St Albans’ newest independent restaurant, The Abbey, will open for business on 2nd March 2018. Located in the shadow of St Albans Cathedral on George Street, The Abbey’s ethos is to spread a love of food excellence, serving seasonal and sustainable food in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.
The Abbey’s kitchen is run by Cat Ashton who is the only woman Executive Chef in Hertfordshire. She is sanguine about her situation as she doesn’t anticipate it will last long: “London has seen a dramatic rise in female leaders in the kitchen, which is fantastic, so Hertfordshire won’t be far behind. Being a woman in a restaurant kitchen has never been a struggle for me, but I do feel outnumbered! I’d love to encourage young women to consider careers in restaurant kitchens as it can be a great environment oozing with creativity and passion. It’s an amazing feeling when you create beautiful dishes that make people happy!”
Cat aims to make her mark on the local restaurant scene through her passion for high quality, locally sourced ingredients which she uses with contemporary global flavours to create stunning new dishes that are as good to look at as they are to eat.
It is an important part of the restaurant’s ethos to support local farms and producers which is why Cat’s menus will use locally-sourced ingredients such as free-range lamb from Hedges Farm, organic kale from Church Farm Ardeley and goat’s cheese from Wobbly Bottom Farm.
Open for business
The good food and relaxed atmosphere of The Abbey will make it a great venue for business lunches or informal meetings. It also has a private dining room (with working fire) for corporate events, and is fully equipped to meet A/V needs.
8 George Street
The team behind The Abbey have put as much thought into the restaurant building as they have with their food. George Street is a conservation area, although The Abbey’s home at number 8 is not a listed building itself. However it is old, and has undergone extensive renovation work, as one of the other owners, Ben Cain, explained: “We wanted to keep as many original features of the building as possible in order to create a classic design and feel to the place, e.g. the wooden beams and stunning open brickwork in the basement, a working fireplace on the second floor, as well as the sash windows.
“We moved the kitchen from the ground floor to the first floor in order to open out the whole of the ground floor for diners. We have created a conservatory area at the back of the building in order to make the most of natural light.”
The Abbey will be open early to late 7 days a week, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, including traditional Sunday lunches. Book online at www.theabbeystalbans.com, call 01727 841524 or email bookings@theabbeystalbans.com.
