Alain Llorca – food of the gods, served in a heavenly setting
When it comes to food, France does many things well. But high on the list is going to be those hotel-restaurants that are basically a gastronomic dining experience, with a bedroom just within rolling distance, so you don’t have to drive home. In most of these places, you can of course just take a room, but that’s not really the point. If you’re a foody, and you want the full journey, then there is no better way to enjoy a fantastic meal, guilt free.
Alain Llorca’s wonderful establishment, however, is simply in a class of its own. Located a short drive from Nice centre, on the edge of the pretty town of Col-sur-Loup, the building – well, small estate, really – is perched on the edge of the slopes overlooking Vence, with the sea there in the distance beyond the hills on one side, and the outline of the spectacular hilltop village of St Paul de Vence on the other. A long, airy, peaceful dining room stretches the length of the top floor terrace, so every table has a relaxing, typically Provencal view. As locations go, this is just right.
As a younger man, I will confess that fine dining wasn’t really my ‘thing’. I suppose you could have described my preferred category of food more as ‘brasserie’ – perhaps the style of restaurant as well as the type of food had a big part in that. Michelin starred dining was on the one hand a little intimidating – there can be more than a whiff of arrogance in some high-end French establishments – and on the other, well, the food can look a little sparse on the plate. Will I be satisfied? The truth is, you do have to have a relatively evolved palette to enjoy the full experience, but if you’re put off from the start, you’ll never discover the true pleasure of the concept.
“There’s a wonderful bustle to a high-end kitchen…”
This is the first thing you’ll notice about Alain Llorca – despite the stylish foyer and beautiful location, there’s not a hint of condescension or pretension. The staff are friendly and down to earth, and mostly you’ll meet Madame Llorca within the first few minutes, quietly checking on things, and getting ready for service. There’s valet parking, and you don’t spend hours having to show reams of ID just to check in, so it’s straight to the room to get ready for the evening.
The rooms are clean and spacious, decorated in a classy but rustic Provencal style, well equipped and with a huge, soft bed, smart dressing room and a giant bathroom. It may not be fully five star, but there’s Alain Llorca slippers, fluffy dressing gowns, and little handmade cakes as a welcome, so its close enough. All the rooms have French doors leading to their balcony or private garden, and there’s that view again – I could really get used to this.
There’s a wonderful bustle to a high-end kitchen, and a glimpse of the team as you walk to your room reveals a low, purposeful buzz, as chefs bustle around their stations, wonderful aromas just escaping on the wind to make you stop and look. Normally, we like to relax with a long apero before supper, and the balcony was certainly tempting, but those smells, and a glance at the menu had us arrive a little early to our table.
We chose the five course menu, without the optional cheese, and in my personal case, I asked the kitchen to replace the foie gras – again, no pulled faces – and within a few minutes, we were presented with a very pretty tray of amuse bouches, set upon a dark green, mossy base, with summer flowers and little green shoots. The potential for ‘tacky’ is huge with a presentation like this, but it made us smile, and worked perfectly, setting the tone just right for the start of the meal.
Perhaps I could describe what followed like this; food that fires up your tastebuds without overloading them, sensual delights that balance delicacy with powerful undertones, beautifully presented plates with the perfect quantity, visually stunning, simply placed food that oozes sophistication. A journey that began with red mullet (as a replacement for glazed foie gras in a ‘galet’ style with Carros strawberry chutney and rhubarb, which, by the way, turned out to be amazing) cooked to utter perfection, was followed by pan seared blue lobster risotto with coral sauce. Risotto is always a danger for a starter – being quite filling – but the quantity was just right, the lobster bursting with flavour and the coral sauce…well, at this point you are just along for this culinary trip through paradise.
Our next course was seabass – which of course you’ll find in many restaurants in the area – but cooked as only Alain Llorca could; the most delicate of flavours and magnificent texture. Somehow, these dishes, so full of taste and aromas, don’t impinge on each other – up next was veal fillet with fresh vegetables from Nice’s Cours Saleya market, verde ravioli and jus court – which you might think would be flat after the preceding courses – but it came alive with the jus, the al dente texture of the achingly fresh vegetables calming the palette and leaving you reeling – if you are any sort of home cook, you can only dream of getting veal fillet this perfect.
Finally it was time for dessert – fresh mascarpone with red fruits, crispy gavottes and fromage blanc sorbet – and it got me thinking – how does this man understand exactly what combination of textures are going to sit just right with me? Cutting into the mascarpone to reveal the soft red fruits, combined with the crunchy biscuits and cooling, gentle sorbet…
The wine list is as comprehensive as you’d expect, with some truly magnificent, top flight choices. But the sommelier was unpretentious and kind, guiding us to the right sort of fruity, citrus-y Provençal whites that suited our food perfectly, without setting the budget beyond sense. And somehow, despite all that food, we didn’t feel over-full – satisfied, but still comfortable. At no time did we have to wait for food beyond the perfect amount of time to take in the previous course, and never did we have to look around to find a waiter. Discreet, but attentive and efficient, the service was razor sharp.
“Food that fires up the tastebuds without overloading them…”
Perhaps, in my own slightly uncouth way, I can describe how I see fine dining now, in the hands of the right chef. It’s like high class tapas – no, hear me out – in that on your plate, in just enough quantity to titillate and excite the full range of senses, are all your favorite foods. The quantities should be just enough to fully inform your palette, but without overpowering you. At Alain Llorca, the food tastes like it was prepared by the gods.
In the morning, breakfast is served until suitably late, so there’s time for a dip in the private, sunny pool, and plenty of time to relax over fresh fruits and pastries, taking in that view once again. And as you go to leave Alain Llorca, and say goodbye to the team at reception, lunch service is just beginning, and early diners are already putting pressure on the ever-smiling valet. You go to leave but hesitate – I wonder…could I fit in lunch as well?

A private pool with a fabulous of Saint-Paul-de-Vence