The Ledbury
The Ledbury is a restaurant located on Ledbury Road, Notting Hill, London, England. It holds two Michelin stars, and has been featured in S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants. The head chef is Brett Graham, and he has been received favorably by critics. History. The restaurant opened in 2005, under head chef Brett Graham. It is the sister restaurant of The Square, a two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Mayfair, London, with the same backers investing in both restaurants. The new restaurant gained a Michelin star within a year of opening, but sales only increased by 2009. A second  Michelin star followed in 2010. Also in 2010, it was awarded the Square Meal BMW Restaurant of the Year Award. Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Graham announced in June 2020 that the restaurant would remain closed indefinitely, citing one-metre social distancing measures in place as impractical to keep staff and customers safe. Since its closure, The Ledbury lost its Michelin stars in January 2021. The Ledbury was refurbished and then reopened to the public in early February 2022. Its seating capacity was reduced from 55 to 45 in favor of a centre table to be used by the serving  staff. Reception. Giles Coren visited the restaurant for "The Times"' shortly after it opened. He described it as having a "hushed, moneyed feel" Terry Durack also reviewed the restaurant during 2005, for "The Independent on Sunday". He described the restaurant as "seriously good", and thought it was off to a "very good start". In 2008, Matthew Norman, writing in "The Guardian", commented on its "recession-resistant prices" and gave it 9.25 out of 10. Jasper Gerard ate at the restaurant for "The Daily Telegraph" in 2010, describing some courses as "scrumptious", but he felt that the dessert options were a  let down compared to the rest of the dishes on offer. "Harden's" restaurant guide describes the food at The Ledbury as "genius" and scores the food as a one, service as a one and ambience as a two. It uses a scale of one to five, where one is high and five is low. Chef and co-restaurateur. The restaurant's chef de cuisine Brett Graham was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, in 1979. He worked as an apprentice of a fish restaurant Scratchleys. Then at age 18, he moved to a Sydney restaurant Banc. He immigrated to  London in early 2000s after winning the Josephine Pignolet Young Chef of the Year Award in Sydney. He had previously worked at The Square as a sous chef for three and a half years under its chef de cuisine, Phil Howard. Graham won the Young Chef of the Year in 2002 from the Restaurant Association.