BY KELLY BESWICK
Tucked away on a quiet residential street in Hackney, this small, but perfectly formed restaurant’s reputation is spreading far and wide, and that’s thanks to its chef-owner, Scott Pattinson’s creativity both in and out of the kitchen
I’ve often wandered past Albers exploring the streets of De Beauvoir Town whilst out walking my dog. Located just a hop, skip and a jump from bustling Kingsland Road, occupying a small, modern cube of a building on the corner of Englefield Road and De Beauvoir Road, I simply assumed it was another trendy café, serving up to the area’s well-heeled denizens with the ubiquitous smashed avocado on sour dough and chai latte.
Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong, because having finally eaten at the place, I can honestly say there is nothing ubiquitous about it. First off, it’s definitely more of a restaurant than a café, albeit a lovely, light-filled, informal one with a distinct Scandi vibe. And then there’s the food itself, with charming Scott determined to offer something a little bit different, as evidenced by the taleggio panna cotta and compressed melon that graced the specials board on the night of our visit. He’s obviously doing something right, because the place was heaving with a refreshingly mixed bag of punters, despite it being an early Wednesday evening in February. Indeed, Scott looked in his element, beavering away in his tiny kitchen as the orders came flooding in.
As we subsequently discovered, Albers is very much a passion project for Scott, who wanted to create the perfect neighbourhood dining experience, with food and ambiance to match. It’s also a very personal venture for him, with the restaurant named after his beloved dog (I’d like to think that my dog Dexter would get on with Albers), while the beautiful tables and chairs were hand crafted by a friend and local furniture maker and the colourful artwork on the walls comes courtesy of artist friends of his too.
Works of art were not confined to the walls, however, with our chosen starters arriving looking as pretty as a picture. I had opted for the veal carpaccio, crème fraîche and red radish, a really light and flavour-packed take on a vitello tonnato, with the radishes adding a wonderful hot and peppery note. My dining companion, meanwhile, chose scallop crudo, cucumber and shiso, served in the shell, nesting on a small mound of salt. It was an excellent homage to all things briny and evidently tasted as good as it looked.
Having downed a glass of a very decent prosecco and a delicious melon martini at the start of our meal, we settled on a robust bottle of Sicilian red to accompany our mains. It turned to be the perfect partner to my lamb cutlets, borlotti beans and anise, a hale and hearty dish if ever there was one, with the glistening chunks of pink and tender meat sitting on top of the beans in a slick, umami-rich sauce while the hint of liquorice from the anise further added to the depth of flavour. My dining companion’s choice of venison, celeriac and lardo, also didn’t disappoint, with the deer loin lightly caramelised on the outside and perfectly pink within, while the creamed celeriac was rich and unctuous with the lardo bringing a salty, porky, buttery note to the dish.
Forget one more for the road, because we had two more of those delectable melon martinis before hitting the Kingsland Road and then home, replete in the knowledge that a good neighbourhood restaurant needn’t be safe and samey, with Albers being perfect proof.
Albers serves lunch Wednesday to Saturday and dinner Tuesday to Saturday
Albers, 23A Englefield Road, London N1 4JX