When you approach the parking lot of this rustic, Alpine restaurant, the first thing you notice is…read morethe helipad. Huh? The restaurant is in the middle of nowhere! But the 1992 Olympics were held in Albertville, so I suppose some jetsetting billionaire said "The drive is too long, I will build a helipad for you!"
Anyways, the food here is authentic Savoiard cooking. While I can't really judge it against others since I am a neophyte, it was very very good.
We had the raclette and also the reblochon fondues. The dishes included the cheeses, potatoes, cold meats, cooked pork belly (yes, the French have been doing pork belly for hundreds of years, long before it got sexy hot in the U.S.) and sausage. It also came with pickled onions and a huge bowl of green salad.
We had a small oven on the table which had very hot coals in it. You used this to melt the cheese, then pour the cheese over anything on your plate. Wow. Yum.
The food here is simple, but very wholesome and it is fun to "cook" your own. That's why shabu shabu is so cool, too.
We stuffed ourselves silly, and actually had glasses of armagnac at the end. Fantastic.