Pollini at Ladbroke Hall has been on my list and today was another spontaneous encounter, where we just walk into a restaurant and see what happens. We had a warm welcome from the staff, and they showed us to their secret garden area. The waiter made sure the specials were well received. The menu itself looked inviting and promising. It seemed like they were trying to do something well here.
We went for the langoustine spaghetti, datterino, parsley. We took it gluten free to cater for an intolerance and to avoid any mistakes. And Erbe di campo- Curly kale, rainbow chard, wild spinach, garlic, chilli. It is quite common when you order pasta with either langoustine or lobster, that you don’t end up seeing much of that said product. The langoustine amount was reasonable here. The spaghetti arrived with the langoustine head decorated onto the plate. I am not sure what it is bringing to the dish, just presentation only, I obviously can’t eat it. The sauce was flavourful, rich, and deep, the pasta was to the bite. The gluten free pasta was not the best I have had. The side dish we felt was too oily.
We realised that we had walked in on their first day of brunch service and the chef came to ask us what we thought. I didn’t give him the lowdown, “You will hear soon” I said. Service started off well, but there were only a couple of tables active for this Saturday lunch, yet there wasn’t a sense of confidence in the flow. There was a debate over the gluten free bread we ordered, and which table it was for. We were expecting more, especially on first glance of the menu and a better gluten free pasta. The dining room inside looked cold in atmosphere too. We are not sure whether to go back to try a dinner currently. Will keep you posted…
