Le Cafe Anglais

gastro1

Rowley Leigh creates another classic ! 18th August 2009

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Last week I had Lunch at Le Café Anglais and on leaving came to the same conclusion that I have had the two previous times I visited this restaurant. My conclusion was I really should eat here more often.

I have never met co owner and Chef Rowley Leigh apart from a brief exchange of pleasantries at Kensington Place some years ago but I am old enough to have eaten his food, in several of the restaurants he was involved in, including Le Gavroche Sloane Street, Le Poulbot, Kensington Place, probably, 192 on a week end night and maybe even a Hamburger at Joe Allen.

Rowley Leigh's food could be described as Franco Italian bistro/brassiere-influenced modern British cooking but this man of impeccable taste is far more open minded and Spain and Japan clearly figure in his gastronomic melting pot.

Leigh like Alistair Little and Simon Hopkinson always produced perfectly executed simple food made with excellent ingredients. What all three have in common along with another contemporary Sally Clarke is that despite the simplicity of a given dish you somehow felt the personality of the chef coming through. One also felt that these chefs developed strong views on food and a vision about how it should be cooked and presented.

Along with Bibendum I think the art deco Le Café Anglais has the most beautiful rooms in London. At lunch the huge windows overlooking Bayswater Road and Porchester Gardens flood the vast room with natural light even when the sun is not shinning which of course is more often than not.

Like the room (170 covers) the Menu is vast with Hors D’Oeuvres, Starters, Mains many side dishes and puddings. There is a daily Lunch Menu and for Dinner a daily roast ranging from Venison to Gloucester Old Spot Pork along with the permanent Rotisserie Classics (Chicken, Beef, Game and Lamb)

Probably because my mother hails from Bologna I have never resisted the Mortadella with Celeriac Remoulade (well sourced) and Parmesan Custard with Anchovy Toast (perfect) and on this occasion we also had Pike Boudain, a little bland for me however the explosion of controlled flavour from Mackerel Teriyaki certainly made up for that,

Both my companion and I love Roast Chicken choose the option to have just the leg with it's jus and some beautifully cooked Chanterelles. This is an absolute bargain at £4.50 for what I consider to be the best part of any chicken including the UK's best, Label Anglais favoured and championed by Rowley Leigh.

I finished my meal with well-made Peach Melba whilst my friend chose the Queen of Puddings that also got thumbs up.

The wine list well constructed with both Old and New World fairly represented (therefore no New World :-) ). We had a pretty decent chilled Chinon ( I failed to note the winemaker or year) which served it's purpose of more or less matching our eccentric choices of food.


The service on a fairly busy Lunch service was perfect from the moment I set foot in the restaurant to when I departed two and a half hours later.

In terms of large modern Brassiere style Restaurants in London I prefer Le Café Anglais to The Wolesley primarily because the food is better but also this well run operation has leveraged the space to create a very pleasant environment that is perfect for a business lunch, treating your elderly parent or dare I say a romantic dinner or hot date.

Having reflected on why I don't go more often it's probably because of the location and as most of my lunches are business related I become a prisoner of the City and West End. However to paraphrase the words of the most famous of all guides, Le Café Anglais is certainly worth a detour.

bellaphon

Le Cafe Anglais 13th August 2008

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A visit to Whiteley’s is often melancholic and unexciting. Thank goodness for Le Cafe Anglais, Food Inc and maybe just, Muji; propping this grande dame of a department store alive.

First and foremost the service was sweet and assuring. The dining room was superb, bright and utterly non stuffy. When booking, ask for a window table, you'll thank me for this.

The Hors d'œuvres is probably one of the reasons of the pilgrimage. The Chicken Livers Agro Dolce was a class act, The delicious signature Rabbit Rillettes was only let down by a badly chipped crockery it was served in. The two other tasters included courgette fritters and smoked mackeral pate with soft boild egg. The latter was too salty.

My main course of Rib of Beef with Bubble and Squeak was cooked to perfection and melt in the mouth. However my dining companion's Vitello Tonnato (chilled veal in tuna sauce) was sedate and tasteless except for some anchovies sitting on the veal slices. Veal for me is overrated, I find it bland. In fact in today's Sunday Times John Cleese told Michael Winner ''Veal should be banned, not because the process is so painful to the animals, but because the result is so boring.'' Right on, methinks.

Not much space for puddings, but I think this place warrants a second visit.

UPDATE-

Food was immeasurably better third time round but let down by poor, slow, erratic and ignorant service.

Niamheen at 15/08/08

Agreed. I really enjoyed Le Cafe Anglais. The Parmesan custard with anchovy toasts are spectacular, as for the pork belly... mmmmm. KI want to try everything on their menu!

bellaphon at 15/08/08

Must try the Roast Chicken next time, this will really put it in perspective.

gastro1 at 18/08/09

I think it is very difficult to source good veal in the UK most of the Dutch stuff used by restaurants in tasteless.

Irish Rose Veal is superb the Rib Room serves it and you can buy excellent SW Ireland Rose Veal from Jack O'Shea in Knightsbridge.

Saying that the best Vitello Tonnato in London for me is at Giaconda Dinning Room.

