The Service Award

And just like that, The Ledbury is back. While Brett Graham’s fantastic cooking - more ambitious and adventurous in this new guise - rightly takes the limelight, a big part of this titan of the London restaurant scene’s appeal has always been its beautifully judged service.

While there are now more bells and whistles to the overall experience - a la carte is no more and the tasting menu is longer - the service remains relaxed. Led by Jeremy Hardy and Jack Settle, the smartly-dressed team might glide around the recently overhauled and rather more dramatic dining room but the Notting Hill restaurant remains a pretension-free zone despite now being unquestionable one of the country’s most progressive and high-reaching restaurants. 

Graham has taken his cooking to the next level by putting the focus on ingredients he either grows or rears himself - whether that be his own herds of deer, Iberian pigs or the mushrooms that grow in a special cabinet on site. While there might be a lot more to say about the food, the team is carefully not to overload the diner with information and good at judging what level of interaction each table requires.

And then there’s the wine service, now overseen by hot young talent Jan Van Heesvelde. Joining from L’Enculme, the Belgium-born head sommelier presides over one of the capital’s best lists and strikes a good balance between providing well-chosen accessible bottles with tempting guests to splurge on rare vintages from some of the world’s greatest producers.