Le Cafe Anglaise

Last night was our Big Night Out. We went to not one but two wine tastings, organised by Howard Ripley and Justerini & Brooks.

After the guerrilla tastings we headed for Bayswater to check out the much-touted Cafe Le Anglais.

The restaurant, set up by Rowley Leigh, won both Best Newcomer and London Restaurant of the Year at the London Restaurant Awards 2008, so we had high expectations.

We were not bowled over.

The decor is very cool, and spacious layout very appealing especially for a group night out. I like the bar area!

The Anglo-French menu is massive - not surprising given Leigh's long career - and includes aperitif, hors d'oeuvre, rotisserie specials, fish, desserts, and ice creams. There is also a Menu Gormand, and three other fixed menus. To add to the ambition, there's a daily special. Pant!

While the restaurant was born out of a desire for a rotisserie-based business, we decided to choose the Menu Gormand (35 pounds). I had the spaghetti with langoustines, followed by tronconette of brill with parsnips flavoured with garam masala, and er, some chocolate dessert.

I thoroughly enjoyed my starter. It had a lively fresh flavour, and the tomato sauce was perfectly light.

My brill (fish) was a letdown - it was like cod only firmer, and the garam masala didn't quite work.

 My dessert - some sort of choco mousse inside a cake thingy - was only so-so:

For his main course, Ray had a steak which was competent but nothing to shout about. Writing this right now, he can't even recall what he had for a starter it was that unforgettable (some of game with foie gras) but here's an attractive shot of it:

His dessert was the best thing we had that night - a panna cotta with a perfect bounce and delicate flavour.

Too bad the rhubarb was severely undercooked.

I would come back for the panna cotta, but that's about it...

Thinking back, I should have stuck to the rotisserie dishes - some other diners had the chicken and that looked very good. But you know when you have a big night out, sometimes you want to splash out so you reckon the menu GOURMAND would bowl you over especially given the price...

Plus I make a decent roast chicken so the thought of paying top bucks for chicken is like getting a roasting yourself.