Kirsty Marchant and Ben Ing – the former Gardener and Head Chef at Restaurant Noma in Copenhagen – have just begun a new project in the coastal Western Australian town of Busselton.
Alberta’s is a small venue that rings true to the philosophies of Kirsty and Ben, led by serving seasonal produce. “We wanted to be in the country so that we could be close to the produce but also so we can feel the seasons,” Kirsty says.
She explains Alberta’s direct link with local growers and producers, which includes the small team of four regularly picking up produce from nearby farms, and a blackboard menu which changes almost daily. “We let the growers pretty much dictate what’s on the menu and change it when the produce calls for it,” she says.
The produce-driven menu sometimes offers just 10 serves of a particular dish, though it almost always features a different broth. Most recently, Alberta’s served a chicken-bone broth simmered with charred vegetables and seaweed, and seasoned with lemongrass.
Alberta’s foundational values of cultivating direct relationships with producers and working with seasonal produce led them to collaborate with Five Senses Coffee Roasters. “We wanted to collaborate with Five Senses due to their shared commitment to having a relationship with and visiting their farmers,” Kirsty says.
Alberta’s prepares its single origin batch brew using a Marco Bru, and rotates the coffee seasonally, just like it does its menu around seasonality and food availability.
“Something we love about Five Senses is that they’re also seasonal,” Kirsty says. She elaborates that it doesn’t make sense that Alberta’s coffee offerings should be the same year-round. “It’s alive,” she says. “There is always consistency in quality, but outside of that, consistency isn’t important to us. We want the coffee to react differently to different situations, and we want to be using the coffee that is good now, not last year or last season.”
At time of print, Alberta’s espresso, prepared with a Modbar two-group machine, was a Colombian Risaralda single origin from Five Senses. Kirsty says the Risaralda works well black, and with milk. “It’s juicy,” she says. “There’s a little honey or maple syrup note, with red berries.” She adds that some customers specifically come to Alberta’s for the Risaralda single origin. “They’ve never tasted that flavour in a coffee before, where it’s so clean,” she says.
Working sustainably is core to Alberta’s food and coffee, and its design, which incorporates recycled Australian timbers, and second-hand crockery, cutlery, and furnishings.
The design intentionally dissolves traditional boundaries, allowing the small team to seamlessly cross between food and coffee preparation, and service. “There is no front or back of house – we didn’t build it that way. Having no barriers was really important to us,” Kirsty says.
It is this unique structure that has helped Alberta’s to facilitate community-building. “It’s been rewarding to open a little 30-seater and suddenly know so many people that are doing so many special things, that are also our guests,” she says.
Alberta’s
3/55 Queen Street, Busselton, Western Australia, 6280
See @allbertas_busselton on Instagram for changing days and hours of operation.
This article appears in the October 2022 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
