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Val d'Isere Apres Ski Report: 16th February 2012

Valentine's meal: Alsace inspired food in the Savoie

featured in Nightlife reviews Author Katherine Harle, Updated

This week was Valentine’s Day and just happened to be my day off too. I made the most of it by going out for dinner with my partner. By the time we were both ready to go it was getting quite late, as in 10pm late! So we decided to head down to the Taverne d’Alsace, located beneath the Billabong Café and Hotel Kandahar, on the opposite side of the roundabout from the bus station.

It’s one of the few restaurants that serves late in town, that is if you want something more than a burger or pizza. I hadn’t been there for quite a few years and I remembered the food being good but I was also interested to see if the standards were as good as they used to be.

Luckily, we weren’t the last customers of the evening and when we arrived there were still plenty of people there. We were sat in a cosy corner table of which there were plenty. Although the restaurant is big, it’s spread out on different levels and with cabin style tables you don’t feel like you’re in a large restaurant. It’s decorated with tons of photos of ski champions from times gone which I’ll tell you about later.

The service was fast and friendly and our waiter welcomed us warmly and we ordered a pre-dinner drink (called an “aperitif” in France) while we perused the menu.

As the name of the restaurant would suggest, the food is mainly influenced by the Alsace region of France which, with its close ties to Germany, means lots of meats; cured hams, pork joints, sausages and of course, sauerkraut! But the menu has other dishes to offer too, including salads, soups, seafood and pasta, all with an Alsatian twist.

We opted to go for the seafood options and our waiter recommended a lovely slightly dry but fruity German white wine to go with our choices.

We went for the starters of onion soup and the salmon tartare which is topped with crunchy, shavings of fresh veggies. It was so delicious, I’d got through most of it before I realised I’d forgotten to take a photo but I can promise, it tasted as good as it looked with fresh salmon chunks marinated in a tangy vinaigrette. I was also informed the soup was good too but I never got a look in there. We were both pretty hungry!

For mains, we chose the scallops with creamy polenta and the baked John Dory in a cream sauce with a pastry topping. The chunks of fish and vegetables were cooked perfectly, the sauce was light and creamy and the pastry flaky yet moist. The scallops were on a bed of polenta in a brown sauce that was rich without being heavy. All in all, thumbs up again! I remembered to take a photo this time though, as you can see!

Although I was pretty full already I couldn’t resist having a peek at the dessert menu and was swayed by what I thought was a mousse of milk chocolate with salted caramel. However, when it arrived it was a creamy, chocolate pyramid and when you got to the centre was a runny, caramel filling. Between us both, we got through it as we finished our wine and it we both agreed it was very, very good.

After we were finished the owner, Pierre Julien Berthet, wandered over for a chat and I managed to get a bit of the history of the place.

The original restaurant was opened in 1959 by Alfred Fehlman, who originated from the Alsace region, and was located under the old Hotel Kandahar. It was taken over in 1982 by Hubert Deiss, Pierre Julien’s father-in-law and also from Alsace. In the spring of 1984 the old building was pulled down and then rebuilt. It reopened the following winter as it stands now.

The chef has been there for 20 years which shows he knows what he’s doing and this was reflected in the food we ate; everything was divine.

In the ‘70s and ‘80s the Taverne was renowned for its après ski. People would come down from skiing to prop up the bar with a few beers, then grab a table to have some food, still in their ski gear. They’d head home to bed at about 8pm ready for the next full day's skiing.

The photos on the wall are all of former ski champions, back in the days when athletes would celebrate their success by having a few beers in the bar. As the original owners were from Alsace, they could speak German so many of the Austrians, Swiss or German racers would head there to have a good time and it got built quite a reputation with those nationalities.

Overall, it was a lovely meal with delicious food in a cosy setting. The service was great, if we needed anything the waiter was on hand but he left us to chat peacefully. After a genepi to round things off, we left with full stomachs and happy hearts.

The Taverne d’Alsace is open from 4pm for reservations and is open until 1pm, although the kitchen will close earlier, depending on how busy they are.

That’s it from me this week, TTFN.