Ms B and I enjoyed our recent visit to Launceston Place, one of Kensington’s most loved fine dining venues.
Young and heavily tattooed head chef Ben Murphy has trained and worked at Koffmann’s at The Berkeley, the triple Michelin-starred Les Prés d’Eugénie (which is part of the ultra-prestigious Relais & Chateaux group, just like restaurant Lafleur in Frankfurt, which we reviewed here) in the south of France, as well as the equally three-starred Épicure Restaurant at Le Bristol in Paris, and London’s two-star Greenhouse Restaurant.
As soon as we arrived, the friendly staff led us to our table. The atmosphere is elegant with plenty of light.
After short deliberation we decided to opt for the 3-course set menu deal for £30 per person. For starters, we chose seared tuna and pig’s head pate, for mains the grilled octopus on burnt leek with chive and chicken tarragon, and as desserts we picked souffle and raspberry and pistachio sorbet.
Within a few minutes amuse bouche and an unusual combination of bread with two different types of butter and a spicy concoction arrived, all of which were pleasant. 15 minutes later, our starters were served. Ms B loved her seared tuna, and I was all bought in by my pig head’s pate.
The mains arrived shortly after we had finished our starters. Ms B, who is normally not too keen on my chicken tarragon (I think I use too much tarragon for her liking) was impressed with her dish. My octopus was delicious too.
The desserts then took over twenty minutes, because of the time it takes to prepare the souffle, which is, of course, fine in our book. Both the souffle and the sorbet were delightful.
We’ll definitely be back again soon. 4.5 out of 5 in our book.
If you’re looking for further reviews of restaurants, check out our posts on bbar, Hai Cenato, Timmy Green, Rail House Cafe, Aster, and Michelin-starred A Wong.
For adventure and travel inspiration, try our posts about Porto, Colesdalen, Dubai, self-punting in Cambridge, and our rides on a jetlev, a powerboat, and a helicopter.
For ideas for weekend trips from London, check out our posts about Norfolk, the Cotswolds, and Canterbury.