Launceston Place
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I have been eyeing up Launceston Place, a Modern British restaurant, for a little while, ever since Tristan Welch accepted the post of head chef in November 2007. After five months of planning and refurbishment, the restaurant reopened in March 2008. Tristan was previously at the two star Michelin restaurant Pétrus (which has now been renamed Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley) where he worked his way up from the position of junior sous chef to head chef in less than 18 months. With stints at Le Gavroche, and L’Arpège in Paris as well, it’s hard to overlook his culinary pedigree.
The restaurant is tucked away in the backstreets of Kensington, and is housed on land which was once part of the manor of Earl’s Court. The original structure of the restaurant (actually four houses joined together) was built circa 1839 and adds to the building’s sense of history. The façade is undeniably charming, but the interior of dark charcoal coloured walls and floors is austere, and rather harsh for a setting intended to exude old world charm.
Our visit took place a couple of weeks ago, but could you imagine my surprise when Tristan Welch popped up on the BBC2 programme, ‘Great British Menu’ as one of the contestants in the London heats last week?! And to top it off, he presented two dishes in the competition which were similar to what we ate during our dinner. I now feel like Tristan and I could almost be best friends…
I digress. We started our dinner with an amuse bouche of cauliflower soup and truffle crème fraiche. The advice given to us by the waiter was to down it in one go. I tried, but the soup turned out to be scalding hot which left me with a burnt tongue. The soup should not have been served at such a hot temperature. The taste was pleasant but it left a slightly astringent aftertaste, almost as if it was a little sour. Also, there wasn’t a strong discernible taste of truffle coming from the crème fraiche.
From the 3 course dinner menu of £42, our first starter was a drunken quail flambé with hazelnuts which proved to be a dramatic affair. Marinated for 24 hours in cognac, the quail was pan fried à la minute near our table, finished with cognac and then some chicken stock. The quail breast, cooked medium rare, was tender and delicious and was also served with some quail rillette. The rillette had been set for 24 hours with chervil and was meaty and tender, providing a lovely contrast to the dish. Creamy dots of hazelnut puree topped with crunch hazelnut added further depth. A second starter of “royal foie gras” with dark caramel was of a mousse-like texture: creamy and light the foie gras dissolved meltingly on your tongue. The dark caramel topping added a delicate sweet touch to the dish.
To mains and I greeted my ‘whole’ Denham Castle lamb, peas, mint and heirloom tomatoes with great expectations, (which co-incidentally turned out to be similar to the meat dish he presented on the ‘Great British Menu’ programme). As described to me by the waitress, the ‘whole’ lamb refers to the fact that you can pick your choice of cut from the lamb. I went for the best end lamb which was amazingly tender and pink, but which lacked the intensely meaty gamey flavour that I like in lamb. The accompanying side of pureed peas and minted peas was divine - the creaminess of the puree matched the firm crispiness of the peas perfectly, and the added mint tasted like a touch of summer. The heirloom tomatoes were sweet and juicy. However the dish came with no sauce, lamb jus, or the mint sauce he used in the programme. All the individual components of the dish were lovely and none were dry, but the lack of moisture on the plate did not really work for me.
A Tamworth suckling pig was cooked perfectly with ample juicy pieces of tender pork, and a lovely piece of crunchy crackling. It was served with a honey emulsion which added a dazzling touch to the dish. The emulsion was made from honey and olive oil and had the creamy texture of mayonnaise. The pork was bedded over a creamy mixture. When we asked the waitress what this was, we were told it was creamed potatoes. However, on tasting, it revealed itself to be creamed turnips.
Pre-dessert was a rhubarb and custard crumble served in a cone with ginger and orange sauce. This was a true delight, and it was also great fun to eat out of a cone. The rhubarb was not too tart, the custard was creamy and decadent, and when we got to the bottom of the cone, we were hit with a wave of intense orange and ginger flavour which provided a lovely taste sensation. This was the dessert he presented on ‘Great British Menu’, but without the ginger and orange sauce.
Dessert was a rice pudding soufflé with raspberry ripple ice cream. Essentially a soufflé with bits of rice littered through it, the rice gave the soufflé lots of bite and crunch, and the ice cream added a creamy, slightly fruity contrast to the dessert.
