Jan Moir Are You Ready To Order

Launceston Place has had its ups and downs over the last few years. The last time S and I came for lunch, his grouse looked as if it had been made from the body parts of some multi-species avian massacre. The kitchen was in chaos, the front of house uncaring, the prognosis terminal. In this genteel backwater of Kensington, the famous old restaurant was sinking fast, like a duchess in a lime pit.

Has a takeover from restaurant group D&D, formerly the Conran group, stopped the slide? Their sudden presence amongst the stucco villas and boutiques selling French tailoring for tots is rather shocking, like finding a dreadnought in the bath tub. Would the handsome corner site, with its smart navy paintwork and name picked out in gold lettering, be turned into some kind of arid gastro barn, with overpriced pedigree sausages and cocktails with humorous names? Pass the smelling salts, Marjory! What would happen to the rich old lady who lives about four doors down, but still has her chauffeur drop her off at the door most lunchtimes? A journey that takes about ten minutes in the torturous one-way system? And would the journalists and executives from a nearby newspaper group still be tempted to bring their contacts here for lunches so liquid that inflatable armbands were sometimes required? We shall see.

Certainly, the refurbished restaurant looks better than it ever did. The tired interior has been done up in soft greys and neutrals, but it looks clever and stylish rather than corporate. It suggests the restaurant has quiet aspirations to go upmarket, not down, a development which will have a sigh of relief shuddering around the neighbourhood where a two-up, two-down costs about £6million. Inside the quiet plush of the new Launceston Place, a leather banquette runs around the interconnecting spaces and smart, liveried waiters deliver tiny, glass bowls of cauliflower soup with a chilled cap of cream laced with droplets of truffle oil. In rooms that still whisper with the intrigues of long dead gossip columnists, menus in greige folders tell of things such as drunken flamed quail with hazelnuts and wild chervil, house smoked salmon, and warm potted Valhrona chocolate. There is even something called a Soufflé Diana, in memory of the princess who often dined here when she lived at nearby Kensington Palace. It is hard to fault the dish; the most perfect goat’s cheese soufflé, served in a copper mini-saucepan into which the waiter drops a spoon of English mustard ice cream. Alongside is a doll-sized sandwich with little slices of sourdough bread and a filling of smoked egg. I don’t know how you smoke an egg, or even if it is a phrase one should use in polite conversation. Neither do I know what it has got to do with Diana, Princess of Wales. But I do know that it is completely delicious, and points to a singular talent in the kitchen.

Sharp and seasonal

Head chef Tristan Welch is only 28, but has already worked in many top kitchens in both London and Paris (at L’Arpege). In his last post at London’s Petrus, he was instrumental in the culinary promotion which found the restaurant gaining its second Michelin star last year. Here, D&D have given Welch his own restaurant to play with and, almost overnight, the young chef has turned it into one of the most exciting new places to eat in London.

His talent is prodigious; his menu is sharp, seasonal and captivating - not cluttered with too many dishes which are complicated just for the sake of it. There are, for example, only six main courses, and they include roast milk fed lamb with wild garlic and beetroot puree; Cumbrian rose veal rump with creamed onions; and braised Shetland salmon with soft wild herbs.

Meanwhile, the new six course tasting menu comprises of hand dived West Coast scallops with wild sorrel and apple; roast duck foie gras with rhubarb compote and elderflower milk soup; the aforementioned soufflé Diana; poached carp with young leeks, nutmeg and lemon; sirloin of Long Horn beef ‘cobbler’, with Lancashire cheddar and Guinness; and a pudding of lemon slice with thyme sorbet.

Far too often in the UK, tasting menus are a terrible let down; a sad parade of underpowered titbits presented in overwhelming crockery. Sensible diners hardly ever order them. However, at Launceston Place, Welch’s dazzling array of dishes is the real degustation deal. The half-dozen courses begin with a big, fresh, wild-tasting scallop artily served on a stone, with a little pile of apple match sticks and a hint of sorrel. An excellent preparation of roast foie gras comes with dense rhubarb compote and a bubbling, foaming soup of elderflower milk; quite exciting in its volcanic intensity. It is rare to see carp on a menu and here, this most unprepossessing of river fish is poached in a broth of leeks, nutmeg and lemon; the flesh is firm, with a muddy undertow that is not unpleasant. The Welsh beef is almost undone by the strong, bullying taste of the mature cheddar cobbler topping, but S copes by knocking it off and carrying on. The pudding carries on the theme of clean, intense flavours cleverly conceived and neatly served, with a nice lemon tart perching on a layer of jelly and a dome of thyme sorbet alongside.

Several key staff have joined Welch in the exodus from Petrus, and the service is elegant and knowledgeable. Food this good deserves a decent bottle of wine; our Pouilly Fuisse from Chateau de Fuisse (£40) does the job manfully. In general, the prices are decent for the quality of what is on offer and you should hurry along to catch the trajectory of a star in the making. Many young chefs attempt this sort of food and this kind of menu; few pull it off with quite so much aplomb as Tristan Welch.

• Launceston Place, 1a Launceston Place, Kensington, London W8 5RL. Telephone: 020 7937 6912. Three course lunch for two, excluding drinks and service, £70. The six course tasting menu is £45 per head.