Restaurants

When Rowley Leigh left KP after 20 years as chef in 2006, the doom-sayers predicted it was the end of the line for this Notting Hill pioneer. That didn’t stop D&D London (the Conran Restaurant group, under new ownership) from adding the venue to its collection last year and installing chef Henry Vigar from Bjorn van der Horst’s La Noisette in the kitchen. The room has been freshened up, without losing any of its 1980s London vibe, and while lunch remains a more casual Brit/French mix, things step up at night with a quite special French-driven menu. Grilled red mullet with braised beef and carrot and caper emulsion was a neat take on surf’n’turf; suckling pork belly was a wobbly sticky delight; and a salad of labne, pistachio nuts and herbs was a breath of fresh spring air. To finish, an apple tarte fine with beurre noisette ice-cream was textbook stuff. With such light-hearted flavour-packed and seasonally driven cooking, it would seem that rumours of Kensington Place’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2009