Launceston Place

Slight note of caution – on a good day you will have a fantastic dinner at this lovely restaurant tucked away in Kensington. On a bad day service and kitchen can be overwhelmed and you'll have to wait. However, food quality is outstanding and atmosphere great. Also great for a romantic evening out

Had a very pleasant evening with a client. Discreet, elegant, but still with some vitality. Like the skylight ceiling, too

Our visit to Launceston Place in March 2012 was a memorable one. The food was excellent and the service was unobtrusive but attentive.

The decor is really classy but not over the top meaning we felt really comfotable from the start.

Unfortunately the taster menu was not available nor was the pigeon (or there would have been more 10's) but the fried hen's egg and the scallops were lovely, the beef cut like butter and lemon sole with shrimps was the best we have tasted.

It is pricey but worth it (just!)

We will return.

I want to be calamitous about a review every now and then because I think – in my fusspot way – that nothing is ever perfect or altogether up to scratch. Restaurants, like human beings, are meant to fail and disappoint occasionally, then pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and progress forward with a lesson learnt. It’s a struggle however to fail Launceston Place, as when I visited it delivered sublime results and ticked boxes across the board.

The corridor coils around the restaurant and seats diners at white-linen tables with plush, dark grey leather upholstery. There are moody pictures on the walls of winter landscapes and the room buzzes with murmurings from wealthy Chelsea folk and silver-haired executives contemplating the extensive wine list.

The service was impeccable and always on hand with water refills and bread: sourdough or wholemeal? I had an interesting conversation with our Sommelier, who indulged me in my attempt to fool him with my knowledge of New World wines, as I sipped on my fourth glass of Albarino (£37 bottle).

We ordered the set-lunch menu at £20 as there didn’t seem to be much difference between this and the £60 tasting menu. It was agreed that neither of us were in the mood, or had the luxury of time, to spread ourselves across six enduring courses of petite samplings. Both menus consisted of enticing descriptions: ‘Hand dived west coast scallops, wild sorrel and apple; Tamworth suckling pig, radishes and honey emulsion; free range chicken breast, smoked egg, wild girolles; partridge cooked in whisky and heather, oats.’

Poncy parsnip crisps were on every table, sprinkled with paprika. They’re one of those unique staples from a restaurant that you can only ever really experience in a specific setting, and stand them apart from other establishment gimmicks. Maybe they’re a subtle plea to the Michelin imprimatur so they can swiftly raise the prices to more typically Kensingtonian levels.

We were treated to a complimentary appetizer of a little amuse-bouche of carrot velouté with cauliflower foam. It was warm and strong tasting and went down lovely. Next was the potted foie gras and Maldon sea salt which was wonderful in presentation and delivery. Reports on the spider crab risotto with lashings of garlic butter – which arrived warm and soft in its shell – were glowing.

We both chose the very British braised wild hare, pistachio butter, chicory and pear salad, which was so humble in presentation in a small, white serving dish, and tasted so fresh and rich that it was worth taking a moment’s reflection for that fluffy little hare. Our main course wine was a 2006 Barbera D’Alba, Fides, Pio Cesare at £85 a bottle, and was firm, moderately intense and made for a hazy lunchtime thrill.

Tristan Welch, who has switched the menu from the haughty French style to a more warming British approach, is surely on the path to more glittering plaudits. It’s also worth noting that the junior sous chef, Steve Groves, won Masterchef: The Professionals 2009. Michel Roux Jnr said that ‘Steve showed not only great knowledge of classical cooking but also proved that he could master modern techniques.’

The wine list is interminable (expensive too if you don’t pick scrupulously). This place prides itself on its wine just as much as the food. There’s even a 1993 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti for £3,300. Three-thousand and three-hundred pounds! That’s a secondhand BMW, a two-week Mediterranean cruise, eight hundred bottles of Blue Nun!

I had banana sticky toffee pudding with Guinness ice cream for dessert. As these places do, the pudding itself was small and delicate looking with artistic swishes and swirls across the plate. The Guinness ice cream was delicious. From the cheese trolley we picked a mature Cheddar, Stilton and a ripe Stinking Bishop, all served with toast or biscuits.

It’s all very South Ken and was apparently Princess Diana’s local and favourite. It’s not my local, by some mileage, but is defiantly now one of my favourites.

Allthough Mr Walsh was not in the kichen during my visit, his deputised head chef and team
oversaw a wonderfull service on the day The homebaked bread with the herb butter was utterly
delicious, as far as I could see most of the dinners were eating from the set lunch menu which
is incredibly good value considering the quality of the food The onglet of rose veal was drop dead
meltingly gorgeous and I know from comments of other diners I was not the only person to think so,
the sommellier was very attentive and steered me to a perfect wine for the food, even if it was a litlle above my usual budget it had good age weight and depth.
over all a lovely experience with very good service

went to lunch here with 2 friends – its better atmosphere at dinner however lunch was good. The 3 course set lunch is good value, the starters were average , beetroot risotto was in fact not risotto just thinly sliced/chopped beetroot – and the duck egg was not quite right, not cooked. The mains were good and the service was quick and efficient if a little impersonal. Wine list was wide spread and inclusive – desserts were nice (toffee pudding – was good) – 2 bottles of wine and the 3 courses came in at £260 with tip which wasn't bad – would recommend – but if you want a little more variation go for the a la carte menu and maybe save that for dinner!

