Estelle Community keeps three floors of its Ledbury Road townhouse for members and gives the ground floor to an Italian-American restaurant, from crudo at the counter to a sirloin for two.
Sharan Pasricha wanted Celeste to be a place where you “stop by for a coffee, meet friends for lunch, open a bottle of wine that turns into dinner”. The founder of Estelle Community has kept three floors of the group’s new Notting Hill townhouse for members. The ground floor is an all-day Italian-American restaurant that anyone can book.
An Italian-American restaurant on Ledbury Road
Celeste opened its restaurant at 45 Ledbury Road to the public in June. Estelle calls the cooking Italian-American and California-inspired in spirit. Guests sit at the counter or at full tables, or at the back in The Courtyard, a glazed room built around a large stone fireplace.
The ground floor runs from a front terrace on the street past a central wraparound bar into the dining room. Its walls carry hand-painted murals and marquetry. The house also takes private events, in its Private Dining Room and in larger rooms booked whole.
Celeste is Estelle’s third house. The first was Maison Estelle, seven floors of a Grade I listed Georgian townhouse in Mayfair, and the second Estelle Manor, a Grade II listed house on an 85-acre estate at Eynsham in Oxfordshire.
Crudo, pizzette and the grill
The all-day menu starts with crudo: kingfish with a lime dressing and Baerii caviar, and Atlantic bluefin tuna with San Marzano salsa, stracciatella and basil. The diavola pizzette carries ’nduja, soppressata, smoked scamorza and honey.
The house pasta is Celeste linguine ai tre pomodori, and the king crab tagliolini comes with datterino tomatoes and chilli. From the grill, a Cumbrian sirloin is dry-aged for 30 days and served on the bone, 1.2kg of it to share. A veal Milanese on the bone and a Dover sole with lemon and capers sit beside it.
The wine list is reported to run to more than 1,000 bottles, with over 200 by the glass. Breakfast is served every day, with French toast with mandarin and yuzu marmalade among the plates.
The members’ floors
The members’ bar on the first floor is modelled on the listening bars and jazz kissaten of Tokyo, with vinyl on open shelves for members to choose. Above it is The Pantry, the members’ restaurant, where an open kitchen around an island serves a daily izakaya menu. The Apartment, at the top of the house, is the room for a dinner party or a drinks reception.
The club’s calendar runs from comedy nights to community table dinners in The Courtyard. Its day parties bring a different DJ each time, from a Carnival warm-up with Bradley Zero and Moxie to a summer send-off with Arielle Free. A Celeste membership covers this house alone; an Estelle membership covers all three.
Breakfast from 08:00 on weekdays and 09:00 at weekends; the all-day menu from 12:00 to 00:00, Monday to Saturday, and to 23:00 on Sunday. Weekday set lunch £35 for two courses, £39 for three; pasta £18 to £42; main courses £24 to £68; the sirloin for two £130. A discretionary 15 per cent service charge is added. Celeste membership from £2,400 a year, or £1,500 under 30.
Celeste, 45 Ledbury Road, London W11 2AA.
Discover more at celestenottinghill.com