There were no petits fours with our coffee which I found disappointing. This is not a reflection on the restaurant (for by the time we finished our pre-dessert I was already full), just an expression of my personal love of sweet things. In the end I managed to make away with a little box of chocolates on departure. But make sure you ask for this as initially the restaurant forgot to give us one.
Overall, the food was excellent and the execution was technically sound. I did have a few minor quibbles for I wasn’t blown away by the too-hot cauliflower soup, and I thought the lamb lacked a binding component, eg, lamb jus (or mint sauce). But that said, there were also some outstanding, intense flavoursome moments, top of the list being the quail, the peas in the lamb dish, and the carrot and ginger sauce in the pre-dessert. The pork dish was really lovely too. At £42, it was a fair price for the quality of cooking and the fresh produce that had been presented to us. Our service was also charming and delightful, with one French waiter being particularly attentive to us. C’est la vie, perhaps it was because we were two girls…
Launceston Place also offers what I think might be one of the best priced lunch menus in London for this calibre of cooking (£18 for three courses). Sunday lunch is £24 for three courses, and if you get in between 6 and 6.30, there is an early bird special limited range three course dinner menu for £30. Not bad for this part of Kensington.
If you’ve been following ‘The Great British Menu’, then you know Tristan Welch won the London heat and so is also appearing this week in the finals. The episodes are available for viewing for seven days after they air. To go to iPlayer, click here.
Price – 3 course dinner menu for £42. Excludes drinks and service.
If there are two words we currently hate – together that is, we quite like them individually – it has to be ‘credit crunch’. Keep going onlauceston about it and you talk yourself into a recession and yep, that’s what we appear to be doing.
The rule of thumb is, of course, that eating out is one of the first pleasures to suffer when recessions bite and, quite frankly, that’s a load of… well, you know the expression, so we don’t need to print it in a family newsletter. We’ll argue the concept of value til we’re blue in the face and, where possible, we’ll back it up with some food-related facts. Take, for example, Launceston Place. This old neighbourhood favourite satisfied generations of South Ken’s well-heeled and, while we don’t mind a throw back to the ‘golden days’, the old décor – think Edwardian Pullman with a stickier, redder carpet – was looking rather grim.
So now, this stalwart has new owners, has had several licks of paint – greys and aubergines and other similar classy shades – and had a young man named Tristan Welch installed to head up the kitchen. Don’t know the name? You should (and, one suspects, you will). Until December 2007, Tristan was head chef at Petrus. That should: a) get you salivating; and b) make you wonder why we’re talking about Launceston Place in terms of value. Relax. We’re getting to it.
And so the food. After some home made crisps and a stunning amuse (tomato consomme, cucumber foam), I started with spider crab risotto. This arrived covered with a novel and natural plate cover: the spider crab shell. This was removed with a flourish to reveal a beautiful dusky pink, gently yielding risotto of great depth, the occasional bite of garlic tempered with a rich crab hint. On the other side of the table, pork rilette and pickled onions received similar murmurs of pleasure.
The buoyant mood continued with salt-baked chicken and a slow cooked shoulder of lamb. The lamb – soft to the point of melting – was intensely flavoured. The chicken – an entire poussin – came presented on a small chopping board. With buttery flesh and crisp skin, this was textbook stuff.
A little pre-dessert – artfully presented in egg shells – came next, swiftly followed by fresh raspberries, shortbread, with chocolate sorbet. The raspberries were soft, sweet and bursting with ripeness, the shortbread was just the right texture – hard enough to provide bite (and that counterbalance of salty sweetened) and soft enough to be cut with a spoon.
In short, it was one of the classiest, most enjoyable afternoons I’ve spent for some time. So why are we discussing it here? Because the above meal – including the amuses, the theatrical flourishes, the poised setting and the three courses (not to mention some excellent petit fours) – costs… £18 per head. No. Really.
If anyone can suggest a better place to currently spend £18 at lunchtime, I want to know about it. Launceston Place is a restaurant that’s going places, while the £18 lunch redefines the word ‘value’. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the capital’s new benchmark for fine, incredibly priced dining.
