London Restaurant Festival » Rowley Leigh

BOILING POINT: Interview with Rowley Leigh, Le Café Anglais

Visit London — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:00:55 +0000

London Restaurant Festival talks to Rowley Leigh, head chef/patron of Le Café Anglais, about eating in London.

LRF: What was the last London restaurant you visited?
RL: The River Café.

LRF: Which London restaurant is your favourite?
RL: Le Gavroche because it’s like a magic carpet ride and you’re treated like a king!

LRF: Who has been the biggest influence on the way you cook?
RL: My mother.

LRF: What’s your signature dish?
RL: I don’t believe in them.

LRF: What’s it like to work in your kitchen?
RL: It’s a warm, friendly, creative and dynamic rollercoaster ride.

LRF: What do you most like to cook in your spare time?
RL: Pasta and barbeques.

LRF: Which restaurants do you rate in your neighbourhood?
RL: At my place of work I like Hereford Road and Four Seasons Chinese. Near home I prefer the Princess Victoria pub.

LRF: Who is your ideal dinner companion (dead or alive)?
RL: I prefer them alive!

LRF: Which restaurants would you recommend to a tourist with one day to spend in London?
RL: The Goring Hotel.

LRF: Which London farmers’ market, food shop or suppliers would you recommend?
RL: Damas Gate on the Uxbridge road. And HG Walter butchers in Barons Court.

www.lecafeanglais.co.uk

Get your tickets to London Restaurant Festival’s Big Quiz at Le Cafe Anglais here.

BOILING POINT lifts the lid on London’s restaurant scene with regular interviews with London chefs, restaurant managers and restaurateurs.

Industry Awards and Participating Restaurants

Simon Davis — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:14:44 +0000

Busy time last night hopping between parties for Conde Nast Traveller’s Innovation and Design Awards, for which both LRF and our Pierre Koffmann pop-up Restaurant on the Roof at Selfridges were nominated, and then onto the Tatler restaurant awards at The Langham. Bumped into all sorts including Jeremy King, Heston Blumenthal, Rowley Leigh, Phil Howard, Raymond Blanc, Mark Fuller and Tom Aikens. All were asking after the London Restaurant Festival and making their commitments to get involved and support it, which is always encouraging to hear.

I then joined Fay, and her husband Reg, and Wahaca‘s Tommi Miers and her husband Mark at Il Barreto on Blandford St. Such a great place and choc full on a Monday night. We look forward to seeing what they produce for their Festival Menu in October.

On the subject of which, the sign-up is now fully up and running on the website. Please do sign up as soon as you can to make the most of your involvement. It’s quite clear from last year’s LRF that the restaurants who signed up early and got engaged in the festival from the outset saw the greatest benefits from their involvement. It’s just £100 to sign up your restaurant. A very small price to pay for being involved in London’s only genuine restaurant festival designed to embrace all that is great and London’s restaurant industry.

All the very best,
Simon.

The Big Roast

Simon Davis — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:08:52 +0000

The biggest Sunday Roast ever witnessed in London took place at Leadenhall yesterday with 800 people sitting down to beef, partridge, venison, pork and lamb cooked by a roll call of top London chefs.

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