Probably one restaurant that doesn’t have a Michelin star but deserves is Launceston Place near High St Kensington. I fell in love with Launceston Place just under two years ago when I tasted the “Roast middle white pork risotto, crackling with apple sauce” served at the Taste of London festival. Its been on my to eat at list ever since. Finally today I can officially tick it off my to do list and I can say that I was pretty impressed though I felt the service was just a little bit off.

Today my lunch date was Jo. She arrived a few minutes before me and impressively the restaurant gave her a paper to read whilst she waited. Nice touch. On the table was also some chilli crisps (parsni possibly though Jo wasn’t sure what they and they were put on the table before I got there) tied up in Launceston Place logo bearing ribbons.

Our amuse bouch was a cauliflower soup and truffle mousse which we were told to drink like champagne. Normally when I dine my dining partner and I will get to the amuse bouche straight away but Jo was still going on her bread and crisps so she left it sitting there for a bit. Strangely one of waiters came along and started to either take it away or insisting that we needed to put it to the side. We couldn’t understand why because its not like they were bringing our food just yet. I think he confused our table with another as our food came about 10 minutes later – plenty of time for Jo to finish her food.

We were on a set menu deal of 3 courses for £20 which was pretty good value (though they do suggest you supplement your main meal with a £5 vege side …) We had a pretty decent choice of starters and mains (three each) and though desserts had three options too – but one needed both diners to select it (apple tart and home made clotted cream) and one was a £10 supplement (cheese).

My starter of Beef, Beetroot and Wild Garlic Risotto looked like this:

I know right? What the heck threw up on my plate! Very nice flavours by you didn’t really want to look at the plate too long otherwise you’d throw up from the plating. Sorry Launceston Place but what were you thinking! No doubt, however, its one of the most colourful dishes I’ve had in recent times. I’m not too sure where the risotto was but I liked the beef.

Jo had the Mushroom and Wild Herb Cappuccino as she was intrigued by the concept of a cappuccino which wasn’t coffee.

Cute dish but does it look familiar? Yes, very much like our amuse bouche. Its always a danger to go for a starter which is described as “Cappuccino” because you know that there is a very good chance that its going to be very similar to the amuse bouche, even though the flavours are not exactly the same!

The main was my very favourite part of today’s event. The Gloucester Old Spot Pork, Parnsips and Parsley was perfectly cooked. Great crackling and though the pork was extremely fatty (nearly an inch of fat!) the whole pork was very tender and juicy and tasty. On the other hand was not a fan of the side: a potato cake with bacon, appeared to have been deep fried and the bacon/ham had that distinctly stinky pork flavour that I don’t like.

I got a bit excited by our pre-dessert and ate it before I took a photo! It was a creamy orange and dark chocolate mousse. Actually it looked a bit like our amuse bouche. How odd!

Dessert, Banana sticky toffee pudding, Guinness ice cream, was delicious. Jo, however, was not a fan of the Guinness ice cream.

I felt that Launceston was a little up and down today from the food (weird and odd presentation on my starter but a most amazing roast belly pork dish that I could have eaten over and over again) to the service (like that waiter trying to rush Jo to finish her amuse bouche for no good reason but then the added touch of giving Jo a newspaper to occupy her whilst she waited for me). Overall, however, I would be happy to come here again. Pretty decent value for money.