Food: 4/5
Venue: 4/5
Value: 3.5/5
Check out my site at lovefoodlovedrink.com
Despite living and working in the easterly bits of central London, I visited two restaurants in Kensington over the last seven days: Kitchen W8 and Launceston Place. I thought the former was pleasant and worth visiting when already in the area, but in contrast, the latter is a worthy cross-town destination. If there’s justice in the world, Launceston Place should be awarded Michelin star in the next year. In addition to talent in the kitchen, it’s got great style and spirit. [An aside for fellow food nerds: be sure to read this fascinating interview with a Michelin Guide inspector .]
hot-cold leek soup amuse at Launceston Place
A few preliminaries. My friends and I made our Saturday booking about two months ago, not because the restaurant was that unattainable, but because we had such conflicting schedules. Then, I read on Gourmet Chick that Launceston Place’s sous chef, Steve Groves, had just won a TV cooking competition, and more importantly, Gourmet Chick had had a fabulous time despite a bizarre service hiccup at the start. All of this meant that by the time we were seated in one “wing” of the restaurant’s butterfly-shaped dining room, I had pretty high expectations.
Presumably because it was late (i.e, past 9 pm), we weren’t offered the tasting menu (£55), but with a party of four, we were still able to construct our own tasting menu by each ordering different dishes from the three-course (£45) menu. Once we added in all the amuses (like the wonderful hot-cold leek soup in graduated shades of green – just like a leek), we felt like we’d eaten the tasting menu anyway.
roasted scallops with aromatic herbs
Starters were a strong point of the evening. Jon’s roasted scallops were huge, juicy and sweet. Perfect. (However, being competitive, I’m mildly miffed that Gourmet Chick was served three of these, whereas Jon received two. Was the kitchen running low on scallops that night?)
potted foie gras, quince puree and dandelion greens
My starter of potted foie gras consisted of a generous portion of the most velvety foie gras pate, ever. The quince puree added a touch of sweet lightness, and I didn’t even mind the dark slate serving slab (it’s so 1990s, no?).
celery sorbet-julienned apple amuse with walnut cream and walnuts
A celery-sorbet palate cleanser performed its function, but the celery was flavorless (as you’d expect from a veg that’s 99% water), and the walnut cream could’ve been sweeter so that it was more than just an icy refresher.
Tamworth suckling pig, radishes and honey emulsion
As a main, I chose the suckling pig, whose bit of crackling-topped belly was superb, but amazingly, even better than the slice of belly were the tender loin medallions encased in unctuous, flavor-soaking pig fat. There were accompanying bits and bobs for color and crunch, but the piggy stole the show for me.
wild hare, nutmeg cream potatoes and spiced pears
Jon’s wild hare was cooked to a melt-in-your-mouth state. Despite the generous portion size, Jon practically licked his plate clean. However, while I appreciated the gamey meat’s tenderness, it was almost too mushy for me. I felt like I ought to be spreading the meat on toast.
spinach and homemade ricotta ravioli with sage butter and artichokes
Our friend J chose the vegetarian option of a spinach and ricotta ravioli. While it looked gorgeous, and while J loved her dish, from the bite I had, I thought the kitchen could’ve used a lighter hand with the herbs. My mouthful tasted overwhelmingly of parsley and dill. And I’d expected mountains of ricotta in these things, which was not the case.
lemon sorbet and raspberry coulis with a pepper tuile
There was a pre-dessert demonstrating more playfulness with temperatures and textures. I loved the way the peppery tuile shattered and added crunchy sweetness to the smooth, creamy cold-sorbet-warm-coulis combo. When even the amuses are a creative treat, you can’t help feeling that someone in the kitchen is paying attention to all the details.
dark chocolate, iced milk and crumble
Desserts were generally tasty but pedestrian, and I agree with Gourmet Chick’s assessment that they weren’t as special as the other courses. The “dark chocolate” dessert, for example, was exactly as advertised on the tin: rich, creamy chocolate – like a thick mousse.
toffee apple parfait
Visually, my apple parfait was appealing: a golden apple with echoes of childhood candy-like toffee apples. But the apple was enormous, and inside, it was just a creamy, heavy apple-walnut parfait, which got old really fast. Instead of finishing my giant ball of (effectively) ice cream, I ended up “helping” Jon devour his delicious selection of cheese.
