A stunning week’s skiing in Val d’Isere was enhanced by a couple of lunches and copious ‘coffee and chocolate’ stops at the stunning L’Edelweiss Restaurant located just above the hamlet of Le Fornet.
Skiing hard for a morning has to be the best excuse there is for an early, calorie-loaded lunch and it’s hard to imagine a prettier mountain-side location in which to dine. Cuddled into the side of the hill and just under the brow of a hump in the piste, this restaurant has a stunning view down the valley to Val d’Isere wrapped, as it is, with its back to the pine covered mountainside. Relaxing on the terrace here, basking in the spring sun and waiting for lunch to arrive has to be one of the nicest ways there is to pass the time.
The food and drink are pretty good too (and, although expensive, not the steepest we encountered all week, but definitely the best). The spread on a table nearby had left me dribbling into my lap, so I opted for what I identified as the Assiette Gourmande, and was not disappointed. A huge plate fresh green lettuce accompanying succulent slivers of ham, two generous chunks of foie gras pate, and some deep red duck breast (smoked I think) – awesome. My gorgeous date chose for a delicately prepared salmon dish (nice to get some fresh fish, this far into the mountains!). Our dining partners proved that while the French are particularly fond of saying “ciao” they still have much to learn from the Italians on preparing decent pasta dishes (I think they corrected this on their second lunch trip).
Washed down with 50cl bottle of Bordeaux (what a great size for lunch consumption) and rounded out with a shared dessert and espressos, this was a great lunch. Hard to drag yourself away from this place with the welcoming deck-chairs available for sleeping off lunch, but with the chalet hot-tub calling, we were just about able to throw ourselves down the hill to the bus.
Restaurant d’altitudeChalet Edelweiss
Piste Mangard – Le Fornet
http://www.chalet-edelweiss-73.com/