The Cabina del Capitano is ALBA's private dining room: one table, up to ten guests, and a door that closes. It offers beautiful views of Harrods while ensuring complete privacy for your celebration or business meeting. It sits just off the main dining room at an Italian restaurant in Knightsbridge directly opposite Harrods, and it is the room to ask for when the occasion needs the table to feel entirely your own - a dinner that matters, a birthday with the right ten people around it, an anniversary worth a room of its own. It has a menu of its own, the Cabina del Capitano set menu at £85 per person, written for the room and cooked from the same Amalfi Coast tradition as everything else in the house.
A Captain's Cabin, Opposite Harrods
ALBA's interiors were designed by international architecture and design studio YODEZEEN, drawing inspiration from the Mediterranean Sea and the world of luxury yachting. Throughout the restaurant, glossy wood finishes and a ceiling inspired by a yacht's deck create the feeling of being aboard a private vessel rather than dining on Brompton Road. That nautical character continues in the Cabina del Capitano, our private dining room, where an oval table for ten, chairs by Italian furniture brand Exteta and a wall of books lend the space the intimacy of a captain's cabin. A slatted screen keeps the room discreet while offering glimpses towards Harrods, whose illuminated façade becomes part of the view after dark.
ALBA's own line on the menu puts it more simply: step on a yacht that will instantly take you to the Amalfi Coast, and enjoy traditional Italian dishes along the way. That is the idea of the whole restaurant, the Amalfi Coast brought to Knightsbridge, and the Cabina is where it is most concentrated. The main dining room is bright and busy; the Cabina is the quiet berth at the end of it.
One Table, Ten Guests
The room holds a single table for up to ten, and that number is the point. Ten is where a dinner is still one conversation rather than three, a toast reaches everyone, and each course lands on the whole table at once. It is a size the chefs can cook properly: the pasta goes out together, the fish arrives at the same moment for everyone, and the pace of the evening belongs to the table rather than to the room outside.
It suits the occasions that want a little privacy and no fuss. A family celebration, a birthday dinner where the guest of honour can actually hear the speeches, an anniversary for two couples or four, a client dinner that needs a closed door, a dinner built around a few bottles from the cellar. In December it is the most intimate of ALBA's festive spaces.
For a party that outgrows ten, ALBA has semi-private sections in the main dining room and full hire for the largest occasions; the private dining in Knightsbridge page sets out each space and the group menus that go with them. The Cabina is the one with its own walls.
The Cabina del Capitano Menu
The room has its own four-course set menu at £85 per person, built around the Amalfi Coast cooking that runs through the rest of the restaurant.
To start: burrata with heritage tomatoes, a carpaccio of pink prawns, beef tartare, and a plain calzone bread for the table to tear into while the wine is poured.
Pasta is the course the Amalfi Coast is proudest of, and the Cabina menu carries three: spaghetti cacio e pepe, the Roman classic of pecorino and black pepper; ravioli Genovese with veal ragù; and the Amalfi tagliolini with Mazara prawns, bottarga and lemon sauce, the coastal pasta from the main menu.
The main course is sea bream fillet acqua pazza, the Neapolitan way of cooking fish in a light broth of tomato and herbs that lets the fish taste of itself; beef fillet with a red wine jus; or aubergine parmigiana for the table's vegetarians.
Dessert is a pistachio tiramisu or a homemade sorbet, which is the right note to end on.
Because the Italian menu is cooked with halal-certified products, a mixed table needs no separate menu and no quiet conversation with the events team beforehand. Dietary requirements and allergies go in with the booking, so the chefs can plan the table before the evening starts, and a guest with a restriction gets a plate that belongs to the menu rather than an apology. Prices are subject to a discretionary service charge.
Wine in the Cabina
The Cabina is the room in which to open something worth talking about. ALBA's wine cellar has the whites that belong beside sea bream and prawns and the reds that belong beside the beef, and the four courses give a table a natural shape to drink through. For a party of ten, agreeing a few bottles for the table in advance rather than ordering by the glass keeps the evening moving and the conversation where it should be; the events team can take wine requests with the booking.
Booking the Cabina del Capitano
The room is booked through the events team rather than the standard reservations page. Send an enquiry through private dining in Knightsbridge with the date, the number of guests and any dietary requirements, and the team will confirm the room and talk the menu through with you. For a festive booking, ALBA's guide to Christmas party venues in Knightsbridge covers dates and menus.
ALBA is at 70 Brompton Road, SW3 1ER, directly opposite Harrods and a short walk from Knightsbridge station, which makes the Cabina an easy room to gather ten people in from across London: a dinner after a day in the store, an evening out that starts or ends at the table, or a celebration where nobody has to think about the journey home.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Many Guests Does ALBA's Private Dining Room Seat?
Up to ten, at a single table. Larger parties use the semi-private sections in the main dining room, or full hire of the restaurant.
What Is the Cabina del Capitano Menu?
A four-course set menu at £85 per person, written for the room. Starters of burrata with heritage tomatoes, pink prawns carpaccio, beef tartare and plain calzone bread; a pasta course of spaghetti cacio e pepe, Amalfi tagliolini or ravioli Genovese; a main of sea bream acqua pazza, beef fillet or aubergine parmigiana; and a pistachio tiramisu or homemade sorbet to finish. It is cooked, like the rest of the Italian menu, with halal-certified products.
Does the Private Dining Room Have a View?
Yes. The room looks out towards Harrods, directly across Brompton Road.
How Do I Book the Private Dining Room at ALBA?
Through the enquiry form on the private dining page, with your date, guest numbers and any dietary requirements. The events team comes back to you to confirm the room and the menu.
Where Is ALBA's Private Dining Room?
At ALBA, 70 Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, London SW3 1ER, directly opposite Harrods. The Cabina del Capitano is just off the main dining room.
