Skiing dinner - la Ferme

I am trying to make it a habit to write about places that I like quickly after I visit them. Hence another post about our recent ski holiday.

We chose to live in an apartment as it is most comfortable with a small baby who has severe food allergies. Full access to fully equipped kitchen was what we wanted and had. Therefore we also opted to prepare most of our dinners ourselves. The last night, however, our friends invited us out to dine in a restaurant - la Ferme (Centre Commercial, Plagne Bellecote, tel: +33 (0)4 79 09 29 32)

It is a recommendation with reservations...

The place looked lovely. Very authentic old French ski restort type. And here comes the caveat...it was underground in a shopping mall...so really, it was not authentic at all. And I could not see any windows that looked outside but I think they were all fake windows/mirrors. Nonetheless, it was cosy and with good company you quickly forgot that you were indeed in a shopping mall.

We were a group of 10 people so we ordered different things and got quite a good overview of the menu. None of us were disappointed with the food. Quite the opposite. We were close to licking our plates in the end and the foor was plentiful to start with.

Our group had: mushroom risotto (for the vegetarian among us), salad, shared cheese fondue with cold cuts, raclette and ...hmmm... cannot remember more.

Me and P had the raclette and it was delicious. A raclette is a dish that consist of melting a big round chunk of cheese with a special device and then scraping it off and eating with boiled potatoes and salad and cold cuts. The name comes from the french verb racler which means, to scrape.

As the cheese melts you take a knife and scrape the melted cheese off and eat and wait for more cheese to melt. In addition to being very good this dish is a great crowd pleaser as it is cool. A specialty in Switzerland and Savoy region of France, I recommend trying this if you are in the area.

Back to la Ferme and here is a photo of the table. You can see the fondue pot, cold cuts, salads and overall feel of the place. No white tablecloths...

The waiters were again surprisingly accommodating with all our requests and wishes and we were pleased.

We finished off the dinner with a round of génépi.

And we were very happy customers:

Another thing that was unique to the Plagne area was that they considered that people might wish to go to another village int he evenings and the lift was kept running between Belle Plagne and Plagne Bellecote until 00.45 at night. This is why we had the chance to go to Plagne Bellecote at all...

Good thinking!

Skiing lunch - d'Altitude la Bergerie

We went skiing last week to France in Plagne area and enjoyed great food in more than one restaurants. However, one for me was exceptional. Not just the food, but the atmosphere, owners, waiters, the whole package. Basically, I completely fell in love with a nice little chalet restaurant d'Altitude la Bergerie. As it is on the slopes, you can only go there for lunch. The ski map of Plagne has one of the worst mappings for restaurants that i have ever seen on a ski map so I am now not even sure where it is exactly on the slopes but it was definitely towards the Plagne Centre area.

The restaurant is full. Every day, every lunch. Even the menu says: reservations are recommended. We happened to stop there way early for lunch and were fortunate enough to get a table. People coming in 15min later had to wait for a long time.

I am used to, quite frankly, bad service, coming from Luxembourg. I do not expect great service from the french either. Maybe it is that my expectations were low...but rather I venture to believe that the service there was excellent and very friendly. I am learning french and I try to speak it every chance I get. Usually this annoys the hell out of waiters but the girl there was kind and helpful and allowed me the luxury to order in my broken french. She was also quick to bring our order with...wait for it...A SMILE on her face. This is a big deal in France.

The menu

The food itself was plenty and delicious. We chose local dishes and were not disappointed: plenty of cheese, meat and salad. Unfortunately i cannot remember what they were called.

Melted cheese with local ham

Daily special - veal stew

It was a chilly day when we found this place so we especially appreciated the fireplace in the middle of the restaurant. The chalet type decorations on the walls of old skis, old photos, etc were a wonderful added touch.

P next to the fireplace

All in all...if you go to the Plagne - go eat at la Bergerie on the slopes (there are a few others called the same name in the villages). You will not regret!