The new owners of the Alma, Caroline Hamlin and Kirsty Valentine, are old gastro pub hands who first met when working at that Islington icon and all-organic pub, the Duke of Cambridge. When gastro pubs started they tended to be staffed by chefs frustrated with the more formal, restaurant'y ways of doing things, but now that they are so widespread that a special breed of “gastro pub chefs” is emerging. Caroline Hamlin is one such chef and has spent time running the kitchens of the Duke of Cambridge, the Peasant and The Lansdowne. If she were a football manager, these would equate with the top premiership sides. At the alma you can see the lessons put into practice – its comfortable but not over smart, it may have been open only a matter of months but already it looks lived in, there are plenty of tables and chairs and dining takes place throughout the room. The menu is keenly priced, portions are large. Presentation is good but unfussy. Service is friendly and informal. So far, so good. The Alma's point of difference lies in a menu with a telling mix of the familiar and the original. One dish that serves as either starter or main is king prawn noodle salad with cucumber soy and lime. Two large grilled prawns arrive on a bed of garlicky, chilli-powdered, sharply limed noodles. Splendid diverse flavours. Too spooky? The antipasti plate offers more familiar fare. And there is a reliable, well-made chicken liver pate which is served with an onion relish and pickled cucumber. Turning to the mains, pot roast pigeon, bacon lentils and caramelised apples is superior comfort food, rich and satisfying. There is also pan-fried skate with chips, spinach and tartare sauce. Or asparagus, sprouting broccoli, new potatoes, tapenade and a soft boiled egg. Lamb chop with aubergine, leaves and chickpea puree is a particularly interesting dish – where most gastro pubs would rely on boring old mash, Hamlin substitutes a light, fluffy, lemony almost-houmous. This works well with the crusty, crisped lamb chop and some green leaves. Original and good. Puddings range form tiramisu to a zingy purple pear and mulled wine sorbet which is rich with spices. The Alma is already busy and will get busier, booking advisable, as they say in the guides.

Reviewed by Charles Campion
Evening Standard - June 2003