Fine dining in St Albans has just won the seal of approval from a prestigious restaurant recommendation guide.
An a la carte restaurant on Hatfield Road,
Thompson St Albans in Hatfield Road will be featured in Waitrose’s The Good Food Guide 2018 because it “brings a lightly applied modern sensibility to dishes founded on thoroughbred prime materials”.
One-time Michelin-starred head chef Phil Thompson used to cook at Brockett Hall’s Auberge du Lac before taking over the former Darcy’s restaurant in 2013.
He said: “The restaurant is moving forward and progressing. I have a five year plan, and we have almost done four years now. It’s on track for where we want to be and where we want to go.
“Ideally, I would people to come and enjoy the food, want to come back, and we can build a reputation of being a really good restaurant in St Albans.”
He says he varies the menu to make the most of seasonal produce, and combines classical training with a modern twist to create his dishes.
Editor of The Good Food Guide, Elizabeth Carter, said: “There’s a suburban feel to the outside of Phil Thompson’s place, with its weather-boarded frontage and backyard summer tables, but inside, the dining room goes for a racier look in crimson and grey, with smartly dressed tables and colourful artworks.
“Backing up his weekly changing tasting menus with a seasonally developing carte, Thompson brings a lightly applied modern sensibility to dishes founded on thoroughbred prime materials.”
The restaurant scored five out of 10.
An seafood eatery in Cornwall, Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, has been awarded the top restaurant in the guide - and will be celebrating a perfect score of 10 out of 10. Second place, also with a 10 rating, was given to L’Enclume in Cumbria.
Darcy’s was set up by Australian duo Kate D’Arcy and Ruth Hurren in 2002. But after Kate tragically died of cancer in 2010 Ruth sold the business and returned Down Under.
A statement on the website reads: “We hope Kate D’Arcy would be proud of how we have evolved what was very much her restaurant. Kate D’Arcy was a huge part of the success of the restaurant.”
The Good Food Guide 2018 will be available from September 4.
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