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Niamheen

Potentially great 25th June 2008

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I've been curious about Le Cafe Anglais for some time. It's in a shopping centre, the building used to house a MacDonalds and is Art Deco in style, lastly, it's owned and run by Rowley Leigh, formerly of critically acclaimed Kensington Place. A very unexpected combination of circumstances! Added to this, I had read that they were oversubscribed by investors and had to return money to some. I have been intrigued since I read the first reviews. Despite this, I didn't go, it slipped my mind, until I heard about the parmesan custard and anchovy toast. A new classic dish that everyone is raving about. That was it, I had to go.

The room is impressive, large with lots of natural light flooding in from the enormous windows and beautiful art deco light fixtures. We ate early, it was very quiet but they were fully booked from 8.30 on. Service was quick, formal and attentive but not overly so. The menu centres around roasts, there are rotisseries operating at the front of the open plan kitchen. There's also lots of enticing appetisers, hors d'oeuvre, first courses, main courses, and while influenced by French cuisine, it's very English.

The menu is comprehensive, to put it mildly, although not intimidatingly so. We hadn't much time so we decided to do an hors d'oeuvre and a main with a bellini as an appetiser. I can never resist one! I opted for the aforementioned parmesan custards with anchovy toasts and my friend the kipper with soft boiled egg - a steal at £3 each. For mains, the roast of the day - kid - was tempting, however the pork belly and sausages with bubble & squeak moreso.

The bellini's arrived promptly and were divine. We were also served bread, butter and bright pink radishes. Unusual but delicious. The hors d'oeuvre were great, although the kipper had a few bones which were quite tricky to remove! Luckily they had supplied toothpicks from the start. The parmesan custard was creamy and rich with a crisp parmesan topping. The toasts were a perfect pairing, it was really inspired.

My main was gorgeous, succulent pork belly with crisp perfect crackling served on top of lentils, however, my friend was disappointed with the sausages. They were quite salty and just not as good as you'd expect. I did enjoy the texture though. The bubble and squeak was delicious.

No time for desserts but there was a very enticing selection of fruits and cheeseboard. I thoroughly enjoyed my meal but my friend was disappointed. As a result, I'll give it 3 stars instead of 4. I will go back, it was sufficiently enticing to make me want more. Le Café Anglais offers good food, cooked well in a gorgeous setting - sausages excluded on this occasion.

The bill for the above and a glass of prosecco each was £60 incl service.

EDIT: I've since been back and have a lovely meal, great food, great service. It should become a firm favourite. Upgrading to 4*.

sue

Love the decor, not so sure about the food 14th June 2008

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Finally made it to Le Café Anglais for dinner after postponing a meal there previously due to lacklustre reviews. The friends we dined with had been before and loved it. Located in Whiteleys, though with its own entrance, you can't help but admire the beautiful deco interior.

Service was professional and at times cheeky, though there were a lot of different staff coming and going which made asking for the bill (twice) a little confusing. The dinner menu was large, with too many choices making the ordering decision a hard one, particularly when nothing takes your fancy (apart from the desserts!).

We opted to start with some Hors d'Oeuvres to share - the Broad Beans with ricotta; the Rabbit Rillettes; the Oyster Fritters; and the Parmesan Custard with Anchovy toast.

Main meals were the Chicken with lemon thyme & garlic; the Seared Mackerel with chickpeas and spring greens; the Squab Pigeon with braised peas and bacon; and the Spiced Quails. Sides need to be ordered with most meals, and we had the Creamed spinach and the Gratin dauphinois. I had the pigeon, and while the breast portions were nicely cooked, it was impossible to eat the wing portions - perhaps they were more for show.

Desserts sounded good, and we tried the Bitter Chocolate Soufflé with pistachio ice cream; and the Coffee & Vanilla Sundae with chocolate sauce. The soufflé looked great, but didn't break into my 'Top '3 soufflé list, and the sundae was pretty average.

Enjoyed the stylish and quietish (thank you carpet!) atmosphere at Le Café Anglais, though wasn't that enthused about the food. As it isn't located in our usual stomping ground I am not sure I would return.

Hugo

Great new restaurant? Le Cafe Anglais could be 12th December 2007

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A winning new restaurant from Rowley Leigh, the old head chef at Kensington Place. Except that this time the restaurant is his and the venue is a leap forward.

Le Cafe Anglais is actually a converted Macdonalds restaurant inside Whiteleys, which is undergoing a much appreciated poshing up. The space is terrific, amazing to think it was being squandered by the infamous Scottish Restaurant for such a long time. For those who also like to hear what their fellow diners are saying (and hear themselves think) this is a great spot. No music, carpets and reasonably high ceilings make for a relaxing environment.

Food is excellent. Not a huge choice of main courses: which are simple roast (done on a spit apparently) and fish dishes. However, the fun comes with a great selection of tasty hors d'oeuvres, starters and vegetables (yes that's right yummy vegetables!).

There is a tasty set-price lunch menu which offers good value and, a rarity in London, it sounded enticing and was tasty to boot.

Sorry that my camera is currently dead or I would have some Le Cafe Anglais piccies to show. The atmosphere is great.

I am already looking forward to going back and heartily recommend this place.

Hugo at 26/02/08

I went back there again the other day and was impressed. The atmosphere in the restaurant is calm, stylish and refreshing whilst the food at Le Cafe Anglais is delicious. Would like to make this a regular.

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