather than reading) - this evening is not going to help my case.