ALBA opens an omakase counter opposite Harrods

Ten seats run along the window at ALBA, and every one of them looks across Brompton Road at Harrods. They belong to Takuya Kaneko, the restaurant’s Japanese head chef, who serves omakase there two sittings a night. The rest of the room still cooks the seafood of the Amalfi Coast.

A dining room with tables in white cloths, wicker-backed chairs with yellow cushions and a terrazzo floor, under a timber-slatted ceiling, with the facade and green awnings of Harrods through tall windows — The dining room, with Harrods across Brompton Road.

A scalloped silver platter of raw red and pink prawns laid in a row on crushed ice, with lemon halves wrapped in muslin, on green marble

ALBA’s Amalfi dining room

ALBA means sunrise in Italian, the hour the Amalfi boats come in with the day’s catch. Cristian Ianni, the Italian head chef, makes pasta by hand and serves crudo, oysters and tartare beside it.

A long table laid in white at a tall window, with wicker-backed chairs, a terrazzo floor and a brass light of leaf shapes above, and Harrods across the street

A private dining room with a table laid in white for eight, a centrepiece of white flowers, chairs with navy seats and timber-panelled walls with lit shelves of books and glassware

The restaurant says its Japanese menu comes from the same instinct: respect the ingredient and know when to leave it alone. Its own phrase for the pairing is two coasts, one sea. The dining room has Venetian floors and colours taken from a sunset.

For a private party, a long table at the window looks straight at Harrods. The whole restaurant takes 110 seated or 150 standing.

A long curved timber counter laid with plates and glasses along a run of tall windows, with turquoise patterned stools, an olive tree and a terrazzo floor

A single nigiri of red prawn topped with caviar and a green leaf on a red-patterned plate, with chopsticks and a glass dish of soy sauce on a timber counter

Ten seats at the counter

The counter runs along the left of the dining room and serves dinner only, with everyone at a sitting served at once. There are two menus, of nine courses or twelve, and nothing on either is fixed in advance. The sequence follows the day’s deliveries and the season: Icelandic uni, bluefin otoro, Kristal and Beluga caviar, foie gras and A5 wagyu.

A long bamboo tray holding a row of nigiri topped with tuna, white fish, seared salmon and marbled beef, on a timber counter

Nigiri, sashimi and small raw courses are made in view and passed across the counter as each one is ready. Extra sushi and drinks can be ordered as the meal goes on. The idea behind the service is omotenashi, the Japanese habit of anticipating what a guest needs before they ask.

Takuya Kaneko

Kaneko has spent 20 years in Japanese kitchens, eight of them at Zuma, and he is behind the counter every evening. Before each course, he tells the guests where its fish came from. His dry-aged A5 wagyu nigiri with kizami wasabi is also on the Japanese à la carte in the main dining room, at lunch and dinner.

That menu runs from hamachi carpaccio and hand rolls of king crab or scallop to nigiri specials, among them ōtoro with foie gras and hamachi with shiso and uni. Sake comes by the glass or the bottle, from a sparkling Dassai 45 to Heavensake’s Junmai Daiginjo, and the Japanese Fashioned is made with Hibiki Harmony.

ALBA says many of the city’s admired counters can feel forbidding. Its own sits in a light room, loud enough to talk in, where the chef explains every piece and nobody minds if you eat with your hands.

Omakase from Tuesday to Saturday, with sittings at 18:30 and 20:30. Nine courses £95 per person; twelve courses £150; paid in full with service charge when you book.

ALBA, 70 Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, London SW3 1ER.

ALBA opens an omakase counter opposite Harrods

ALBA’s Amalfi dining room

Ten seats at the counter

Takuya Kaneko

The Club.