08 Oct 2024
James Cameron is impressed by the masterwork of hospitality at Sopwell House’s high-end offering…
Sopwell House, and its resident Pan-Asian restaurant Omboo, fall firmly into the ‘treat yourself’ category of St Albans dining. You would not pop along on a Wednesday night having been once again disappointed by the contents of your fridge. In fact, maybe you would, in which case I raise my hat to you.
For most of us, though, it is a place for special occasions, for celebrating, dressing up and making a bit of an effort. So I was delighted when I was invited along to check out the menu of new head chef Benny Lee, as it was a chance to dust off my third swankiest shirt.
We began with pre-dinner cocktails in the Octagon Bar. This was a lovely and intimate space, with exquisite decor and a glam 1930s feel.
Giant miniatures (if that’s not an oxymoron) gaze down on intimate octagon tables with atmospheric lighting. The cocktail list itself is similarly well thought out, and as a nice touch all of their signature cocktails have a link to the history of the house, from the Ale, Ale & Honey, which pays tribute to the drunken nuns who originated the property through to the present and the eponymous Octagon Tea Punch.
My companion tried the Orchard Apple, in honour of the apple trees that replaced the nuns when Henry VIII got his greedy mitts on the place. This was a subtle blend of gin and apple, falling somewhat closer to Appletiser than Apple Cinnamon Cheerios on the Appleness scale.
I went for one of the options on the alcohol-free menu, the Temple Mead. This combination of ginger and honey was delightfully warming, although ironically I would probably have preferred it to be served on ice.
Our drinks were served with olives and what I can only describe as very nice crisps.
After this we went through to the restaurant. This was less intimate but more lively, with a lounge bar feel.
We visited on a Saturday night and there was a nice buzz without it feeling overcrowded.
Though the restaurant as a whole was quite dark, the lighting on the table was such that the food had a glow to it, like it was the star of your own personal dinner theatre.
Despite the business of the restaurant you were never searching for a waiter.
The service was attentive and our waitress had a genuine warmth to her enquiries which made you feel incredibly welcome and honoured.
There was a bit of confusion at the start, such as when we ordered an Americano cocktail and a coffee arrived, though this is the risk you run by having two identically named drinks on the menu.
The cocktail when it came was a nice spritzy mix of sweetness and bitterness.
Elsewhere on the non-alcoholic menu was my liquid highlight of the night, the Ola, Ola, Ola.
So good they named it three times, this was a fresh and zingy delight, with jalapenos and coriander giving a feisty Mexican hit. It was so nice I was happy to be sober.
A shout out to the glassware as well, both drinks were served in hefty tumblers that were a delight to hold.
Of course we weren’t just drinking. The a la carte menu has a wide range of small plates on offer, including sushi, wagyu beef and miso-glazed black cod. We opted for the sharing menu, and as I was sharing with a vegan we went for the Silk Set Menu, which with one exception was entirely plant-based. I would say this is definitely the way to go as we were treated to a continual flow of delights expertly designed to be enjoyed together.
First up was a selection of nibbly bits, edamame and pickled vegetables. Skillfully mixing salt and spicy flavours, I have rarely enjoyed carrots so much. Next was a long sushi roll, avocado and asparagus expertly rolled up like a vegetable Colin the Caterpillar. This combined well with the top quality soy sauce, poured out into little side dishes for us.
Then came the exotic mushrooms salad, and it is very rare to say this but the salad was one of my favourite parts of the meal. A pile of well dressed leaves hid a treasure trove of crispy mushroom nuggets, tight and crunchy like chilli beef (only without the beef). Just as we were delighting and fighting over these rare delights along came a whole plate of similarly coated and fried vegetables. Sweet potato, courgette, asparagus all battered so lightly that the chef would probably be let off with a caution.
We then had what would traditionally be called the main course. There were a range of dishes, including broccoli, cauliflower and tofu, served with egg-fried rice, the only non-vegan item. This was more than a side, it was a pile of squidgy, savoury deliciousness with a scent that took you back to the most perfect drunken takeaway of your memory.
The cauliflower was absolutely banging, sweet and sticky with strong flavours. The tofu was silky and soft and whilst I normally prefer it crispy this was good enough to convert me.
Everything was brought to a satisfying conclusion with the dessert platter. Being vegan this largely consisted of sorbets, but there was also a sago pudding in there as well as a chocolate brownie, possibly a refugee from the afternoon tea.
I wasn’t entirely convinced by the sago which was a bit too frog-spawn/rice-puddingy (delete according to dispreference) for my liking.
One of the sorbets, though, which I initially thought was lychee but was subsequently informed was apple, was absolutely delightful.
Considering both the quantity and quality of the food and the high level of service, Omboo is surprisingly good value. It was £58 per person for the Silk set menu, rising all the way to £108 for the Omboo menu featuring the likes of wagyu beef and roasted sea bass, and whilst this does sound delicious I in no way felt hard done by with my veggie meal. The vegetables were never a substitute or replacement, everything was done to play to their strengths and the result was a completely satisfying dinner.
Although both the food and drink were absolutely top-notch, though, what really made the evening magical was the service.
This was not just the manner of the people serving us, though as previously mentioned this was exemplary, but the timing and the smooth running of all the work going on behind the scenes.
This is the sort of thing you only normally notice when it goes wrong, such as at Thompson’s a few weeks ago, but here everything turned up exactly when you wanted it, meaning the evening never dragged and the pace never dropped.
Given how many diners there were, and how many individual dishes are on the menu, to coordinate this all must be a mammoth task akin to keeping a banquet’s worth of plates spinning. Like a top-class jazz band every member must not only be on top of their own game but be able to act and react perfectly to their colleague’s performances to ensure the tempo remains perfect. Omboo are the Miles Davis Quartet of the St Albans dining world.
My only quibble was that as it was sharing plates my partner was able to snaffle all the best bits whilst I was noting down my amusing and insightful opinions (see above), however I realise that is a fairly specific issue.
If this means that people leave their phone alone and focus on the masterwork of hospitality unfolding in front of them then so much the better.
