12 Aug 2026
James Cameron visits Samuel Ryder’s seed hall on Holywell Hill to discover what’s on offer from its latest tenant…
There are some locations that stay empty for years and years when a restaurant closes down, and others that spring back up very quickly. I am glad that Moka falls into the latter category, as the thought of the location (the old Ryder Seeds hall on Holywell Hill previously occupied by Café Rouge) standing vacant and unused is a terrible one.
Luckily Moka (or to give them their full name, Moka-Choka-Ya-Ya-Creole-Lady-Marmalade) have made a great use of the space, with the large illuminated bar still dominating proceedings and fabulous art deco lighting and lampshades dangling down from the elegant glass ceiling.
Fantastic visually, but how does it deal with the other senses?
Smell, sound and touch are all largely only applicable for reviews in a negative context, and I am glad to report that there were no unpleasant odours, loud aggressive jungle tunes or chairs with weird spikey bits poking into your lower back to disrupt our dining experience, so if it’s OK with you I might focus on taste for the rest of the review.
One thing that did create a slightly poor first impression was the presence of a bottle of water on the table when we arrived. This seems a slightly sharp practice, giving you something you didn’t
order but would have to pay for, that you would expect to find at a tourist trap restaurant on Las Ramblas in Barcelona with a laminated menu in five languages, but not at a sophisticated Indian restaurant in St Albans. Apart from anything else, the water would not be particularly cold if it’s been left out on the table, however it was happily swapped for tap water when we asked.
To be fair, the water probably would have been pretty cool, as there was powerful air-conditioning at play in Moka. This was very welcome given the current sweltering temperatures, and you really appreciate it when you visit the oddly hot toilets.
Anyway, here I am talking about touch when I promised to move onto taste. As schools are out and everyone was in a holiday mood we decided to treat ourselves to pre-dinner drinks, and as we are in the midst of mango season there was a whole menu of mango-based cocktails. I am totally in on a celebration of this fruit, so went for a Mango Breeze, made with mango vodka and blueberry juice, and I can confirm that it did indeed taste very mango-ey.
There were plenty of other cocktails and mocktails available, many of which not featuring mango. These include the peppy and gingery Ginger Addiction and the sugary hit of the Watermelon Basil Smash. All were presented beautifully, although at £14.40 each the cocktails are a bit of an indulgence.
The starters were where Moka really shined. We assumed that it was too classy a place for poppadoms, but when the fantastically named Crunchy Munchies arrived they were essentially that, but elevated. A selection of traditional poppadoms plus other large crispy carb things, served with both a mango and a tomato dip, they were a lot of fun.
The starter menu was a bit confusing in other ways. It featured a wide range of dishes, some traditional and others a bit more out there (including Asian tacos), but the pricing ranged from very reasonable (a fiver for the poppadoms) to more than the main courses.
We went for some of the more reasonably priced items on the Asian Fusion section, and these were more than adequate. Possibly my high-point of the meal was the Salt & Pepper Corn. We expected this to be crispy, halfway to popcorn, but each highly seasoned bite had a fresh soft interior.
Moka Moga on the other hand were described as chips but were more like roast potatoes, only not potatoes obviously. They were golden crispy deliciousness, served with a spicy black crumb. Portions were very generous, and the two starters and crunchy munchies between four of us were more than enough. Just what you want from starters, things to share, things to nibble and great big flavours.
Mains were equally generous, big pots of thick rich sauces and large chunks of meat. Malabar Chicken Curry took the coconut up to eleven, and it was served with thigh meat, softer and with more flavour than the usual breast. I have also been asked to point out that it was nicely hot, not from a spice point of view but temperature, and this was apparently important.
Rajasthani Lall Maas was described as a spicy lamb curry but it was happily within my spice threshold. The sauce was a pleasing vibrant red colour with a deep cardamom flavour.
I went for the Hyderabadi Kacche Gosht Ki Biryani, a lamb biryani. It steamed appreciably when I took off the lid, and the lamb came in plentiful big chunks, still quite fatty which I really appreciated. Whilst the initial flavours did not excite your tastebuds as much as the saucier offerings, it had a fantastic slow build. Small amounts of the richly sauced dishes can go a long way but I happily kept on taking servings of this until my stomach had to take me aside and give me a stern talking to.
The Dal Tadka was probably the weakest dish. Its recipient was originally rather disgruntled at its relative meagreness compared to the other dishes but ended up leaving a fair amount. It had a good smokiness but was very watery, more of a soup, and not necessarily better than what could be done at home.
The bread selection was impressive. Along with the usual naan variants they had three different types of paratha. The Pudina Paratha was layered with fresh mint leaves which made it a cooling side dish, and the topping was very generous.
The Tandoori Roti was crispy and chewy like a meringue, whilst the Cheese Naan had the comforting warmth of a good cheese toastie.
We finished with freshmint tea as the quantities of food consumed to this point made the idea of dessert a sick joke. This came in very aesthetically pleasing teapots but tasted quite metallic.
Possibly the water hadn’t been filtered, but it bought back memories of tea served in hospitals.
After a fantastic starter start, the main dishes were very nice but not necessarily nicer than you would get at a number of other Indian restaurants across town.
The prices, on the other hand, definitely were higher than you would normally expect to pay, and you wonder how much of this is about the location. We spent £213 (including service) between the four of us, and after the indulgence of the opening drinks were by no means boozy.
Still, it is undeniably one of the most attractive interiors in St Albans and a delight to visit. I would possibly recommend approaching it small plate style, trying some more of the fusion starters alongside their fantastic cocktails. And a jug of tap water.
