You have to hand it to Rowley Leigh, after a couple of decades at the helm of Kensington Place - one of London’s busiest and noisiest restaurants – he has taken some time off and then dived straight back into the maelstrom. Le Café Anglais is a bright, comfortable, modern looking Brasserie on the second floor of the Whiteleys building on Queensway. I think we can be sure that the Whiteleys Shopping Centre is marching up market as this was a case of out with McDonalds and in with Le Café Anglais. This venture is a master class in how to deliver the kind of restaurant that the public wants. Spiritually it is the lovechild of Kensington Place and the Wolseley with a long menu that has its share of idiosyncratic gastro-jokes and allusions. Steamed Brill comes with sauce Duglére; the menu offers pommes Anna (both dishes that originated in the original Café Anglais in Paris). Parmesan custard. Pike boudin with fines herbes and beurre blanc - farewell quenelles brochet. But there’s no dumbing down here.

The dining room is long and has tall windows with elegant pastel banquets under them on one side and a bustling open bar, kitchen, and pair of rotisseries on the other. Rowley Leigh has made his transition from a bar stool at KP to a bar stool at Le Café Anglais seem effortless. The standard cooking is very high and the menu delights. Let’s hear it for “hors d’oeuvres”……fifteen small dishes, each costs £3, this is starter heaven – fried anchovies; mackerel teriyaki; piperade with Parma ham; a magnificent oeuf en gelée – the egg soft boiled the jelly melting and savoury; Mortadella with celeriac remoulade; competitive rabbit rillettes with delicious pickled endives; that Parmesan custard with anchovy toasts – a dish that tastes so much better than it reads.

The trouble with the hors d’oeuvres is that they restrict all but the doughtiest appetites when it comes to choosing first courses, pheasant and lentil potage purée; foie gras terrine with Pedro Ximenez jelly; fonduta with salsify and white truffles; Parma ham with pickled damsons. The main courses are drawn from fish (half a dozen options including a very fine dish of steamed whiting with shrimps and a garam masala sauce) and a section headed “roasts” – impeccable roast chicken; French partridge; pheasant served with choucroute and Morteau sausage; Rib of beef; middle of pork. The vegetables section ranges from “Brussels sprouts, well done” to purple sprouting broccoli, and the greedy man’s choice, pommes Anna. Puds lead with fresh fruit, and then cast aside all that cautious healthy stuff to revel in apple Charlotte, chocolate soufflé and a succession of outrageous ice cream sundaes. The old world wine list gives you a decent chance of drinking at under £35 a bottle. The food pricing is steady. After the bargain £3 hors d’oeuvres, first courses range from £5 to £11; fish from £9 to £23.50; roasts from £15 to £21; puds £5 to £8. There are just one jarring notes – the pommes Anna comes in at £6 which is a little strong for a spud side dish.

Service is friendly, there is a business like feel to the room and there seem to be remarkably little sign of teething troubles or new restaurant nerves. This restaurant is busy and deservedly so. Its success lies in offering the public exactly the kind of place and food that they are crying out for. Le Café Anglais is just about perfect.

Charles Campion

Le Café Anglais, 8 Porchester Gardens, W2 (020 7221 1415)