(menu)

Le Cafe Anglais

Address:	8 Porchester Gardens W2 4DB
Tel	020 7221 1415
Email:	info@lecafeanglais.co.uk
Website:	Visit Le Cafe Anglais website
Price: £48.00	Wine: £15.00	Champagne: £45.00
Opening Hours:	Mon-Sun 12N-3.30pm 6.30-11.30pm

Square Meal review of Le Cafe Anglais:

This huge 200-cover restaurant within the art-deco delights of Whiteley’s shopping centre takes inspiration from grand Parisian brasseries & is co-owned by ex-Kensington Place chef Rowley Leigh. A giant rotisserie occupies the centre of the restaurant, sending out exemplary roast chicken – moist, crisp-skinned & scented with lemon thyme – but the lengthy menu also offers a wide selection of hors d’oeuvres, Brit-leaning starters such as smoked eel salad with bacon, fresh fish mains served with a choice of sauce, & classic desserts including a thoroughly enjoyable creme caramel. An appealing European wine list has plenty of choice by the glass & carafe, while a £12.50 two-course lunch & ample on-site parking should help daytime trade. Open all day from noon until midnight (last orders 11pm), this is also a place to consider for a late lunch.

Chef: Rowley Leigh

Rowley Leigh was founder & head chef of Notting Hill landmark restaurant Kensington Place for 20 years & prior to that spent eight years working for the Roux family at Le Gavroche, City restaurant Le Poulbot & as a food buyer for the group. Together with Charlie McVeigh, a former financial journalist at The Daily Telegraph who created Woody’s, the Bush Bar & Grill & The Westbridge, Leigh launched Le Café Anglais in Queensway at the tail end of 2007. With the interior matching the art deco grandeur of William Whiteley’s original department store, the food, meanwhile, is proudly European. At the stove is Colin Westal, who has worked with Leigh for the past 25 years & is responsible for serving food from noon until midnight. Leigh is also a cookery writer for the Financial Times.