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Australian chef Brett Graham arrived in England at 21 with just a phone number in his pocket. Ten years later he's collected three Michelin stars. John Lethlean meets him
It's a sunny spring afternoon and the scene is pure London. You half-expect Hugh Grant to pop down from a neat terrace and say cheers to a yummy mummy cycling past before racing off in a Mini. Notting Hill is right out of, well, Notting Hill.
At The Ledbury, you're met by a host named Steven. He greets with a warm smile but no discernible Australian accent, although it soon transpires he's from Melbourne and used to wait tables at Scusami. Next suit along, ferrying an appetiser of sea buckthorn and carrot macaroon sandwiched around foie gras parfait, is a more noticeably recent arrival: Haylie is from Sydney, although she used to work at Melbourne's Ezard. Fancy that.
Next lad along wears the accoutrements of his fraternity: elegant suit and sommelier's lapel pin, with an accent somewhere between his predecessors. Yes, wine man Luke is from ... Brisbane.
An elegant former pub, The Ledbury is calm but far from stiff. It is also home to an easygoing young man who may yet turn out to be the most acclaimed Australian chef of his generation: Brett Graham. If the expectation of Michelin-starred greatness brings preconceived notions of formality, they're dashed, fast.
It's restaurant awards season in London and a stream of visiting Australians has been flowing through The Ledbury's dining room in the past few days to experience just what it is that has pushed 31-year-old Graham into the elite ranks of his craft. And it adds to an already antipodean air at the corner of Ledbury and Talbot, Notting Hill.
Whether upstairs, on the floor, or in the typically British basement kitchen, The Ledbury has been an Aussie enclave since opening in 2006. Some of Australia's best restaurants, including Quay, Assiette, Astral, Circa and Bistrode all boast Ledbury alumni. Graham is the link, although another of the restaurant's owners, chef Philip Howard, has knocked the rough edges off more Aussie chefs at his famous The Square than probably anyone else over the past 15 years.
But among Ledbury patrons, Bruce jokes are so passe. Once the...