Launceston Place

Took a client who was terribly delayed. Had to phone twice to explain and finally pitched up well over an hour late. Was half expecting to get the cold shoulder from maitre d and staff but they were brilliant and really looked after us - including rustling up an odd "off menu" desert request from our client!

Food was fantastically tasty, including the mid-meal teasers - arguably more edible art than dinner! Precise menu that prevents too much dithering (I can recommend the duck with coffee sauce) with all dishes lovingly explained upon arrival.

Wine list (sorry, I mean wine encyclopaedia!) was extraordinary. Definitley something for all tastes and pockets.

Fabulous, playful and great value for money if you get the set lunch menu. Don't be fooled by the terse menu descroptions, the food is much more elaborate than the 3 word descriptions imply and you get the bells and whistles of amuse bouches, pre desserts and petit fours even on the cheaper menus.

Bright, airy designed restaurant, with smooth reservations, warm greetings on arrival, attentive service throughout. Superb culinary creations and food art on a plate created by Chef Ben Murphy and his team; they give you extras between courses too that are nice little surpises. Perfect for special occassions, one of our favourite restaurants in the world, & also in our top 5 places in London we would go back to in a heartbeat!!!

Ben Murphy excels with his incredibly innovative cuisine. Pure delight and a fabulous culinary experience. Service, staff and ambiance all spot on.

This is tucked away down a pretty side street, not sure if you would stumble across it if you didn't know it was here. We have been here before when it was quite dark and corporate but now they have added a skylight and the whole places is much lighter and brighter. I will say that our meal was a stunner from start to finish, from the inventive amuse bouches of steamed mushroom buns dusted with matcha powder to the playful petit fours of "lollipops" of arctic roll. The service was the right level of attentive without being intrusive. I especially like the fact that although the menu descriptions are terse, what actually arrives are complete plates of food (my pet hate is getting a piece of meat/ fish and then being forced to order sides). My perfectly cooked duck was accompanied by unheralded (on the menu) fabulously crispy millefeuille potatoes, exactly what that sounds like, potatoes cut into thin sheaves to get super crispy but somehow miraculously holding together. In the immortal words of Mr Schwarzenegger I will be back #SMDinerReview

Launceston Place appears to be the perfect canvas for Ben Murphy's exquisite cooking. Showing style, flair and invention, the dishes at Launceston Place are a treat for any gourmand. The tasting menu showed the aptitude of a Michelin starred chef and I am sure that the restaurant is well on its way to reclaim the star that it lost from the 2017 Michelin guide. The "regular" wine pairing had some exceptionally daring choices that made us think that we would love to come back again after the menu has changed and try the premium pairing. Already looking forward to my next visit.

Still my favourite restaurant in London. It was one of Princess Diana's. A woman of great elegance and taste. I've been going to Launceston Place for 23 years and it still delights me every time. The food is sublime, the service unobtrusive, the room friendly and relaxed. I'm always very happy at LP.

Fantastic food, atmosphere and service.

Our first visit today at a reasonably busy lunchtime. Its very pleasantly situated in perhaps the most "villagey" part of Kensington and the pleasant walk from Ken High Street or from Gloucester Road will raise you expectations. And indeed everything we ate today was nicely cooked, carefully presented, and the variety of tastes and textures from individual ingredients was clearly perceptible. So good quality cooking here, and if the food doesn't quite have the sheer intensity of what I might expect at Gordon Ramsay's flagship, or Marcus Wareing, or Pollen Street Social, well maybe its appropriate to recall that It isn't rated or priced quite so highly either. And you get good bread ( very good actually), a tasty canapé, an interesting Amuse Bouche, and a few petits fours with the coffee. We chose from the lunch menu, as many around us seemed to do . Pleasingly we got food that I'm sure represented what this restaurant was capable of, and sadly that isn't always the case in London's restaurant at the moment where there sometimes seems to be a touch of "made down to a price" about the lunch menu that din't seem to happen so much a few years ago. But as I say not here and we left after three decent courses each ( and the bits) quite unable to consider even a coffee for the next couple of hours. A word about the service though- we were booked in for 1pm, and though we were a minute or two early it still seemed to be a half hour before we got menus. In fact we'd ordered and started our bottle of wine before we'd seen a menu. We found this odd. Unless of course the front of house's job is to give the kitchen an easy life by controlling the pace of orders hitting the kitchen? If so I think that's bizarre, and a kitchen working to give each diner an appropriately paced experience seems more the right way round to me. That aside the service from all the fairly numerous people who came to our table was pleasant and very competent.. We were there for 21/4 hours for three courses and coffee which is longer than I'd expect though it caused no problems. Our bill for 3 course set lunches, coffee, a bottle of a pleasant Languedoc which was certainly, at £30 , from the lower end of their list, and coffee/service came to a fraction under £130. I had intended to comment on this though my wife reminds me that we more usually eat two courses for lunch. She's quite right, and of course we have the numerous "extras" , so I'm ending up with a view that value seems about right. Will we go again? Well maybe albeit that this is quite a well-populated segment , with some good quality from Murano, Chez Bruce, Kitchen W8, Chiswick's La Trompette and so on that will give Launceston Place a run for its money on flavours and value.

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