Le Café Anglais isn’t the first restaurant that springs to mind when I think of where to go for a Sunday roast, but our friend was visiting from Edinburgh with her Scottish boyfriend and my foodie friend suggested it. So 7 of us descended there on Sunday afternoon.

I love the decor of the place, I’m a sucker for elegance and Le Café Anglais is oozing with it. The restaurant is very spacious due to the high ceilings and is also bright and airy due to the large windows, white walls and crisp white tablecloths.

Rowley Leigh opened Le Café Anglais in 2007 and is well known for his modern British Cooking. It is situated in Whiteleys shopping center in West London, but don’t let that put you off. The restaurant has it’s own separate entrance on the ground floor and you’re then transported in a lift to the main room on the first floor.

The menus were placed in front of us and the decision that I had made to have the roast before I even arrived flew out of the window. It took me a while to choose but I eventually settled on the French Partridge with Cabbage and Bacon. My boyfriend went for the Roast Beef so I still got to try it, which I was happy about.

My group are somewhat big eaters so we went for Hors D’oeuvres, Starters, Mains and Puddings. Yes, we were full afterward and no, we didn’t need any dinner later in the evening!

A plate of Radishes and fresh bread with butter welcomed us to the table – a perfect and refreshing way to stay the feast.

The dinner started with a delightful Prosecco (welcome friends) and my boyfriend and I shared the Parmesan Custard with Anchovy Toast and the Quails’ Eggs with Duxelles and Hollandaise to start. My friend told me of the praise that the Parmesan Custard has had in the past so I had to give it a go. It was delicious – I was a bit dubious at first, probably because of the word ‘custard’ but it was creamy, cheesy and the Anchovy Toast provided a nice salty touch.

The Quails eggs were encased in mini delicate pastry boat. The yolks (most important part!) were perfectly runny and divine.

For starter we shared the Raw Tuna with Ginger dressing. I am a huge fan of sashimi and Japanese inspired food so this hit the spot completely for me.

The mains came and although the roast was fantastic – big slab of medium rare beef, huge roast pudding, perfect roast potatoes, roast celeriac and just the right amount of gravy, I found the French Partridge to be ever so slightly disappointing.

Don’t get me wrong, the Partridge was cooked extremely well – it was moist and tender but the accompanying gravy was what let it down. It wasn’t as pleasing to the eye either as the colours were rather drab.

Pudding was a different story – I ordered the Bitter Chocolate Soufflé with Pistachio Ice Cream. It took 25 minutes to come, which we were advised on ordering but it was well worth the wait. The Soufflé was light, fluffy and gooey. The Ice Cream wasn’t AS good as expected – I don’t think that the Pistachios were roasted before made into Ice Cream and I had difficulty identifying the taste. There was a very welcome touch of melted Dark Chocolate, which we poured over the Soufflé and Ice Cream.

The bill came and the cost, with one bottle of Prosecco, 3 bottles of wine, coffees to finish and service charge, came to £72 per head.

Three and a half hours later, we rolled out of the restaurant, laughing and extremely content.

Le Café Anglais
8 Porchester Gardens
London W2 4DB
020 7221 1415