ALBA London is a large stylish restaurant spread out along the first floor above the smart design focussed YDF furniture store. The room is a capacious modern and glossy space. To access the restaurant you enter the YDF store and reach Alba via the elegant black marble staircase. There are picture widows along its whole length overlooking Harrods with an open kitchen, a central cocktail bar, and a recently installed Omakase counter facing the windows.
There appears to be a trend of siting restaurants in furniture stores which is a big step up from serving coffee in book shops. If RH in Burlington Place is the grandest example in London, YDF runs it a good second. Though those of us old enough to care can remember entering The Conran Shop at the Michelin Building via the Oyster Bar, and if fortunate enough to have a chum with an expense account having a slap up supper upstairs at Bibendum before nicking one of the Michelin Man ashtrays on the way out – those were the days. ALBA has a dual personality, it is an Italian restaurant influenced by the Amalfi Coast, with the addition of Japanese cuisine, which is heavily influenced by the sea too. One can see the conceptual link if not the geography but that really doesn’t matter as this is Knightsbridge.
A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate to be invited to ALBA to sample the Omakase menu designed and presented by their Japanese Head Chef Takuya Kaneko (previously at Yuma). What followed was a confidently executed exhibition of the culinary art of Omakase. Takuya Kaneko gave an affable running commentary about the ingredients, their provenance and was an essential part of the of the experience. Each piece of nigri or sashimi prepared, some wrapped in nori, others placed on rice then passed by him or his assistant chef across the counter to each diner. One mouthful after another for 12 courses.
The chef used the best ingredients, whether it was the langoustine tail, bluefin, uni or soft sea-fresh scallops – everything served was vibrantly fresh. Some ingredients are flown in from Japan, others are sourced more locally and barely out of the sea. Some of the nigri were garnished with beluga caviar, some with creamy uni – or both.
A memorable exception to the parade of expected fish and seafood was a piece of aged on-site Japanese wagyu belly as soft as butter, followed by another which was given a blast of the blow torch to bring out a more savoury note. My fellow diners, ten in all, and old hands at this sort of thing were unanimous that the meal had been a great success. We were served the 12 course Omakase menu, there is also a 9 course option if you’re on the pen. In addition there is an à la carte Japanese menu served at the restaurant’s tables.
Although I haven’t had an opportunity to try the Italian cuisine at ALBA, watching the activity in the open kitchen gave a sense of a team that knows it’s business. Its dual Italian and Japanese character is shown by the plethora of menus Being on one of London’s busiest shopping and touristed streets ALBA has a number of offerings depending on the time of day, the diner or their inclination. There are a number of options which include a good value set lunch, as well as à la carte which covers a gamut of Italian dishes – and of course sushi.
Then the menus veer into a number offers for different days, there’s an unlimited tagliatelle from a wheel of pecorino on Tuesdays. Then there’s a caviar and martini offer, and so on, and so on. It’s worth having a look at the menus and ‘what’s on’ sections of the website as I stopped typing after ‘Oyster Monday’.it would be easy to think that ALBA is trying to cover too many bases but that would be unfair, this is a restaurant that serves up an highly polished and enjoyable experience for both their international and Londoner guests.
THE INFORMATION
ADDRESS
70 Brompton Rd, London SW3 1ER
Web: https://alba-ldn.uk
Booking: https://alba-ldn.uk/book-now
Open Daily: Monday – Thursday: 12:00 pm to 11:30 pm; Friday – Saturday: 12:00 pm to 12:00 am ; Sundays: 12:00 pm to 10:30 pm
CONTACT +44 (0)20 3985 4992 [email protected]
