The background

Another Italian restaurant in London? We know what you’re thinking. But Alba isn’t just another Italian restaurant. The question you should be asking is ‘does London need an Amalfi-inspired restaurant with yacht-style interiors, a handmade Venetian floor and a seafood-heavy menu that revels in truffle and caviar?’ And the answer is, emphatically, sì.

Originally set to open in late 2024, Alba is the latest luxury Italian restaurant to join Knightsbridge’s high-end dining scene, standing alongside names such as Cantinetta Antinori, Sale e Pepe, and Sette London. But from the moment you step inside, it’s clear that Alba is aiming for an entirely different league – one that spares no expense in the pursuit of glamour.

The space

It’s a big ask to transform a second-floor restaurant overlooking Harrods into a summery slice of the Amalfi Coast. Bigger still when the entrance of said restaurant is inside another store. Fortunately, that shop is YDF Interiors – a temple of high-drama design that immediately transports you from the honking horns of Brompton Road.

A spiral staircase then leads you past a 10m custom chandelier, cascading from the ceiling like a cluster of grapes, before arriving in the restaurant proper. It’s an immediate showstopper. Practically every item in the place is of the utmost quality: bespoke Loro Piana chairs in shades of olive green; a handmade Venetian floor flecked like a cassata cake; Murano-glass bowls piled with Amalfi lemons; a huge painting of Capri in summer created for Alba by artist Bradley Wood (who also made paintings to adorn each of the menus).

It smells faintly of citrus and sugar. There are real trees next to enormous panoramic windows, and Maison Assouline books on almost every shelf. The ceiling is pinstriped and shiny in a way that only yachts are – a deliberate choice, we learn, by luxury design house Exteta. Yet, despite all this, your eyes are immediately drawn to the hissing open kitchen, where a team of white-aproned chefs work with the precision of a Milanese atelier, conjuring the seafood-heavy menu into life.

The food

Alba claims to be a seasonal restaurant, but let’s be honest – it’s permanently summer here. Because when else would you dine on delicate prawns atop great hunks of tomato, or courgette flowers stuffed with crab, washed down with a limoncello-spiked spritz served in a hand-painted ceramic vase?

You don’t need to look at the menu to know there’s lots of truffle; the aroma wafts from the open kitchen in waves. It’s at its best in the carpaccio, an umami-rich joy that’s hand-rolled tableside and served on a ceramic platter. There’s also caviar on tagliolini and lobster on linguine, and a colossal veal Milanese that’s big enough for three (this is a sharing concept, after all).

Our must-try dishes: buttery sea bass that’s so soft it’s borderline impossible to spear with your fork, and the soon-to-be signature panettone tiramisu – a mini mountain of cream and coffee, constructed in front of your very eyes with typical Italian theatricality.

The bill

Suitable for its Amalfi-leaning surroundings, you’re looking at over £250 for two, plus wine.

The verdict

Plenty of restaurants promise a ‘slice of la dolce vita’. Alba actually delivers – lemon trees, hand-painted ceramics, and all.

70 Brompton Road, London SW3 1ER; alba-ldn.uk