As I have mentioned before, I'm not a huge fan of re-visiting restaurants. However, I'm actually more likely to re-visit somewhere I've had a bad experience than a good one, bizarrely. Of course, if it's a terrible restaurant serving terrible food, I'm unlikely to want to ever go back there. Yet if it's somewhere that I feel hasn't quite hit their usual benchmark, I'll be happy to give them another chance.
Launceston Place has been a bit of a black marked venue ever since last year's Restaurant Festival, when we were on the end of some of the very rudest service I'd ever experienced. It was lamented at the time – and has been extensively lamented since – that such service brought down the whole meal which, up to that point, had been excellent.
So how could I not go back? Basically if the food is good, anywhere's worth another try. As such, I popped back there for a set lunch deal on the first scorching Saturday of the summer season.
Their lunch offer was £20 for three courses, which seemed ludicrously reasonable, and it did not disappoint. Something similar to the goose egg risotto we'd tried before was a poached duck egg with toasted brown bread and truffle sauce (left). And that is a fine way to start any Saturday lunch. The risotto of beef, beetroot and garlic that completed the course was challenging, but very fresh. Not quite as you expect risotto – much lighter and more summery – it did the job nicely.
I have recently found that good starters don't often lead to a good main course. Fortunately Launceston Place was up to the demanding task of round two. Some delectable pork crubeens (small morsels made primarily from trotters) were just the ticket, served with beautifully decorative (yet not redundant) dressings and sauce (right). The lamb on the other side of the table was extremely well-formed, requiring little effort to pull apart. Nice herb crust, creamy mashed potato and overall we had two courses that were filling but not intrusively so. Good work indeed.
Dessert was a quite brilliant apple tarte tatin to share (left). Crisp, buttery, sweet and filling, it was nothing short of sublime. In fact, it was the best tatin I've eaten, and that includes some fine efforts in Paris. It was slightly chunkier than the traditional French thinly-sliced apple, but that seemed to make it better. Graciously sliced and served at the table, it was bliss.
So, what of the re-visit? Well it was better, there's no doubting it. The service was better too (for the most part. Although I swear the sommelier visibly gritted his teeth when we told him we weren't drinking…) It was a pleasant lunch, topped off with a cracking dessert, which made me realise a lot of the good press Launceston Place has gotten is indeed deserved. Hopefully there's no more bad press to come from me.
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