La Truffolie - Saint-Alban-d'Ay

St Alban-d’Ay is a little village in the Ardeche, not quite miles from nowhere but close, so to find a good restaurant nestling in it was good, but then to find the restaurant actually served excellent food turned the find from good to excellent. My wife and I had been in the area for a week and on our last day decided to have lunch there, a pity we had not made this decision on the first day because we would have been back, often! Run by husband and wife team Anaïs and Benoît they have only been open just over a year but have made a place full of charm and wit, Anaïs speaks good English and has a fine sense of humour. I don’t intend to do a blow by blow description of our meals, suffice it to say we were both delighted with them and with the very detailed description we were given of each course.What’s more the price was very reasonable considering the quality of the food. Who says French food is in decline? Rick Stein put it best in his latest program on French cuisine, good food it is still alive and well, at least it is in “Secret France”. My wife has just made a comment to me, should you be in a small English village, would you find a place like La Truffolie? Only in your dreams, everywhere would simply serve something and chips!

After a long days drive we asked our hostess for a recommendation for dinner and she suggested La Truffolie. We were not disappointed! Although fully booked it was a Saturday night) we were offered a table in the garden and fortunately it was a very mild evening. The food was excellent, from the starter to the dessert, and was not too expensive. Would absolutely recommend.

Thought we would support the local community and have a pizza night! Had no idea what to expect when we saw the opening of a take away pizza joint located on the back side of its sister restaurant 'la truffolie '. The pizza menu is like nothing i had ever seen and packed with local produce. The result was great and our pizza evening was a huge success. I recommend you stop by next time and give them a go!

We had a nice dinner at Truffolie with the menu terroir at 17€. After warm goat cheese wrapped in local ham served on toast we ate Truffade Ardéchoise . It is made with potatoes (potatoes arrived in this village around 1540 directly from South America° . Truffole is the local name for potato. For the dessert we had the warm cake with nuts and ice cream. Everything was served quite quickly and with nice manners despite the fact that the restaurant was nearly full. There is also a big terrace with shade under a big tree. The team is very kind and dont force you to order wine.

We had a nice dinner at Truffolie with the menu terroir at 17€.After warm goat cheese wrapped in local ham served on toast we ate "Truffade Ardéchoise." It is made with potatoes (potatoes arrived in this village around 1540 directly from South America°). Truffole is the local name for potato.For the dessert we had the warm cake with nuts and ice cream.Everything was served quite quickly and with nice manners despite the fact that the restaurant was nearly full. There is also a big terrace with shade under a big tree.The team is very kind and dont force you to order wine.