Overall, the decor, food and service were excellent at Launceston Place. If I had to nitpick (of course I do), I’d complain that (1) we had to ask three times for our tap water glasses to be refilled; and (2) while the food is tremendous value at these prices, the “extras” add up incredibly fast. A glass of champagne here (£14 for non-vintage yeasty Roederer); a madeira there (£11 a glass); a couple bottles of wine; a cheese course supplement (£6-£10) . . . when our bill arrived, we were stunned for a moment. What happened to that £45 pp price tag? But of course, all the charges made sense and we quickly moved past our surprise and paid up. After all, the important thing is that all of us had enjoyed our food and our evening, and we can’t wait to go back.
Competing on behalf of the South East was Tristan Welch, who although impressing the judges with two of his dishes (An asparagus and egg starter, and a Mr. Whippy style ice cream dessert) failed to get anything on the banquet menu. But the British Army's loss is Kensington's gain, and I'm sure Tristan returned to his restaurant Launceston Place with his head held high. Sure enough, he was there to greet diners as they arrived to this spectacularly pretty part of London last night, and I'm sure his presence in the kitchen contributed to the very accomplished dinner I had.
After a glass of superb house champagne (didn't quite catch the exact bottle but it was a Roederer) in the bar, accompanied by homemade chilli crisps fashioned into a bracelet and tied together with black ribbon (very smart), we were shown to our table. As with any good restaurant, there's nothing I wouldn't have eaten across any of the a la carte or set menus, but as I was in the mood for celebrating I went off-piste and ordered from the slightly more expensive a la carte rather than the £35 Toptable menu. First to arrive however was an amuse of warm cauliflower soup topped with truffle and crème fraîche.
This was delicious. The crème fraîche floated over the warm soup so that when, as advised by the waiter, you sipped from the glass, the truffle aroma filled your nostrils as the cauliflower slipped down your throat with soothing intensity. Everything you'd want from an amuse, and although cauliflower soup as an amuse is hardly an earth-shattering revelation (see The Square, Andaman, Foliage, etc.), when it's done as well as this you can't really complain.
My starter was "Drunken quail flambé with hazelnut". The brandy-poached quail fillets were brought out to be shown to me before they returned to the kitchen for cooking. This was unnecessary and actually quite off-putting, as they were rather unattractive in this state - grey and swollen like pickled lambs tongues. When they returned, post-flambé and dressed, they looked better, but they really could have benefited from a nice crispy skin instead of the wobbly grey membrane lurking beneath the jus. They were also quite bitter, possibly from some of the brandy not being burned off. The hazelnut foams and chunks were very tasty but it didn't really add up to a satisfying whole. A bit of a misfire this one, although I can see what they are trying to do.
Better - in fact, significantly better - was my friend's ironic "Egg and cress sandwich", a near copy of the version Tristan did for GBM, which was as visually stunning as it was fresh and tasty. Lovely powerful asparagus, fresh and light mayonnaise and slow-cooked egg yolks, threaded with salty cured ham. Top stuff.
My main course consisted of rose veal, sweetbreads, nettles(!) and pickled mushrooms. Again, clearly taking more than a nod from similar dishes I've eaten at The Square, it was none the worse for it, using gorgeous silky veal and nice enough sweetbreads flavoured I think with some sort of Indian spice - perhaps garam masala? The nettles were, perhaps fortunately, barely in evidence but the plate was shot through with delicate slices of melba toast. This was an exciting and robustly flavoured plate of food and I enjoyed it a great deal.
The other main course was less successful. Tamworth suckling pig would have been more acceptable if they had simply chosen leaner cuts of meat. There was so much gloopy fat rolled inside these medallions of pork that eating them was a struggle, and with the fat removed there was very little left. The boiled radishes were lovely and scented and subtle, but really couldn't save it.
Pre-dessert, and another slightly modified Great British Menu entry. Tristan has apparently kept the same instant ice-cream machine he used on the show and is still making the lovely Rhubarb and Crumble Mr. Whippy style ice creams, although these were served in plastic cones rather than the proper waffle cones. Still, they were very nice and came with a fruit liqueur to be sucked up using the straw. Oh and a great big lump of carved driftwood - always a treat.
