04 Jan 2025
James Cameron chews over the various eateries he has visited during 2024…
It’s that time of year when every app on your phone tells you exactly what you’ve been up to all year, and I thought I would get in on the action. Not telling you what you’ve been up to, that would be logistically challenging for me to do for every reader and also a little creepy. But I present for your festive enjoyment a selection of my highlights from a year of eating on your behalf.
Best Newcomer: Vourla
Tucked around the back of Christopher Place is veteran St Albans restaurateur Erhan Atilganer’s latest venture, a classy take on Mediterranean dining. Go for the lovely decor and extensive range of cocktails, and stay for the absolutely first rate Baba Ganoush. You should probably order a bit more than Baba Ganoush if you’re having all those cocktails, though, or things might get a bit messy.
Best Welcome: Alban
Walk into this perennial Indian restaurant near the station and you will straight away feel as if you are part of the family. Dishes will be suggested, allergies will be remembered and taken incredibly seriously, and you will probably be berated for leaving it so long since your last visit.
To be fair, once you have a taste of their signature Red Fort curry you will wonder why you aren’t going along every other day.
Best Innovation: Quality-Street Inspired Cocktails at the Octagon Bar
The amount of work by Adam Jobson, the head barman at Sopwell House, that went into designing a range of drinks that accurately reflect the distinct flavours of the best Quality Street chocolates (and Coconut Eclair) as well as being near-perfect drinks in their own right is truly breathtaking, and also probably a lot of fun. The fact that all of this work was undergone just so we can get more drunk than we expected whilst reminiscing about near-comatose Christmas afternoons makes you realise that we are living in the best of all possible worlds.
Runner Up: When I made sandwiches for lunch using brioche buns, Jalapeno Primula and Snappy Shopper Tortilla Chips from the corner shop at the top of Elstree Hill.
Best Collaboration: Gracey’s x The Boot Cantina
I love pizza, I love Mexican Food, so I absolutely adored it when Gracey’s worked with the Boot to put lovely salsa and feta on top of their already incredible crispy and perfectly charred pizzas.
I can only hope that at the next assembly of the great and good of the St Albans Culinary world at their Palace of Justice this initiative will inspire more bountiful partnerships.
Best Pub (Eating): The Boot
Of course there would be no tasty Mexican treats to put on the pizza without the good people of The Boot Cantina. To find world-class Birria Tacos in a delightful historic pub with well-kept beer is so much in my sweet spot that I sometimes wonder if I’ve dreamt it.
Best Pub (Drinking): The White Hart Tap
Oddly enough I’ve been asked independently by three different people what my favourite St Albans pub is over the last few weeks, so it’s something that I’ve put a great deal of thought into.
As I’m sure you know by now, if I wanted something to eat with my pint then I’d head to The Boot, especially if the thing I wanted to eat involved Tacos. If I just wanted a quiet pint and a chat, though, I think I’d go for the White Hart Tap. It is easily overlooked, sitting as it does at the heart of a high density pub area (near neighbours include The Garibaldi, The White Lion, the Beehive, The Hare and Hounds, The Goat and of course The White Hart Hotel. The Tap does all the right things, though, and it does them well. It’s always got a couple of interesting rotating beers on as well as the classics (such as Landlord and Side Pocket), staff are friendly and chatty, there’s a pleasant garden (something of a rarity in St Albans) and they have pork scratchings.
They also do a very good quiz on Wednesdays (dependant on quiz master) and I’m hoping by giving them a mention I get a couple of bonus points next time.
Best Non-St Albans Restaurant: A. Wong
As much as you might not want to hear it, there are actually a few decent restaurants outside of the AL1 postcode. My pick of the places I have betrayed St Albans with in 2024 goes to A.Wong, a Chinese restaurant near Victoria Station in that there London.
The eponymous Andrew Wong inherited a fairly standard Chinese restaurant but rather than go down the usual bright orange and fried route he instead went on an extensive global research trip before coming home-laden down with ideas for making things super tasty.
As an incredibly special treat I went for the Touch of the Heart Menu (the literal translation of Dim Sum) and it was a series of increasingly elaborate and spectacular blows to my taste buds. At one point we were shown a video of Mr Wong vigorously jumping up and down to stretch out his noodles to the right consistency, which shows a level of dedication you don’t get at Burger King. This was possibly the most I have ever spent on a meal, but it has given me several flavour memories that will last me to the end of my days.
Runner Up: Burger King
In the evening after my visit to A.Wong I had a box of 20 Chilli Cheese Bites from Burger King, and I have to say I enjoyed it almost as much, though that might have had something to do with the number of pints consumed in the intervening period.
Best Restaurant: Omboo
A return to Sopwell House for their restaurant this time. As I get older I realise that top quality food is only part of the enjoyment you get from a meal out. Almost as important is the level of service you get, and whilst you can generally get fed and fed well at home, depending on the culinary skills of yourself or your chosen life partner, it is most unlikely that anyone would put the effort into looking after you that was apparent at Omboo. And if they did they would get bored of it very quickly, and you would also get bored of giving the appropriate level of appreciation in return.
All in all, it’s probably best that you just go for dinner at Omboo once in a while. Fantastic Asian-fusion food presented to you perfectly in classy surroundings, with the option for some amazing cocktails before, during and after.
Best Gig: The Bluetones @The Horn
Because I do sometimes do things other than stuff my face, I wanted to give a shout out to The Horn who celebrated their 50th birthday with a level of energy and ambition that I can only aspire to when my time comes.
Just to keep things vaguely on message they also do delicious burgers served with those V-shaped chips that somehow make them exponentially better.
They have hosted some fantastic acts to mark their anniversary but the stand-out for me were Brit-Pop survivors the Bluetones who put on a fabulous show back in March.
Much as I am beginning to appreciate that service is almost as important as food for a restaurant, I truly believe that the between-songs banter can be as integral as the quality of the songs for a good gig.
Frontman Mark Morriss has charisma to spare, and it doesn’t hurt that they have some of my favourite songs of all time in their back catalogue and showed none of the reticence of other acts to bust them out. The sort of evening that makes you glad you left your sofa, even without anyone giving you food.
So there we have it, my 2024 wrapped in greaseproof paper. Congratulations to all the winners of this most prestigious of prizes, and to all those that have missed out hopefully this will inspire you to come back stronger in 2025.
For my part I fully commit to work up enough of an appetite to give you all a chance to impress me next year.
A heartfelt thank you to all those in the hospitality industry who work hard and long to give us a momentary distraction from what is an increasingly depressing world, and I wish you all continued success in the New Year!
