Dish of the Day
Chris Cottingham writes on everything foodie

St Alban

You know those dates you go on where it’s great, but all you can remember the next day are the little things that weren’t quite right. It’s the same with St Alban, the latest restaurant from the people behind The Ivy, J Sheekey’s and Le Caprice.

First, the room: it’s sleek and full of statement designer furniture, but there’s more than a hint of the Virgin Atlantic business class departure lounge. It’s the date equivalent of talking about work too much.

Then the food. We had French bean salad with smoked ricotta and black olive dressing and Black Angus carpaccio with truffle dressing to start, then risotto of butternut squash and Sardinian fish stew. All decent enough, but the carpaccio could have been trufflier, the risotto a touch less sweet, the stew a bit more ballsy.

That said, the bread was excellent, as were the petit fours that came with coffee. But this is a hundred quid for two kind of place and there are better hundred quid kind of places within a few minutes walk. If it was a date, it wouldn’t be a complete bust. But you’d definitely be waiting for them to call you.

St Alban

4-12 Regent Street

London SW1Y 4PE

020 7499 8558