The awkward shape of the dining floor makes it hit-and-miss between a good table and an awful table. Service lacks the attention to detail that you would expect for the price bracket. Chef seems to try a little too hard to be creative leaving the end result lacking in balance in some dishes. Wine struck me as over priced. Whilst being a pleasant evening if it is your local haunt, I would prefer more consitancy in table qualtity and service before I would be happy to make an effort to eat here.

Launceston Place has been on my list of restaurants to visit for ages, so when my parents visited from New Zealand I thought this would be the perfect time. They are not used to fine dining but they were made to feel completely at ease the second they walked through the door.

The restaurant has such an elegant feel and perfect for a long lunch. The staff were immediately friendly and curteous. Whilst my parents went for £20 lunch menu (amazing value) I opted for the dinner menu as scallops are my absolute favourite. But before I get to the started, let me say how beautiful the canapes of Devilled Potato Crisps tied with a Launceston Place bow were, and perfect to nibble on whilst discussing the menu, such a huge amount of choice to discuss. Then after ordering, and asking the waitor for his opinion, and he knew the tastes of every dish, we were given an amuse bouche. A lovely little surprise, so full of flavour and gets the taste buds prepared.

My starter was scallops – two of the biggest scallops i have ever seen, perfectly cooked and wonderfully seasoned. My dad opted for Duck egg on toast with Somerset truffle. The egg was just soft enough and the truffle sauce and shavings were so delicious and well match. My mum went for the Isle of Wight cappuccino which is the most inventive soup with a lovely beautiful rich tomato flavour and a herb foam on top.

For main course, again all absolutely perfect and such a lovely speed of service. whilst the restaurant was busy, not once did we feel rushed or that we had been forgotten. We all opted for different dishes again. I went for Denham Castle lamb, my parents went for Cornish mackerel and Duck leg confit. All great sized portions for a lunch and the flavours were extradorinary.

Then another little treat followed after we had ordered our dessert (again i went from the dinner menu – well worth it). A pre-dessert of Pimms and Lemonade Granita, wonderfully British summer.
my parents shared the apple tart with home-made clotted cream. A whole tart to share, served at the table sliced by the waitor. It was all too much for them but the waitors were more than happy to box it up for us to enjoy at home. My dessert, i opted for the Chefs Signature of rice pudding souffle with home made raspberry rippled ice-cream. The waitor helped me by popping the souffle and adding the ice-cream. It was gorgeous, the wonderful end to the meal. Which i thought was over, however, with our coffee they brought over French madelenes with vanilla cream.

I will definitely be returning to Launceston Place, the lunch menu is such wonderful value that i'm sure it won't be too long until i revisit. Although i will make sure i go again in an evening for a special occasion to have the tasting menu with wine pairings – we did not get to have enough input from the Sommelier – although the help that he did give us regarding champagne on arrival (a must) a to pair a glass of wine for the main, was spot on.

Highly recommend.

I visited Launceston Place today for lunch with a close friend, and sadly neither of us came away impressed.

The bread was bland and did not taste particularly fresh, the double cooked crisps served to start with needed a dip of some kind to compliment them, the amuse bouche was essentially frozen yogurt that was sadly uninspired in either taste or concept, the flavour of the truffles added to the duck egg on toast completely overpowered the rest of the dish, the main course of duck confit was swimming in grease and oil; as were the side vegetables, the dark chocolate and raspberry mousse was served warm and the mini raspberry cakes and cream with vanilla served at the end were noticeably lacking in the taste of either raspberry or vanilla.

Lastly many of the serving staff had a permanent smirk on their faces that rather gave the impression that they viewed the diners with total contempt, and our waiter seemed strangely ignorant about the items on the menu; which rather suggests that those who work in the restaurant have never been given the opportunity to try the food that they serve to their customers.

As someone with a keen interest in gastronomy who lives in London primarily to take advantage of its excellent dining opportunities, I do expect every so often to come across a single course that sadly lets down the rest of the meal. However never before have I encountered a supposedly fine dining restaurant that manages to get absolutely everything wrong at once! Indeed, when one of the staff asked afterwards what I thought of the meal, the most diplomatic comment that I could come up with was that it had been a “remarkable” experience.

In conclusion, I could not in honesty and good conscience recommend the dining experience at Launceston Place to even my worst enemy.

Visiting the chic and elegant Launceston Place is a culinary treat from ex-Petrus chef, Tristan Welch, whose menu presents haute cuisine with a British twist. Both the chef and the restaurant are increasingly rising to prominence in London, therefore expect highly accomplished refined British food. Launceston Place is well located for dinner after the concert at Royal Albert Hall.