Ski holidays are an ideal way for families to spend quality time. Where childhood memories are made in a comfortable setting of a crackling fire, comfort food and surrounded with a loving family. With enough dishes and delicacies to bliss all the tastebuds of every guest, La Bouitte in Val Thorens manages to combine the comfort of a family home with gourmet cuisine and an unforgettable fine dining experience.

Situated in Val Thorens, which has a 2300m altitude and a 360-degree view, is the restaurant La Bouitte. Val Thorens links les 3 Vallées, and has 6 stunning mountains to ski on. La Bouitte is truly positioned on the throne of a magnificent valley. The restaurant has received 3 Michelin stars, 4 Gault & Millau toques and it is an authentic and traditional restaurant of the Savoie area. Sitting between the alpine meadows and the lakes and mountains, the restaurant has a gentle beauty and a welcoming nature that make it the family restaurant it is. The quality of the food is truly magnificent, and the extensive list of tasting menus go from a 3-course meal to an 8-course meal, perfect for every occasion.

La Bouitte’s history dates back to 1976, when Rene and Marie-Louise bought an apple tree field in Saint Marcel, and decided to create the La Bouitte restaurant in the Savoie area. It was in 1981, after a dinner with Paul Bocuse, that the restaurant really began to find its feet, as this dinner marked a turning point for the restaurant. Even though Rene never received formal chef training, his talent flourished, and with the help of his son Maxime, who joined him in the kitchen in 1996, the restaurant earnt its first Michelin star in 2003. They then went on to receive the second in 2008 and the third was gained in 2015. Rene describes how for him the restaurant is an “authentic home, from the heart… just like us” and his wife Marie feels that La Bouitte is “my life, my heart and my passion”. It is easy to see why the restaurant is named La Bouitte, for La Bouitte means ‘small home’. The restaurant is, as a result, deeply connected with family values, and guests are made to feel as though with their meal, they are brought into this amazing family, as guests into a home, rather than to a simple restaurant.

La Bouitte has a terrace and two beautiful seating rooms. The entrance room is made from smooth chestnut wood, with intricate chandeliers hanging down to illuminate the room. There is some handmade pottery on shelves on a few of the walls, that holds food products of the local region, and a china cabinet that displays a collection of regional dishes, to make the guests feel that they are fully immersed into the Savoie culture. The neatly tableclothed tables, set out with china and covers with the Savoie coat-of-arms, bring the chic dining experience into the wooden cosiness of the room. This makes for a romantic or memorable dinner, complete with the stunning mountains views through all the bright windows.

The baroque room of the restaurant is also beautiful – with a ceiling that truly gives this room its name. On the ceiling there are two intricately sculpted cherubs that are angled towards a pendant chandelier that hangs delicately in the middle of the room. The beauty and sophistication of the room is combined with the comfort of the Savoie home design of the wooden beams and cosy, wall-hanging candle lights. This room also has striking 18^th Century dishes and pottery that have the Savoie coat-of-arms carved into them, again bringing the local culture to this magnificent room.

The terrace of the restaurant is also a place to sit for a memorable dining experience. The view, no matter what time of day, is truly breath-taking, as you can see through the valley, with the French mountains towering all around. Whether this is a romantic dinner, or a break from a day’s skiing, this terrace is a wonderful place to relax and enjoy 3 Michelin-star dining. The large patio heaters make sitting here as cosy and warm as the inside rooms, but from the freshness and beauty of the open air. If truth be told, no matter where you’re sat in La Bouitte, the dining experience you will enjoy will be magnificent, and be a wonderfully memorable experience – it is almost worth coming back multiple times to try all the different tasting menus and to sit in each different area.

The quality of the French cuisine in La Bouitte is fantastic, and the variety of delicacies are vast. The restaurant offers a number of surprising menus, from 3-course, through to an 8-course tasting selection. Each package comes with beautifully paired wine packages, making your meal truly complete. Each course on the tasting menus is crafted with skill, and presented with intricacy to make each dish as easy on the eye as it is on the stomach.

