Some places make what I do very much worth it. Albé is that kind of place. It checks all the boxes I look for, consciously or subconsciously. The staff is friendly, the restaurant is beautiful, the menu is intriguing, and the food is fantastic.

Albe Barcelona — *Albé, Barcelona. Photo © Barcelona Food Experience.*

There is a young team of talented chefs in the kitchen who met while studying hospitality. This team takes their menu to a fascinating new level. The concept is Catalan with Lebanese strokes, which results in a very attractive mix.

Joey, who runs Albé, tells me that he always knew he wanted to open a restaurant, but he wasn’t sure where. He grew up in Lebanon, studied hospitality in Switzerland, and moved to Barcelona five years ago, where he did a master's in culinary arts in famed Sant Pol EUHT. Together with two of his close friends from Sant Pol and his partner Lucila he made his dream come true.

Joey's idea behind Albé is to represent his two homes, Lebanon and Barcelona. He is passionate about the flavors from his home country and wanted to translate them in a familiar way, mixing the best of both worlds. The name Albé means (phonetically) in Arabic "my heart," and Joey says that this is the essence of everything they do. They want everything in the restaurant, from the service to the product to the techniques to come from the heart. And I can assure you that it is precisely what the restaurant transmits. Joey comments that it is their core value and why nothing in their menu is there by chance, and every dish has a purpose. They also take pride in being sustainable and working with seasonal ingredients as much as they can.

We tried many different dishes from the menu, and we had so many pleasant surprises. First, we started with a labneh smoked in-house for 72 hours, with zaatar and roasted eggplant powder. Divine. From there, we continued to the Albé bravas with a meat demi-glace and a brava sauce, with Lebanese aioli and black squid ink aioli. This dish is an excellent example of where the Albé team shows off their talent. There is high-level technique in the kitchen, and you can see and taste it.

The roasted eggplant with fresh pomegranate and pomegranate molasses is picture-perfect, comes with yogurt with tahini, and is equally as tasty. The next dish is a kebbeh lamb croquette with smoked yogurt, and it is a great example of the wonderful fusion of two worlds. The falafel with home-made tahini sauce was delicious (I am very picky with falafel), and the cauliflower roasted with brown butter that comes with smoked yogurt and an almond crunch is a showstopper. It was fantastic.

We finished the mains with an octopus made with 5 (!) different cooking techniques, and it was a true umami bomb—what a way to end.

And what kind of dessert can you find to end a wonderful meal like this? With dreamy Valrhona chocolate with meringue, orange blossom caramel, and cardamom whipped cream. It was exactly as amazing as it sounds.

The restaurant is beautiful and inviting and is divided into two separate, unique spaces and a terrace outside. It is the kind of place where you want to linger, and I can't wait to go back for dinner and try some of their great-looking drinks. Interestingly, when I had posted Stories from here on Instagram, I have never received as much feedback from people who have been here and loved it. So I can assure you: you won't be disappointed.

To sum it up: I adore Albé. I am so delighted that Joey decided that Barcelona would be the place to realize his life-long dream. The passion translates into each dish, and you feel privileged to take part in this. Albé is something very different.

Albé has now a sister restaurant called Âme; a wonderful French-Mediterranean gem that I highly recommend visiting.

Albé, C/ de Mallorca, 196, 08036 Barcelona (Eixample Esquerra).

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