Sartoria - Launceston Place — Restaurant in London

Came for a Saturday lunch and loved it!

The restaurant isn't just one big square room. It goes round the reception area, has angles and nooks to sit in. So you feel it is more cosy and has more character than most restaurants just due to this unusual layout. Some tables are fairly close to one another, if that bothers you. It wasn't intrusive and we didn't mind. In fact we ended up chatting to the couple next to us, which was lovely.

Choosing your menu was done by playing a game of sorts. You could look at your options on the board after revealing them all. Then you left uncovered your choices.

You are given some complimentary amuses- bouches to start. A cream cheese filled stick, a consommé and a tartar type of mini taco. The mini taco was marvellous. The others were good but not on the same level. Then not tiny slices of warm sourdough bread ( 1 each) came with seaweed butter and pepper butter (shaped like a mini pepper!). These butters were lush.

For starters we made our choice from - Celeriac, Ceviche and Parfait. I believe the latter is the one that changes as others mentioned getting pigeon. Given we wanted to try the optional extra egg and soldiers starter, which had chicken parfait in it we went for Celeriac and Ceviche. Our favourite was the latter, but our neighbouring table preferred the former. That being said our most favourite of all these starters was the eggs and soldiers. You must get it! It's more than worth the £9 supplement (each).

Mains we went for Cod and Pork. No consensus on a favourite amongst us, but in talking to the other table pork got more numbers. The lady at the table next to us liked the Mushroom, which we did not try. I hesitated between that and Pork when choosing. The server immediately covered up the Mushroom when I said I was struggling, so something to bear in mind if you're not sure what to pick! All mains came with a potato side (we didn't order it and it wasn't mentioned on the menu). This was magnificent! Crispy, not oily, rich. It was like layers of potato that have been fried and was my other favourite thing from the entire meal.

Desserts if you're only interested in sweets then you have 2 options. The third is a cheese selection. The Chocolate was like a milk chocolate mousse with a mandarin gel covered in darker chocolate. It's quite a mild dessert where nothing really zings or is bitter. It was quite light and came with a quenelle of sorbet on top. The Tart was a brown sugar kind of flan but not quite that bouncy texture. It's not quite caramel like either. The pastry was so thin. It's not too much by way of sweetness and comes with a sorbet to manage it getting too sugary.

Complimentary petits fours were served at the end. Strawberry laces are nothing like the palstic versions in the shop. It's more like a marshmallow softness. Not the same length though, so you might have to share some if you draw the long lace! Then a sea salted fudge with passionfruit gel. Could be too much for some but knowing what fudge is like you can't be too surprised. It was a good end to a fab meal!

Alongside our food we had a non-alcoholic cocktail (pojito, minty but sharp from the pomegranate purée too) and a marvellous orange wine from Japan. We also had coffees after our meal, which we enjoyed with our petits four. They kind of were needed to go with those.

It's not got its Michelin star back, but it should not be too long we guess. It's much like other one star places in terms of experience and quality of food. Needless to say one doesn't need a star to make magical meals and this is a much needed...

Updated review based on 3 course meal on 11th Jan:

Revisted Launceston Place. As before, every staff encountered were super hospitable, friendly and knowledgeable. They were very attentive but not overbearing.

The non alcoholic Seedlip Grove 42 cocktail drink based on Roja Parfumes certainly did hit the spot.

The amuse bouche highlighted the main star, the humble beetroot. The celeriac starter was dainty but very tasty. The vegetarian main meal was the humbly titled "mushroom". It consisted of shimeji mushrooms over large mushroom halves with foam on top and yeast around the plate. To my suprise this was very filling and it was truly appreciated the skill complexities gone into making this dish. The dessert included "Kelloggs" which had white chocolate, almond and cranberry sauce. It was divine! The other dessert was a Snickers based dessert but my favourite was th pear infused mousse with a white chocolate outer shell in the shape of, and sprayed with colour to make it look like a, pear.

To finish of this amazing dining experience I ended up a flat white, and some petite fours. The coffee is probably one of the best I have had.

I was totally stuffed by the end of the lunch to the point I did not even had dinner.

The Saturday lunch menu at £35 is most worth it and for sure I will be back without any hesitation.

An easy 5 out of 5 from me. You will not be disappointed.

Original review based on tasting menu on 21st Nov: Came here to try out the vegetarian tasting menu. Gave it 4 out of 5.

All staff encountered were very friendly and knowledgeable. The ambience was on point.

Every dish had the 'wow' factor, each dish was a work of art- they looked so good I actually felt guilty to even touch it. The taste of every dish was excellent too. The non alcoholic drink good but not worth the steep price considering it had no alcohol.

The tasting experience lasted 3 hours.

The only criticism was that each dish were dainty and therefore I left the restaurant feeling hungry. A let down considering the experience cost over £100 with drinks and service charge.

Would I be back? Sadly not due to leaving the restaurant...

Where do you go in London with so many great restaurants to chose from.There's two reasons why here was our choice.The first,was it's within walking distance of the hotel we were staying at. The main reason was the head chef Ben Murphy We have followed Bens career for many years,way before he had any tattoos. He only won National Chef of the year 2023 The Craft Guild of Chefs & previously Young National Chef.

We set off on our walk through the beautiful Kensington Gardens and just a few steps from there you come to Launceston Place. Located on one of the most picturesque (and most expensive) streets in London. It's famed for being the late Princess Diana's favourite restaurant. Once seated in the simple and minimalist dining room with tables dressed in white linen, you are presented with a checkerboard.Which contains 12 plastic discs, as you lift each one off a menu item is revealed below, creating your order.We chose the tasting menu.

We're not going to go through every course but will highlight a few that stood out for us both. From the snacks, a perfect start was a delious bowl of Smoked Eel,granny smith, liver parfait. Egg & Soldiers, presented on an egg cup standing on a duck leg was an eggshell scooped out and filled with chicken liver parfait, accompanied by a slightly toasted sourdough soldier. Celeriac on a mint ragout which was smothered with copious amounts of pecorino by the server at the table. Fish course was a fresh tasting Monkfish, Lemongrass & Asparagus with a pouring of Chicken Jus. Meat dish of Duck,purple beetroot,radish,timur and on the side a lovely crispy Pont Neuf chip. Followed by a cheese course,a pre dessert and two beautifully presented and very filling desserts.

For us dining out is more about who is in the kitchen more than the restaurant itself. Because the food is the most important part of dining out and if you know there's a great chef in charge you're certain to have a meal to remember. It was,and along with the very helpful and professional front of house team we shall remember our visit for...