When he bought the Chabichou in Courchevel 1850 , Michel Rochedy, who is from the Ardèche region, couldn’t help but be a good cook and in fact, a very good one. It is thus that great gastronomy has invested territories more focused on fondue, raclette , crozets and diots (local traditional dishes mainly cooked with cheese, pasta and sausages), than on clever preparations made with luxurious ingredients.

After all these years, the mountain region has not only adapted but moreover the Chabichou has given ideas to many others.

He has also to reckon with the direct competition of Jean Sulpice , a very young chef, who previously worked in the Ferran Adrià restaurant, as well as Pierre Gagnaire and Marc Veyrat , among others, and whose l’Oxalys restaurant proposes contemporary dishes largely inspired by local Savoie products revisited.

A little bit further down the valley, but still in the resort, lovers of Mont Blanc rush to the Hameau Albert 1^er in Chamonix where Pierre Carrier proposes a high class menu inspired by the whole of the Savoie region, in other words : Pièmont , Savoie and Comtè de Nice , and which is quite often astonishing.

Lastly in Megève, but the list is far from being closed, Jean-Louis and Jocelyne Sibuet have returned all the prestige to the resort by creating the Compagnie des Hôtels de Montagne and the Fermes de Marie opening the way to young chefs like Emmanuel Renaut , Marc Veyrat’s former chef, who draws all the gourmets to his Flocons de Sel . Concerning Veyrat , let’s talk about him. For the past few years, he arrives in Megève each year for the winter season to a fake, but wonderful farm baptized la Ferme de Mon Père , and where the cooking, inspired by the mountain herbs, is absolutely extraordinary!

For instance, its neighbour, the Bateau Ivre where Jean-Pierre Jacob has also started to propose an excellent and high level menu. All the restaurants in Courchevel then tried to align themselves, even if they considered that very good means, above all, very expensive, but the will was there. As a result, the whole resort can now offer a real choice of top class restaurants.

Following closely in the wake of all of this, in Val d’Isère a lot of goodwill has emerged, notably with the Folie Douce of Luc Reversade. Encouraged by the success of his altitude small food service, which could not propose average dishes, he got his restaurant enlarged in 1994. He gave this new place the name of Fruitière (cheese dairy in Savoie), the decor is inspired by a milk cooperative with its milk-churns from the farm.

Another performing restaurant to be noted in altitudeis the Fitz Roy in Val Thorens , whose terrace seats are grabbed for lunch by all the skiers racing down the Trois Vallèes slopes. This place has always been held by excellent and high rated chefs and Yoann Conte , who arrived this year, has a wonderful track record.