I was talking to a friend recently about great food pubs and subsequently wanted to refer them to my meal at The Ladbroke Arms. I then realised I'd written the review and forgotten to publish it. And given that the damned review was late in the first place, I'm not massively proud of myself here. Even so, I think it's worth reading about.
As a group meal (and one with special significance), I had hoped to get a three-way review of the place, but alas I cannot extract words from my colleagues. However, I am still full of opinion, prose and food, so I will do my best as ever.
Tom had been championing the Ladbroke Arms for as long as I’ve known him, which made it a place we needed to try. The three of us plus the other half met up for some lunch on a beautiful sunny Saturday. The place is every bit a traditional London gastropub: wood everywhere, big windows, classic bar and tall ceilings.
The ordering system at the place is a bit bizarre. Each table is applied a number which gets written on a chalkboard which gets noted down by the one food waiter they have there which gets attended to in the order it was written which then gets ordered and scrawled off the chalkboard which then means the next number will be seen to. Got it..? What it basically means is that you may need to prepare for a long wait for your food. Fortunately, the place is pleasant enough that you don’t mind a bit of a wait. The downside is if you turn up at 1, you might not be eating until nearer 3.
When our food eventually arrived, it was by and large very good. The upsides were a selection of very fresh langoustines with mayonnaise, some divine warm duck salad, a beautiful piece of steak and some sumptuous pork stew.
The stew and the steak were both cooked to a T: that is to say the former mixed falling-apart chunks of pork with steaming broth, served with turnip dauphinoise (left). If I find one dish this year that illustrates how wonderful English food still is, this might well be it. The latter was properly rare, smothered with garlic butter and served with some lovely home-cooked chips. I want my steak like this all the time.
The langoustines were delicious and so very English: cold, sharp (literally: I cut myself getting into some of the shells) and served with mayonnaise (right). This is something the British are good at: making very fancy food seem accessible and basic. It’s unpretentious and so it should be. The duck salad was just how duck should be served in the summer: red, thinly sliced, atop mixed leaves and with a poached egg. Anything that makes duck look as healthy and pretty as this is alright in my book.
The less impressive parts of the meal were some exquisitely buttery scallops that were ruined with their accompaniment of too much chicory – a fairly pointless sideshow at the best of times. A salmon terrine was unspectacular and packed with capers, some sausages with cous cous weren’t too bad, but, come on… cous cous? Some tagliatele with mussels and chorizo should’ve been wonderful but wasn’t quite there. A bit too salty and under-dressed (the downside of British takes on foreign food), it didn’t capture the senses as it could’ve.
Desserts were as we’d hoped: just right. Parts of it weren’t for me: the sorbet was sorbet, and that doesn’t cut it as a dessert in general. The sticky toffee pudding was too dry and was covered with nuts which was a shame. However, the chocolate fondant was rich, dark and smooth, which is what we always hope for. Even better was a divine take on the traditional Eton Mess; meringue served with passion fruit and kiwi (left). Just stellar on a sunny Holland Park afternoon. Also, a delightful dish of smoothly punchy chocolate truffles added to our sweet teeth getting their money's worth (right).
Ups and downs then. But, as I review this meal of months ago with a fond glint in my eye, I must bring the opinions of Mike and Tom to the table. Mike claims this is the best meal he’s eaten all year. Tom claims it’s the best the three of us have had together. Whilst I may not precisely agree with what my contemporaries have to say, I don’t think their opinions are out of turn. The food is generally excellent, which makes paying that little bit more for your dishes worthwhile. The Ladbroke Arms might just be the best pure pub food I’ve ever eaten, so make of that what you will.
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