When I visited Grenoble, I was not only visiting for the city and the culture (not to mention the wine and the food…), but also my good friend Hannah. She has lived in Grenoble for 9 months now and she told me that on her list of things to do before she leaves, was to have raclette in La Ferme a Dede. Apparently everytime she has tried, they were always full. A good sign.

I popped in one day in between shopping and my cafe stops and, with my broken French, attempted to make a reservation for a few days later. I said all the right words… Je voudrais reserver un tableau pour trois. Vendredi a huit heures (don’t beat me about my spelling!). The patroness nodded her head, didn’t reach for a reservations book, but assured me that that’ll be alright and continued sweeping. I walked out still unsure.

I was still unsure if we had a reservation when we did get there on Friday at 8 pm, but thankfully we had a table afterall! Serves me right for doubting.  We all ordered raclette, which arrived as a hunk of cheese cradled in what looked like a torture device. We were given plates of meat and shared a large bowl of salad. We could have as much bread and potatos as we wanted.

At first we weren’t sure how this was going to work (very embarassing, for I am Swiss and it’s suppoused to be a Swiss specialitiy). I was used to the square raclette heater with little pans for each diner. But once the cheese started melting to the plate below, we got the idea. Cheese on knife, knife on bread or potato. Enjoy meat and salad with. And don’t forget the wine.

It was an extremely pleasant night, when we got fat on cheese and laughter. I was sure that we had a mild cheese overdose, we were high on the oh so lovely smell.

La Ferme a Dede
24 Rue Barnave,
Grenoble
04 76 54 00 33