My dessert proper was a very light rhubarb cheesecake and a decent blob of fresh clotted cream (I think). Nice enough on its own but the highlight was an extraordinarily concentrated swoosh of strawberry jammy purée thing, scattered with toffee. My friend's dessert was even better - an impossibly light rice pudding soufflé, served with a perfect little jar of raspberry ice cream. Delicious.
The cheese course (£8 supplement) was commendably 100% British Isles (that includes Ireland apparently). I tried a small selection of new cheeses, including a lovely soft pungent variety called Milleens from South West Ireland, and a gorgeous spongy sheep's milk cheese from East Sussex. It was no surprise to learn that both of these were unpasturised, and I shall keep my eyes open for them.
So yes, there were mistakes and misfires but it is somehow these little slips that make the whole experience at Launceston Place all the more charming. A kitchen innovating and creating to such a high degree as here are bound to mess up occasionally, and how much better to be unpredictable and occasionally brilliant than reliably middle-of-the-road. Behind the rollercoaster of a ride that is having a meal at Launceston Place is a kitchen, and a head chef, cooking with intelligence and unbridled enthusiasm.
SW Seven
South kensington is home to some landmarks such as the Royal Albert Hall, the natural history museum and is in fact, just off the side of hyde park where you can catch a glimpse of the Prince Albert statue in all its golden glory. Its suburbia and very residential. Did I mention that it’s also terribly expensive to live in this particular part of town?
So what is the point of me telling you this? Well, its history. Launceston Place has history. It’s been serving the residents for many a moon, but recently ( as recent as 8 months ago I believe ) , the old management ran out of steam and sold the place on.
Today, at the helm is Chef Tristan Welch, formerly of Petrus, of Marcus Waering fame and yes, formerly of the Ramsay empire. Excellent pedigree, so expectation naturally, is high.
Enter the Great British restaurant
I’ve walked past this place many times on my way to Wholefoods on High Street kensington and have always been rather intrigued by their sunday roast menu. Then one day, it shut down for refurbishments and when it eventually re-opened, it just looked as if Mark Ronson did a remix version. I.e. it looks cooler now.
Black woods and pristine, pressed white table cloths. The restaurant is very smart and very clean, almost too clean to the point where I felt I like I had to put on a jacket just to eat there. They have comfortable long sofas for the tables by the window. Very nice for the lady to just sink into, I suppose.
This reminds me of the time I was told that is table manners for the man to sit facing the wall (or window in this case) such that you give the lady your absolute, undivided attention. What say you ladies?
Intense, I do digress.
What’s for lunch?
Today I popped into for a spot of lunch. The weather is just all over the place these days. One day its sunny, the next is raining. If only it were sunny all year round, London would be such a beautiful town. Then again, it’d be nicknamed something like the big glare instead of the big smoke, which is a cooler name.
I do digress, yet again.
Their £18 three-course lunch menu caught my eye, have a look on their website here. I noticed that it’s pretty seasonal. On their website, starters include a duck rillette & spider crab risotto and they’ve got cornish lamb with globe artichokes for mains; on the occasion I went, the duck & the lamb were replaced with scallops & roast plaice respectively.
For £18, all the ingredients are of quite high standards. Ok so, I’m only expecting three courses, right?
Well, not quite :D, yes its good, smiley face. While I studied the menu, they brought over these rather interesting razor thin crisps with a rather lovely and smooth garlic cream cheese dip.
Cool, so what’s for lunch?
Pre-starters
Oh, hang on this doesnt look like my spider crab risotto starter. Not yet, while I wait (for my trouble) , they bring over a hearty celeraic soup with toasted almonds.
(Freebie!)
A mightily tasty one to boot as well. It is, what I can only describe as a savoury espresso. It’s quite thick and creamy, it’s a very straightforward soup and a good way to start, even though technically, I’ve not started as yet.
At this point I must point out the elaborate service as well. The sommelier is professionally warm, once he took my order, two waitresses started shuffling in the background and one of them started by placing my cutlery and then proceeded to perform a well-choreographed dance by placing the crisps, then stealthily inserting the butter and the garlic cheese before another finally brings the bread basket for a choice of soda brown or white.
