04 Feb 2026
James Cameron risks enflaming inter-district tensions with a visit to the St Albans branch of the independent deli chain…
I would like to start this review with a warning to our northern neighbours, the Harpendenians: Know your place!
It’s quite sweet when you try and emulate St Albans by having your own branches of places like the Waffle House and Lussmans, like a small boy trying on his older brother’s jacket in the mirror. When that boy goes out in the jacket, however, and to make matters worse his jacket brings all the girls to the yard, then we have a problem.
It started with Brad & Dills where the main Harpenden location sprawls out luxuriously next to the park, whereas St Albans huddles next to a busy road (although it is in an old laundrette which is objectively cool).
Now we have Silver Palate, which boasts both a deli and restaurant in Harpenden and has now added a St Albans deli. Now this is clearly the wrong way round, but in the spirit of inter-district harmony I went in with an open mind.
Their location is absolutely lovely, at the base of the Clock Tower and opposite The Boot, giving a view of historical beauty that the residents of Harpenden can only dream about as they look at their state-of-the-art leisure facilities and massive houses. Inside the Silver Palate ‘massive’ is certainly not an adjective that springs to mind. Tables share the space with Christmas Carol-like piles of food and also a motor-scooter, and one is forced to become very intimate with their fellow diners. This forced intimacy is worth it, though, given the magnificent array of treats that fill every spare corner of the site. Of all the dine-in delis of St Albans this is the one that I would most like to do a trolley dash in, although given the space issues it would be more of a trolley hop.
A mouth-watering array of cheeses, biscuits and cakes galore and some very enticing dips with fresh fat pittas to accompany them wink at you enticingly.
The menu takes up an entire wall, but it is largely sandwich variations. The deli does seem more geared towards food to take away, rather than a place to bring an elderly relative who you are trying to impress enough to stay in their will. Once the weather gets warmer, if such a concept is even imaginable, Silver Palate would come into its own. Not only would the outdoor tables become viable options but you could grab a sarnie, a selection of cannoli and a smoothie and you have yourself a pretty fine picnic to take across to the Vintry Garden….
Despite the al fresco unfriendly weather, though, this is a great place to come in January for those who are on a health kick.
The aforementioned smoothies taste so good you assume they must be processed to within an inch of their lives, but they are just great combinations of lovely fresh fruit and vegetables. Fresh apple juice was similarly sweet and frothy, and a vanilla chai was just what was needed to fend off the creeping tendrils of winter.
Once you had narrowed down between the various sourdough, ciabatta, focaccia and pitta sandwiches you were in for a treat. I went for the Italian Focaccia and was in sandwich heaven.
Again this is one to avoid when Great Uncle Phillip is in town for fear of leaving him with an inheritance-destroying greasy handshake on departure, but even then it’s probably worth it. The sandwich was stuffed to the gills with delicious meats and cheeses, and the bread was crispy from its own intrinsic oil, as well as the generous contributions from its contents.
The Vegan Pitta was less crispy and more doughy, but just as generously stuffed. In this case the filling was hummus, peppers (anti-pasta style) and tomatoes.
Things got equally messy here as by the end the hummus and tomato products had combined into a delicious liquidy gunk that undermined the pitta’s structural integrity. With this level of dripping going on, additional napkins would also definitely have been welcome.
If you’re trying to avoid the post-lunch bready sleep dip you can also go for the salad bowl. The vegan version of this contained similar contents to the vegan pitta, as well as some bonus vine-leaves.
This led to a treat-filled top section, with deliciously creamy hummus offset by tangy peppers and olives, but once these were gone you burrowed down to a layer of simple leaves which meant the finale of the meal was somewhat anti-climactic.
With such an array of cakes, and such an array of exclamation marks on the signs extolling the cakes, we could not resist. The vegan option was a pecan slice with a great granola-like texture.
This was quite restrained in its size and sweetness level for the more sophisticated and silver palate.
Not so the cinnamon bun, an absolute beast of sugar and flakey pastry.
It was fantastic, but if the focaccia wasn’t enough to fully knock me out in the afternoon then this would finish the job.
It may be worth planning for a situation where a happy stupor is a viable option.
Of course we had tea with our cake, both peppermint and fresh mint. With the fresh mint tea they absolutely did not scrimp on the mint, possibly it is threatening to take over their garden and needs aggressive management. Bring it on, I say, although it would have been good if they had also brought on some cold water.
Tea is often served boiling hot, fine for the brewing stage but when it comes to the drinking you either end up with a scalded mouth or have to wait patiently for it to cool, eyeing your accompanying cake hungrily all the time.
Standard tea and coffee is often cooled down by the presence of milk, so a little jug of cold water would serve the herbal tea equally well.
The Harpenden mothership has a wider range of dishes, plus the ability to stretch out and drink booze, and the quality of their more limited deli offering would be enough to prompt me to make the long and arduous trek north.
Until then I am happy to make the bold claim that Silver Palate have the best sandwiches in St Albans, and with so many combinations to try I will be squeezing myself into their city centre outpost whenever I can.
