For a special treat Sandra, we’ve known each other five years now!, we decided to check out The Ledbury, a 2-michelin starred restaurant in Notting Hill.

The Ledbury couldn’t come from a better pedigree with stable-mates including Chez Bruce, La Trompette and The Square. As an added plus there’s an Aussie at the helm in the kitchen, Brett Graham!

The first sign that our meal tonight was going to be special was the fact that The Ledbury provided us ladies with a table hook for our handbags and (excuse me gentlemen) provided us with some womanly products in the toilets. Now I know, what’s all this got to do with the price of fish – well I think it’s a sign that someone was clearly thinking of the little details in putting this restaurant together. Oh, wait, and get this – to purify the tap water they serve The Ledbury uses charcoal! How green! I most definitely approve!

But on to the main event… here is a round-up of our food.

As we were perusing the menu we had a potato crisp upon which was a line of smoked cod roe. Interesting. This was followed by a selection of bread including a bacon and onion brioche, white sour-dough and malt bread. I skipped the sour-dough but tried both the brioche and malt bread. Warm and delish.

Next was our amuse bouche which started with a marinated salmon and frozen horseradish sitting in a bowl which was then covered by a chilled courgette soup with parmesan cream and seaweed oil. So much going on, so much detail! This was the theme of the night – really intense flavours with incredible focus on the detail.

I’m not really one for chilled soups but this one was lovely and refreshing.

If I said to you our first course for the evening was a tomato and goat curd dish it would sound pretty boring right? Well, this is what the Heritage Tomatoes with Green Tomato Juice, Goat’s Curd and Herbs looked like:

Wow. If I do say so myself one of my favourite dishes of the night.

Next up was the Flame Grilled Mackerel with Cucumber, Celtic Mustard and Shiso. An interesting way to showcase the cucumber is all I can say.

The Saute of Chicken Wings with Milk Skin, Girolles and White Asparagus which was our next course sure sounded interesting on the menu. The plate looked like a total mess but the dish was cooked pretty spot on with the chicken being extremely tender and juicy with the texture being provided by the crunch of the skin and the asparagus and a gorgeous nearly fruity flavour of the girolles.

Back to fish for our next dish with the Roast Turbot with Truffle Puree, Cauliflower, Parmesan Gnocchi and Sea Vegetables. How much do I love truffle! The puree really complimented the meatiness of the turbot. I’m also loving how the cauliflower is being seen more often on our plates.

My other favourite dish of the night was the Crisp Pressed Suckling Pig with a Croustillant of Grilled Celeriac and Walnuts which was next. Okay – if I’m honest, anything with suckling pig in it is always going to be a favourite of mine. But I loved how this dish was presented. The only negative – that there wasn’t more of the stuff! Ha!

However, it was probably a good thing there wasn’t more because by this time Sandra and I were getting pretty full which I think is an indication that the portion sizes were just about right. We still had dessert to go!

A pre-dessert first of an olive oil pannacotta (who would have thought this would work!), peach jelly and peach sorbet.

Before moving on to the main event – the Creme Caramel with Apricot and Jasmine Ice Cream. Yummo! As delicious as it looks lovely!

Even though we were well stuffed at this stage we couldn’t resist ordering some tea which, as in all good restaurants, was accompanied by some petit fours. In this case we could choose from a selection including Raspberry Jelly, Marshmallow, Macaroon, Eucalyptus Ganache, Almond and White Chocolate.

Service was excellent and friendly but not too much in your face. Staff were happy to chat, for example, when I went to the lav the waiter came over to keep Sandra company, so we felt at home. The restaurant has quite a relaxed atmosphere so it doesn’t feel overly pretentious. Price-wise I felt it was decent value for money (£75 for the tasting menu before the 12.5% service) for how full we felt and the quality of the food we got – though at that price its probably a good restaurant for a special occasion.

Last Words? The Ledbury earned its second Michelin star at the beginning of this year and I think its very well deserved.