An example of some of the starting dishes you can enjoy at the restaurant include the delicious duck foie gras and hare pie, served in jus with crispy endives, or the Savoy pasta risotto, with beaufort cheese and seasonal mushrooms, both dishes making for a comforting and tasty start to a wonderful meal. You can also taste the French delicacies like frogs and snails, or even the luxury of caviar, all served and presented with sophisticated talent, to taste as luxurious as possible.

La Bouitte is renowned for its exquisite selection of meats and fish, with it’s pan-fry deer, with scalloped potatoes, jus and mashed cranberries being a favourite. The roasted pigeon, served stewed on toast with seasoned mushrooms is also delectable, as is the sweet, caramelised bread with agria potatoes and smoked horseradish. This selection of tender meats, and the brilliant cooking, brings the taster through a journey of the Savoie delicacies, but maintains a simplicity that marks the true sophistication of La Bouitte. The seafood selection is also fantastic – the crawfish cooked with pinecone, coco beans and fennel, in a shellfish soup, takes your tastebuds on a ride through the ocean, tasting only the very best of seafood flavours. The Fera fillet is another favourite, as the lemon lak, thin crunchy bread, white butter and roussette wine sauces complete this dish with rich and creamy relishes.

With so many fabulous dishes brought to your table, it is easy to see why the tremendous 8 -course tasting menu is so popular, and why the dessert menu is also so elaborate at La Bouitte. The chestnut souffle cake, with the unique, local delicacy ‘Mont Blanc’ cream makes for a sweet and satisfying finale to an amazing meal, as does the delicious Serac cheese from Le Chatelard which is served with a lavish dressing pollen. Then, the encore, the true finale for guests to experience is the bliss of French tradition and finesse – the Cheese Trolley. With so many local cheeses to treat your tastebuds, guests will be sent into such a peaceful, satisfied food coma, that a meal in La Bouitte becomes not only a wonderful meal, but also a truly memorable experience.

One thing that makes La Bouitte so much the ‘small home’ it is, is the fact the restaurant and the staff are a family. It is a family that lives on the French mountain traditions and sees its guests as part of its extended family – and this is shown in one of the special packages the restaurant as to offer. The meal package called ‘La Table des Meilleur provides guests with an intimate meal away from other guests, on a separate table in a room that overlooks the hamlet of Saint Marcel, which stands towering by the restaurant. At this table, you can look over all the breath-taking summits of the mountains around you. From this throne of a seat, a team of 25 chefs will provide you and up to 5 other guests a meal to enjoy in the comfort of each other’s company in this cosy cocoon of a room. But you can even open up the door of your room to see the skill and talent hard at work in the kitchen. This is a wonderful experience to enjoy, and provides a closer connection to the chefs, that make your meal feel more personal, bringing the family values of La Bouitte to you.

The restaurant also arranges picnic meals, which they see as a connection between their home to the land, and they arrange for guests to have the option of a walking or mountain biking excursion with Saint Martin de Belleville mountain guides along with a delicious gourmet picnic. Each picnic is made to be personal to the guests, allowing them to choose a number of items in the picnic basket, and the family lovingly puts together the basket for them. Guests may choose a selection of cold or cured meats, seasonal fruit, a selection of Savoie cheeses, some travel desserts, some freshly baked bread with butter, and then a selection of drinks including a beautiful accompaniment of wines. The family also provide guests with a rug to sit on, and recommend the places to sit for the meal in the mountains of the Belleville valley.

There are many amazing alpine restaurants that will provide you with wonderful dining in the beauty of the French mountains. However, few restaurants manage to bring such a rustic and authentic simplicity to a fine dining restaurant, that echoes so closely with a family home. Here, in La Bouitte, guests are able to not only enjoy delicious delicacies, but also enjoy a traditional French dining experience in the kind care of an amazing family that welcome every guest as if they were part of the family.