Best restaurants Tignes Le Lac, Val Claret, Val d’Isere

With kids so well looked after by Esprit, parents managed to have a blast in Tignes and around. And here are our top resturants Tignes le Lac, Val Claret, Val d’Isere – after having indulged on the extensive side in French cuisine, skiing and dancing on the tables over aperols for one entire week !

Best restaurants Tignes Le Lac

Apres ski Tignes La Folie Douse Val d Isere

(1) Best lunch on the slopes goes to La Fruitiere – part of La Folie Douce madness – classy and properly gourmet. Certainly within 3 best restaurants Val d Isere.Best steak we had in a long time, served with an amazing jus, fried onions and potato and reblochon casserole. To die for. The fish soup also amazing, the usual aioli, parmesan and croutons in a vintage pot. The rose kept flowing to my delight – going so well with both dishes. We had to go back on our last day of skiing so good it was – when we attempted for the first time that week a lunch outside – sunny but still freezing.  Have to admit steak got colder a lot quicker – so would definitely recommend enjoying thoroughly and properly inside; on the other hand we got to dance around our table and soak in the last hour of happy vibes and La Folie’s amazing tunes. Back to La Fruitiere, quirky funny detail – the personnel proposes the funniest vintage ‘biddons’ to dry and warm-up your belongings.

Best restaurants Val dIsere : La Fruitiere

(2) Our next favourite on slopes must be Maison Bouvier, Panoramic at 3,032m. The vibes and set up are very mountain and chic. On our first day skiing temperatures on La Grande Motte neared -28C, so I spent an hour defrosting in the Panoramic lounge by the fireplace. There are slippers to warm up frozen feet and blankets – delightful. For lunch we had the foie gras and the reblochon in the bread and of course a couple of glasses.

Best restaurants Val Claret Maison Bouvier, Panoramic

(3) A bit more sensible on the bank account, our 3rd choice goes to a sweet retro eatery on Glacier Pisaillas – Le Signal. (4 & 5) Great tartiflette and vin chaud. We also had lunch at Le Trifollet and Les Marmottes – pizza and more tartiflette, good especially if you are after speedy service.

(6) Our apres ski Tignes area choice totally goes to La Folie Douce Val d Isere (pics above), we went pretty religiously between 3-4:30pm. Wednesday must have been our favourite day, happy crowd on tables, saxophone or electric guitar, amazing dj, tunes and singers. 4:30 is a sensible time to leave; the sun disappears from La Folie around 4pm, it gets very cold and far too merry for my taste to descent on the slopes.

(7) Dinner wise our favourite was La Table en Montagne, Maison Bouvier again, this time Val Claret. Part of Les Suites de Nevada, the lounge is cool and chilled. The cutest Saint Bernard lies by the bar – so cuddly and friendly. The restaurant is next door and has some out of this world option: polenta with truffles, amazing fondues and the best cheese moelleux I ever tried. We had dinner with our friends from Geneva – a truly special affair and certainly among 3 best restaurants Val d Isere area.

Escale Blanche Tignes Le Lac

(8) Back in Tignes le Lac we also had dinner at Escale Blanche – good fondues aux cepes, but quite difficult to match Maison Bouvier’s class and quality.

A week out of this world again thanks to Esprit teams where we enjoyed so much the mountains, French cuisine at best restaurants Tignes le Lac, Val Claret, Val d’Isere and the great apres skiing! How many days left please to our next ski holiday? For more glorious Feench uisine in the mountains, check our article on best restaurants in Courchevel 1650; for best things to do in Courchevel head here; for more Tignes in here; for best April skiing and snow bistronomy,  head here for Val Thorens(the highest in Europe at 2300m afterall and highest point in 3 Vallees ski area) ; for inspiration on winter fun, head to our Best ski resorts in Europe with kids or without.