Albion

Offering "modern British cuisine," Albion provides a calm refuge from the bustle of Changkat Bukit Bintang. The service is wonderful, the setting is beautiful, while the food and booze are plentiful (just don't look for roast beef with Yorkshire pudding on the menu for now).

Kick off the meal with warm bread in what kinda looks like a dim sum basket. We lapped up the thick, fresh-tasting sun-dried tomato dip.

Spinach & ricotta dumplings. Not bad, though this does seem more Italian than British.

Chorizo a la plancha. Heaped with generously sliced, nicely salted pork sausages; a snack that we would gladly have eaten all evening.

Duck confit with braised red cabbage & panfried potatoes. Frankly, the duck was a disaster. Utterly overcooked to the brink of being burnt. Thankfully, the cabbage and potatoes were quite tasty, redeeming what would otherwise be a dry, nearly inedible dish.

Pan-fried grey mullet with roasted Mediterranean veggies. A moist, wonderfully flaky fish.

Ballotine of chicken with champ and baby French beans. Tender and well-prepared.

A trio of chocolate-flavoured mousse _ brandy, white choc and orange spice. We don't usually fall for desserts, but this is a must-try. Luxuriously smooth, creamy and flavourful.

Mature fruit cake with caramelized pineapple and vanilla ice cream. Won't knock your socks off, but a perfectly satisfying finish to an enjoyable dinner.

Lychee Martini, Mojito and Margarita. No complaints about the booze.

A bottle of Merlot helped to make the evening a merry, memorable one.

The outlet had not officially been launched (though it was packed that night), so the proprietor had not finalized the prices for the food and drinks. He simply allowed us pay whatever we thought the meal was worth (nope, not revealing the amount here).

Albion,

Jalan Berangan.