Situated in the Victorian property that was formerly home to Eat and Two Veg, the architectural design is by Stiff and Trevillion who also designed Jamie’s Italian and Le Cafe Anglais. The interiors are a cool mixture of blacks, greens and browns, hardwood floors, leather banquettes. Along with the tangled wall lights and hand blown glass baubles that adorn the copper bar, it all feels very sophisticated and grown up.

There is an excellent choice of European and New World wine on offer with some wine available on draft; a popular concept in Belgium which eliminates the problem of corkage and oxidisation. We went for the Sancerre which was surprisingly light and refreshing.

Cafe Luc serves up Modern European cuisine – much of it the usual brasserie fare like the Steak Tartare & Moules Marinieres – but with the welcome odd twist here and there. The food looks and tastes great; take my husband Tom’s main choice of the Red Mullet Fillet with Saffron Potatoes, Courgette Flower and Bouillabaisse Vinaigrette. The sauce was a sunset orange and so wonderfully bright they should make sunglasses obligatory, it resembled a 5 year olds drawing. Gorgeous. It’s hard not to smile when your food beams up at you.  (£19.50)

The Brown Shrimp Croquettes are a great choice to kick off proceedings; comforting and a little indulgent, the croquettes were nicely cooked and the soft brown shrimp filling had a slight tang. The crispy fried parsley with lemon added a nice sweet crunch. (£11.20)

Tom’s refreshing starter of Basque Style Carpaccio of Tuna and Swordfish was delicate; the slithers of tuna and swordfish were alarmingly fresh. (£9.50)

For main I had the Fillet of Sea Bream a La Plancha with Onion Compote, Black Olives and Lemon. Grilled on a metal plate, the sweet and strong onion compote - described by the waitress as onion marmalade - put up a substantial fight with the delicate fish but the result in the end was a draw. Very enjoyable.(£17.50)

The Apple Tart with caramel and Grand Marnier sauce dessert was gorgeous (£6.50) and the Sable Aux Fruits Rouges (Shortbread with Mixed Berries and Coulis) was deliciously buttery with good sharpness to the Coulis. (£6.50)

Service was pleasant if a little aloof and like all new ventures Cafe Luc has the odd crease to iron out.

A Brasserie by its very nature tries to please all of the people all of the time and Cafe Luc looks set to do this very well indeed.

Cafe Luc is open is from 11am on the week days and 9am on weekends.