The Bouche a Oreille Restaurant Review

Run by “man about town” Olivier Guyard, or French Ollie as he’s known in Morzine, “Word of mouth” is a welcoming bar and restaurant with a very chilled out vibe.

We have been a few times since it opened, and haven’t once been disappointed. Despite being around a 10-minute drive out of the centre of Morzine, it’s well worth making the trip. There’s a large terrace area next to the main bar of the restaurant that gives you lovely views out across the valley – it catches the sun until the late evening so is a perfect spot for an evening tipple with friends.

Serving wines, beers, prosecco, and coffees – it’s got something for everyone. The inside area is spacious and airy, with a cosmopolitan feel: nibbles on the bar, plenty of seating and chilled Balearic beats in the background. It’s also a great place to head to if you’ve be out trying one of the nearby hikes, or perhaps tackling one of the surrounding cols on your bike. The restaurant is in the dip between The Col De Corbier, the Col de l’Ecrenaz and is just down the road from the Joux Verte. Its food menu is quick and easy, so ideal for people looking for a good feed after a day of heavy exercise.

We arrived at the bar at around 9pm after riding up the Vallee de la Manche to the Lac Mines d’Or. We were worried that this would be too late to order food, but the staff were very accommodating and had no problem with taking our order. We now know that the kitchen is happy to take pizza orders as late as 10pm.

At the moment, it is just Pizzas on the menu but I’m told that this is likely to change with the addition of tapas dishes and other nibbles at a later date. However, I have to say, you don’t feel hard done by with the selection on offer at the moment. The wide selection of pizzas means it still takes a good five minutes to choose! There’s a good choice for vegetarians as well, which is refreshing as very often the only choice we have is between margherita and margherita.

I opted for a sweet potato and goats cheese pizza whilst he went for more exotic mix of chicken tikka and peppers. According to staff, this seems to be a very popular choice with the expats and those “missing a curry!” After ordering, it only took half an hour or so to arrive and its clear that the pizzas had been lovingly cooked from scratch in the on site kitchen. The bread base was deliciously doughy but crispy round the edges and there was no shortage of toppings. We were absolutely famished by this point but they still managed to fill us up (so much so, we had to take half home in a pizza box).

Ollie has big plans for his new venture, hoping to tempt people in from all over with music nights and a pub quiz on the cards for the future. He has competition from the new owners of Bar National down the road who have similarly just reopened their doors after a complete revamp. But it has to be said, in the few weeks that the Bouche a Oreille has been open, it doesn’t seem like Ollie has any reason to worry. His bar has been full every night with people wanting to sample the delicious pizzas in an upbeat but very relaxing environment. So far, it seems, he’s getting the balance for a bar in St Jean d'Aulps just right.