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Albion at The Boundary Project
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Budget choice
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© Michael Franke
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By Guy Dimond
The big daddy of London’s restaurant revolution is back. The management buy-out of Conran Restaurants in 2006 – handing Quaglino’s, Blue Print Café, Orrery et al over to the stewardship of D&D London – did not spell the end of Terence Conran as a restaurateur, as everyone predicted. Instead, over the last couple of years, Terence and his wife Vicki have been collaborating with their former operations director Peter Prescott on the new Boundary Project. Their new company is called – you guessed – 'Prescott & Conran'.
Fittingly, its location is on Redchurch Street, Shoreditch, inside the shell of a former light industrial building; it’s just across the street from Shoreditch House, the fashionable members’ club, in what has become one of the most vogueish streets in London.
Boundary Project looks, and is, an astonishingly professional operation in the otherwise dishevelled-looking Shoreditch. Albion is the ground floor ‘caff’ (their description), food shop and bakery; Boundary is the smarter French restaurant in the basement of the same building. The rooftop bar-grill, Boundary Rooftop, opened in summer 2009.
Albion’s room is a looker, with lots of natural light bathing the white tiled interior, open kitchen, and pendulous factory lights. The food shop is at one end, though – excellent baking apart – it’s chiefly a window-dressing exercise, unless you feel the need to stock up on tins of treacle and quinces on the way out. But it looks lovely, and sends the right signals: wholesome, traditional, but also knowingly chic. There’s wit in the design too, from the stools made from tractor seats to the Brown Betty teapots covered in hand-knitted woollen tea cosies.
British nostalgia-revival menus are everywhere at the moment, but the execution of the even simple dishes such as welsh rabbit or fish pie can disappoint. At worst, they only remind us why British food fell out of favour in the first place. But not here. The little appetiser plate of crackling is the best roasted pork skin you’ll find: crisp, light, crunchy, and packed with pork-fat flavour.
The meat in a proper Irish stew isn’t browned before simmering, but this hasn’t detracted from the flavour in any way; the slow-cooked stock in Albion’s version gave a richness to the dish, yet the root vegetables were still firm, not cooked into a mush. The rice of the kedgeree was light and delicately flavoured, more like a pulao than school dinner kedgeree. Puddings include nursery favourites such as egg custard, apple and blackberry crumble, or bread and butter pudding.
None of the main courses cost more than a tenner, which is great value for such skilful cooking in such an appealing setting. Service was perky, polite, and prompt. But perhaps best of all, Albion is open all day, every day, making it an ideal meeting place when you’re in the East End and want to meet friends somewhere reliably well-run and pleasant.
Albion easily trumps the quality of British cooking and ambience at nearby Canteen, and has a less challenging menu than the champions of offal, St John Bread & Wine (dishes such as ox heart or smoked eel isn’t to everyone’s taste). Make sure you book though, because Albion gets very busy – and take note of some of the customer comments below.Time Out London June 2009
Time Out reviews restaurants anonymously and pays for meals. Of course, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or independence of user reviews.
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Details
- 2-4 Boundary Street, Shoreditch, E2 7DD
- Area: Shoreditch
- Tel: 020 7729 1051
- www.albioncaff.co.uk
- Category: British
- Travel: Liverpool St tube/rail or 8, 26, 48 bus
- Times: 8am-midnight Mon-Sun
- Services:
- Outdoor tables: Several tables outside in traffic-free Boundary Street
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Went here with my sis...somewhat apprehensive after some v grumpy comments on this website. What a lovely evening! Great food (thumbs up that pork crackling) and excellent service. Our waitress was cheerful, chatty and when we paid the bill got into a discussion about other good food places to try. And try the owl and the pussycat for a pint first - a bit further down the street
Very disappointed- waited 20 minutes to be seated and a further 20 minutes before our order was taken. Then the tea was forgotten and we had to ask for complementary bread - no genuine apology or discount for such terrible service. When the cottage pie arrived, the small portion was dry and overcooked, just like a nasty frozen meal. Very pricey too.
I'm another disappointed customer I'm afraid. Terrible service: no sense of humour, 40 minute wait for food with no warning, side portion of chips delivered 10 minutes before the rest of the meal, drink orders forgotten twice and waiter also forgot to bring a promised bag to take food home in. The food itself was far from special either.
A better bet is the Pavilion in Victoria Park. A bit pricier and sometimes also slow but the food is streets ahead and its owned by two great independent guys who you'd be much wiser giving your money to.
After arriving at Fifteen at 11:01am and being refused breakfast, we asked a trendy-looking local where we could find a great place with a full english brekki. and were directed to this gem. The food was reasonably priced and delicious, decor divine and an all round great experience. Would definitely go back!
Went to Albion recently and found the food, price and service very honest. Staff was very efficient and smily. Ready to go back there anytime!
I went here last night and was pretty disappointed. The waitress was unsmiling (unlike the shop assistants who were charming) and our meal was distinctly underwhelming. Maybe we chose badly, but I don't recommend the 1/4 chicken and chips that I had. The chicken was small and not more than averagely flavoursome, the accompanying white sauce was lukewarm and the chips, whilst tasty, were nothing special. It also felt like I was eating at my gran's house with the cutlery, sauces and bread and butter (nostalgic, yes, but a bit grubby!). Worth a try maybe, but be careful what you choose to eat. And don't expect to be blown away. You'll just about get your money's worth, but no more.
This cafe (more of a restaurant to be honest) is fantastic.
The pork crackling was excellent. The steak and kidney pudding also, and the chips in beef dripping were the best chips I've had in London.
The staff were incredibly friendly and helpful, boxing up our leftovers. This is (finally) a great London restaurant serving British food with American service (constant refills of water, excellent bread and prompt service).
I went for the first time last night, and I shall definitely be going again at the weekend.
Horrific service, mediocre food and a stressful environment of extreme disorganization resulted in one of the worst breakfast experiences in recent memory.
The heated floorboards and cleverly designed interior, cutesy food stuffs and lacquered white brick walls just didn't cut it.
Give me serene, always delicious, Canteen any Sunday morning in lieu of the brunch abomination that is The Albion.
Lovely restaurant, great atmosphere and amazing food. Highly recommended!
You can't book for Albion caff, only The Boundary restaurant.