Val Thorens Apres Ski Report: 10th December 2015

As I am based further down the Belleville Valley a trip up to Val Thorens is always a refreshing night out and great sign of life as opposed to the lower villages. Also over the past few years, Val Thorens now have an awful lot on offer and I’m looking forward to checking out all the new places. So here’s a quick run down of a few places I visited during the opening weekend.

The first bar we visited for an aperitif on Saturday evening was ‘Au Perchoir Bar’ which has gone under an impressive renovation for this season. The bar is based in the ‘Le Portillo’ hotel on Place Peclet. Tucked away at the back of the hotel, the bar has been really well renovated with a true alpine style and lots of cosy seating to enjoy a bottle of rouge whilst the snow falls outside.

From there we moved on to Café Peclet which is a well established restaurant in Val Thorens. As it was the weekend of the Andros Trophee and with limited bars and restaurants open we made reservations, which was a wise choice made by the VT locals we were dining with as the place was ram jammed. It seems at any point it is probably best however to reserve a table as the restaurant itself isn’t huge. The menu is mainly local specialties with fondues, raclettes and steak tartare. As I am still not quite ready to adopt the raw mince platter, I played safe and opted for the steak and frites and pretty good it was too. The potions are a good size, the staff are really friendly and the menu is reasonably priced. Also I found that it was a nice touch was that at the end of the meal they offer a mini bottle of genepi to digest and digest some more for the genepi lovers! It seems the guys on the table next to us were welcoming this addition to the meal following a massive raclette cheese challenge.

The following day and further down the valley is a place we skied to for a lunch break, Ninkasi in Les Menuires. This is a franchise which started off in Lyon and has been taken on by two local guys who hung up their ski instructor jackets to start the restaurant. It is based right in the base of Les Menuires near the Croisette to the right side next to the piste leading to La Masse. The décor is really refreshing for a piste side restaurant and they have a nice big terrace which is good for groups meeting up.

The restaurant inside is on the small side so if it’s a bad weather day make sure you head there early. They mainly specialize in burgers and salads with some fish and chips thrown in there too. They are a craft brewery so have a good variety of beers on offer along with some flavoured vodkas worth giving a try. I found that the prices are on the higher side for a burger restaurant however pretty much standard mountain restaurant prices.  If you are staying in Les Menuires it’s a good spot for an après drink or two and they also offer tapas and snacks.

I think that next on my list has got to be a stop off at Hotel Tango who on a Thursday lunchtime has an all you can eat and drink event with an outdoor barbeque on their terrace for just 19 euros if pre-booked! Well get me booked in…