Yeah it was pretty fun.
Spider crab risotto
Before I had a chance to take a picture, the rice was actually covered in a cooked spider crab shell, which looked really interesting. And then, ‘Waala’, oh that smell! The immediate fragrance of the crab fills the table and was just lovely. Garlic, olive oil and crab infused, the smell had me salivating even before I lifted my fork.
A mouthful. Rich, creamy and steamy. The sauce was definitely made with the broth from boiling the shell of the crab. The seafood juices are fully developed and very dominant, it’s given way to a buttery, creamy and just very rich palate of savouriness.
The rice, I will note, is a little different from conventional risotto. It’s not soft and creamy, rather it’s quite chewy and the individual pieces of rice don’t stick together. Small matter, because it gives it an interesting texture which I’m not really used to. It’s a good twist that works, oh I have to mention that sauce again. I think I’m getting some saffron as well, but really it’s just so rich, almost alittle too rich as I come to finishing the dish, but very good indeed. A heavy starter albeit but a very appetising one.
Beef Anglais
The mains is a beef casserole with sweet carrots, crispy bacon, radishes and a parsnip puree. The sauce is very light and just barely coats the ingredients. I started with the carrots, which are gently sweet. The radishes give the dish a crunchy and fresh edge to the bite, while that parsnip mash is just umami-rich and gives it alot of savoury goodness. The vegetables, in addition to the bacon combine to produce a perfumery fragrance to the dish. Very colourful both visually and tastefully.
Oh, the beef is so tender and just falls apart upon cutting. It’s definitely slow-cooked (for a very long time) and it’s given way to a very soft texture indeed. The taste of the beef is very mellow and it feels like the beef is there to provide a backbone to the flavour profile while the rest of the ingredients blend to give the overall taste. This dish is restrained and controlled, mellow and soft almost in total contrast to the rich and big starter. It works, I feel like I had two well-balanced courses. Nothing seems over the top, all the flavours are mild and very straightforward. The chef has a very clear idea of what he wants you to taste and I think that singular focus actually works very well. It’s just straightforward good cooking.
Applause.
Pre-dessert
Wow. They caught me by surprise once again! Another freebie-goodie? This time, for my trouble of waiting for the dessert, they are offering a baked vanilla cream custard with hazelnut nougat. Notice it’s served in a egg shell which is a nice touch, albeit a little gimmicky.
The vanilla custard was very smooth, delicate and mildly sweet. The hazelnut nougat was really a treat. It was nutty, crumbly and tasted of honey. This is almost a twist on the creme brulee. The fact that it was free, just made it taste all the more better.
Will the real dessert please stand up?
So I thought the pre-dessert was good, but this was a real stunner. Officially, its called the cornish cream tea pudding. What it really consists of is a good dollop of cream tea ice cream, the off-cream coloured one in the foreground. Behind it sits the dollop of clotted cream. If you’ve never had clotted cream, its a really thick and luxurious cream that has the texture of a really rich ice cream, like haagen daz, but at room temperature. Its not sweet, but the taste of the cream is very rich. People from devon will say clotted cream is from Devon, and Cornwallians will claim that clotted cream is really, cornish cream.
Either way, it tastes great. The red sauce is raspberry jam that is full of bubbles and very fruitilly bright. I perked up tasting this. I particularly like the cream tea ice cream. At first, it tasted like an infused vanilla ice cream, fragrant but couldn’t quite place that fragrance… and then I thought ah! its tea, hence the nice steamy aftertaste. Finally, the tea cakes allow you to mop up all the nice creamy concoctions. This was such a wonderful way to end the meal.
Thoughts as raindrops fall on my head
I also managed to order a glass of English white, the Bacchus. It was crisp and limey with a sweet peachy finish. A ode to the summer which we never had.
Well I started the meal expecting just three solidly cooked dishes which are British and understated. Instead, what I got was a semi-five course of innovatively constructed dishes, with well-balanced ingredients that hang well together and spot-on cooking which feature superbly delicate tastes. All this for £18. The rain may have dampened my spirits a little, but the food has coloured my mood. If this is what he can offer at £18, I really wonder how great the £42 three course dinner will taste like. But, that is for another day and another meal.
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