Impressive. Very, very impressive. The York and Albany was delightful!
Simesy’s b’day was approaching and so was an excuse to take him to dinner somewhere on ‘the list’. ‘The List’ is a list of London cafes/restaurants/eateries/ice creameries and other food-related establishments that we would like to visit before we head back home to Australia. Needless to say, said ‘The List’ is quite large and is seems that for every entry we visit (and hence cross off the list), I add even more.
After a thorough stint of researching and culling the top choices into a set of ‘finalists’, Simesy decided on the York and Albany in Camden Town which is part of Gordon Ramsay holdings, with Angela Hartnett as Chef Patron and Colin Buchan as Head Chef. It’s an impressive dining room with a sleek bar area, cute deli, and even some accommodation upstairs.
I was a little worried that the menu choices would be limited for my fussy tastes, but it wasn’t a problem at all. The staff were all happy to answer all my questions to help me understand how some of the dishes were prepared, which helped me make up my mind!
You know that feeling you get when you are unsure of what to order, you make your choice, and then when it arrives, you love it, and you feel like a winner? Well…I had that feeling for all 3 courses! And it wasn’t even my birthday!
I loved it so much, I feel like I just have to share it!
I started with the summer vegetable salad with pea puree which was a colourful and fun plate full of deliciousness! There were courgettes, beetroots, carrots, baby corn, sweet onions, peaches and pretty pea shoots. It also came with a quails egg but that freaked me out a bit, so ended up being a birthday bonus for the man. The pea puree was so silky too, just delicious!
summer vegetable salad
Simesy had the salt and pepper squid which came with a paprika mayonnaise and baby gems with an anchovy and pepper relish. He was pretty happy with that and inhaled it as soon as I had snapped a pic!
salt and pepper squid
I then moved onto poached Devon plaice with saffron risotto, pickled beetroot, courgette flower, and dill crème fraîche. I was hesitant as that description seemed like a vast range of conflicting flavours, but it was super tasty. The dill was quite strong and the risotto really creamy, while the fish was perfectly poached. Yum!
poached plaice
Simesy went for red meat with a lamb dish and did a few ‘man vs. food’ satisfaction groans. Funny stuff. (For anyone who has seen that show – you will understand what I mean here!)
Dessert was a different path for me. I usually go for something with chocolate for, but the pave was a chocolate and coffee combo and seeing as though I hate coffee, I figured that wouldn’t be as tasty as I would have hoped for. So I went out on a limb and had the honey baked peach ‘soup’ which was a delicious peach sauce poured over the baked peach and topped with prosecco sorbet and served with blueberry madeleines. They were like warm sugary, blueberry donuts, mmmmmmm. And also virtuous being part of my 5 a day!
honey baked peach soup, prosecco sorbet and blueberry madeleines
Simey’s Eton mess wasn’t one of his favourites as they seemed to use a strawberry jelly rather than fresh ones which seemed strange considering it’s British summer here. It was topped topped with a basil sorbet though which he rated highly.
Eton mess
As you can probably guess, we were both stuffed after this meal. The York and Albany has a nice atmosphere also – not stuffy and pretentious, definitely not too quiet that you have to whisper, and friendly service. I would even say it’s quite reasonably priced for the quality of the food. Find them at 127-129 Parkway, London NW1 7PS.
Now for the next place on my list to visit…
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