Liberte, Albany

Liberte Review

A Parisian inspired bar inside a historic hotel in the Great Southern – we couldn’t resist heading in for lunch.

Liberte is part of the heritage-listed London Hotel. The hotel in its present form was built in 1909.

Named Bar of the Year in the 2019 Gourmet Travel Restaurant Awards, Liberte’s extensive cocktail and wine list only underlines its win. Liberte presents its French-Vietnamese fusion in the form of sharing plates.

Walking through the old hotel that has definitely seen better days, we stepped into Liberte and another dimension. Mirrors and heavy red furnishings dominate the space. I could see hints of the Moulin Rouge that I’d visited a long, long time ago.

Our server was friendly and helpful but seemed to be the only person on duty so service was slow. Many restaurants and cafes in WA are suffering from staff shortages currently and the slow service at Liberte did not detract from our enjoyment of lunch.

It was difficult to make a choice with so many interesting dishes. We were disappointed that no Albany oysters or marron were available but supply issues have also hit many places during the pandemic.

We settled on sharing Crispy chicken bao which came with hoisin, slaw, sriracha mayo and toasted sesame seeds ($9.50 each).

Our next choice was Garlic chilli crab noodles which were billed as AKA Crack Noodles – the Liberte addict’s drug of choice! My husband also added French Fries, which came with garlic and rice vinegar mayo and Pho gravy ($12).

The food was very good – the bao buns were soft and the filling very tasty. I wasn’t a fan of the Pho gravy but my husband really enjoyed it. The crab noodles were also very good and definitely moreish.

It was a very quiet lunch service with only a few tables filled but I am sure the atmosphere in the evening would be very much conducive to imagining oneself in Paris. Liberte will be on my dinner list on our next Albany visit.

Liberte

Address: 160-162 Stirling Terrace, Albany

Phone: 08 9847 4797

Reservations: Yes

Opening hours: Lunch – Tuesday to Saturday 11:30am – 2:30pm, Dinner: Tuesday and Thursday 5pm-9pm, Friday and Saturday 5pm – 10pm

Gluten-free options: Yes

Vegetarian options: Yes

Restrooms: Clean and accessible

Parking: Street parking available

Website: https://libertealbany.com.au

About Hazel Broomhead

My name is Hazel and I am a Perth senior!

Originally from Edinburgh in Scotland, my husband and I moved to New Zealand with our children in 1974. As my husband is in the oil business, we moved to several other countries including the Sultanate of Oman, the Netherlands, Singapore, the Philippines, the USA, Russia and Kazakhstan during the next 36 years before retiring to Perth.

We have six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren who live in different parts of the globe – New Zealand, Scotland and Colombia - which makes a great excuse for us to travel and visit.

My career background is in radio and print journalism in Scotland and New Zealand as well as public relations in various other countries.

We love to eat out, walk, travel and enjoy the wonderful lifestyle here in Western Australia.