FOOD AND WINE
Eating and drinking may not be the most important things on your ski holiday. Good snow, fine weather, comfy boots – these are what will make or break the trip.
But food is an obsession with us. It is the one thing we control totally. Most guests wouldn’t blame us if it snowed every day, they got sunburn or their spouse eloped with a ski instructor, but if dinner weren’t the perfect end to a good day, or antidote to a bad one, they wouldn’t come again.
We remain one of the only companies offering a proper catered chalet holiday with meals prepared freshly every day served by, and daily cleaning done by, our own YSE staff. We do not offer “Contactless Catering”, where food is delivered for you to cook, and you do all the clearing up afterwards! That formula may suit some people, but it is certainly not what we’d call a chalet holiday.
We will provide six dinners – five up to our normal gastronomic restaurant standard, and, on Friday evening, a traditional Savoyarde tartiflette* with salad and fruit – as well as six cooked breakfasts and one continental. The chalet’s communal areas and bedrooms will be cleaned on six days per week.
On six mornings we start with a proper breakfast. Fruit juice, porridge, cereals, bacon, sausages, eggs, bread straight from the famous local bakery, yoghurt, tea and fresh coffee from cafetieres or Nespresso machines (with instant or infusions for those who prefer them). On one morning breakfast will be self-service with fresh croissants and pains au chocolat delivered to your chalet.
You return from the slopes to find bread, butter and jam, a freshly-baked cake (except on Wednesday), tea and coffee left out for you. If you would like hot chocolate, please inform your chalet staff (and tell them how you like it!).
Dinner is where we pull out all the stops on five nights of your holiday. Our policy on food is straightforward. We start with great cuts of meat and fresh fish, the best fresh fruit and vegetables. Everything we need is available in Val d’Isère. Most people are very happy with our normal formula of canapés followed by a three-course, fixed-menu, dinner-party-style meal. The cuisine is largely French, though with a fusion of other influences – what Londoners call Modern British (foreign, in other words).
We are constantly in the pursuit of delivering food to the highest possible standard, minimising mess and intrusion during your chalet holiday.
For this reason, our team of professional chefs manages the majority of food preparation and distribution from our commercial kitchen in the centre of Val d’Isere.
As mentioned above all of our food is freshly prepared daily and delivered to our chalets in the morning, allowing our chalet staff to make final evening preparations, ensuring a delightful dining experience. This gives us more consistent quality and allows us to serve specialities beyond most cooks, such as sushi.
We are commited to high standards of hygiene and prioritise food safety, avoiding cross-contamination of allergens wherever necessary.
Despite our thorough practices, it’s important to note that all of our kitchens use gluten, nuts, and dairy in the preparation of all dishes so we cannot guarantee food is 100% free from allergens. If you have a serious nut or gluten allergy that means the chalet must be 100% gluten or nut free we are unable to accommodate you.
There are some other diets we cannot cater for. We regret that we do not have the separate fridges, etc., required for Kosher diets, we do not have access to Halal meats.
However, if you request a different diet, we will be able to offer one alternative meal so that the normal meal or this alternative will be suitable for vegetarians, vegans, dairy free, no red meat or no onions/no garlic (see the Different Diets page to see the full list).
If a diet is more complicated than those mentioned in the paragraph above, we may have to make a charge for special ingredients but we will let you know in advance. If you want us to buy in special non-dairy milks and yoghurts please let us know.
2024-25 will be YSE’s thirty-third winter season (as we can’t count 2020-21), and we honestly believe our cooking has steadily improved from year to year. Murray, our head chef, author of cookbooks, cooking vlogger, superyacht chef and former cookery school director, creates all the menus and oversees all food served in our chalets.
With dinner, we serve free unlimited quantities of a selection of very drinkable French AOC wine and vins de pays. This is, unfortunately, only with dinner, not breakfast, and we stop serving the wine when the coffee appears.
We also have a wine list from which you can buy everything from slightly smarter wine to Châteaux Giscours or de Meursault. We sell these wines at less than they cost because you are not drinking the house wine. The more you consume the more you save. Drink enough and you’ll pay for the holiday!
And if you prefer Dom Pérignon Krug Grande Cuvée, just give the girls the dosh. They’ll be happy to get some in for you.
We are confident that you’ll eat at least as well in our chalets as in any of the local restaurants or hotels. But the toughest comparisons tend to be with previous YSE holidays. ‘Yes, she’s a wonderful cook, but you can’t beat the hake, celeriac cream and charred leeks or the wonderful fried potato terrine canapé Alfie served in Chalet d’Isère, or the amazing Grand Marnier parfait India served in Chalet Tapia.’ It keeps us on our toes.
If you would like to invite guests not staying in your chalet to dinner, please see our Extra/Empty Beds page for details.
- tartiflette: a traditional Savoyarde dish of potato, reblochon cheese, lardons, onion and garlic, or a vegetarian version without the bacon.
Sample Dishes
Please download our sample dishes but note that you may or may not see these dishes on your YSE holiday.
