the ledbury

a couple of weeks ago, we'd the privilege of using the wedding gift that keeps giving. N & L, our wonderful friends from oz, had the brainwave to gift us a very generous ledbury voucher. they're foodies themselves, and food is inevitably one of our favourite things to talk about, and hm, i suppose culturally they couldn't bring themselves to give us cold hard cash. also, my thick skin failed and i couldn't possibly request cold hard cash when they asked what the singaporean chinese gift giving custom was. as a surprise, they mailed us the gift card and oh boy i swear we started salivating the moment we ripped open the envelop. 

part of me is bemused by the typical singaporean tourist, indulge me, who comes to london for a couple of days and make a point to hit up as many of them michelin stars as they can. it's not uncommon to have stars for lunch and dinner in quick succession, and unrelentingly so. a personal observation is so they can later namedrop and say they've dined at X, Y and Z. "oh you didn't try W? too bad!" to be absolutely honest, in another time or another place, i might've done the exact same thing. the obsession with stars can be tiring, and there's so much more to the city and its eateries than the faddy must-tries. that said, i've four absolute favourites here that i'd tell every body passing through to try, and to book way in advance while they're at it. and the ledbury is one of them.

thanks to N & L's generosity, we had the lunch tasting menu and a bottle of champers. as the restaurant was already filled with asian couples toting their DSLRs and photographing every course, i couldn't bring myself to join the fray. also, i've sort of gone off food photography and just took my iphone out for a quick snap at the end. the maitre d', naturally, observed it was a wedding gift and comp-ed even more dessert. which was a thoughtful and much appreciated touch.