Alba Cafe and Restaurant Review

Alba was already a popular café down a little side street in Les Gets. Last year it was taken over by chef Alan White and given a lick of paint. It’s retained its name for serving tasty cakes and coffee but added to it with a delicious offering of three course meals, colourful breakfasts and satisfying lunches. It’s a very small venue but this somehow adds to the intimacy of the place. We were craving a big Sunday feed and we weren’t disappointed.

We decided to make an adventure of our trip to Alba and really earn our food. We hiked from Morzine to Les Gets via the Col d’Encrenaz and Mont Chery. The walk took about 5 hours and we clocked up a decent 19km. It was a stunning walk and we were treated to some beautiful views. We’d seen the Alba menu and knew that it was going to be filling so this really helped us to feel like we deserved a big feed! Our walk brought us down into Les Gets from Mont Caly. We arrived at about 6pm where the friendly staff at Alba greeted us.

The little restaurant was full apart from our table when we arrived and it turns out they’d been full since 9am that morning. Despite being this busy, the team were welcoming and really accommodating. Two additional people turned up to join our party and this didn’t phase them at all. They did all they could to fit us in by moving tables and switching seats. They also designed a vegetarian dish especially for us, which was really unexpected!

The Sunday menu at Alba is something you’d expect to find in England rather than France- complete with Yorkshire Puddings and gravy. You have the choice of a couple of starters; warm parmesan cassonade and celeriac and walnut veloute served with a chicken and leek salad. For mains it was a choice between beef shin and black pudding or pork shoulder with all the trimmings including an onion and coffee BBQ sauce. The puddings? Well, they deserved a paragraph all to themselves…

Between us we had a selection of all the food on the menu. It helped that we were all famished after our walk but nobody at the table was disappointed with their choice. The starters were full of flavour and beautifully presented. The mains were rich and tasty and served in the perfect sized portions. I was given the alternative and mysterious vegetarian option, which turned out to be delicious. It was vegetables in a Yorkshire Pudding with pea puree and vegetable gravy. It also came accompanied with the celeriac and walnut veloute, which was sweet and the perfect accompaniment to the rest of the dish. This, alongside the parmesan starter, was just the thing after a day on the mountain. I asked the others about their meals (after all of their empty plates were collected) and they said the meat was juicy and well cooked and the gravy was fantastic. We were all extremely happy customers!

We then got to the puddings. It was such a good job we made space for this meal because to miss out on the puddings would have been a big error. The choice was between apple and almond torte served with ginger and a homemade treacle cheesecake cream cream, or chocolate mousse with caramel ice cream and a coconut cloud. You could also opt for a cheese platter, which was served with warm homemade walnut bread. Again we managed to sample each one and they all went down a treat. I chose the apple torte and I have to say the treacle cream was out of this world. I could have eaten that pudding three times over. It was the perfect way to finish what had been a fresh, tasty and obviously lovingly prepared meal.

Alba is open throughout the day and also in between the main holiday seasons. It’s popular with locals, tourists and people who head to the mountains from surrounding towns and cities. It’s hugely popular in the morning for it’s offering of full English breakfasts and brunches and also into the afternoon with its fantastic cakes and sandwiches.

Our three course Sunday lunch cost €25 euros per head excluding drinks but it was well worth it. It’s a home away from home! We’re already planning our brunch return and we’ll certainly be back to try the winter menu this coming season. Our experience of Alba was second to none and if you want a change from Savoyard cuisine then this is the perfect place for you.