Cuisine and Wine

 For six days of the week our chalet staff, some of whom may live in the chalet, prepare all your meals, as described here. On the chalet hosts’ day off, they will leave out a simple breakfast for you, and that evening you and your family have the chance to eat out in one of the local cafés or restaurants.
The majority of our guests feel that children under 13 years can inhibit the dinner-party atmosphere at evening meals, especially if they are over-tired, so our younger guests are served high tea at about 5.30pm. We do not then allow anyone under 13 at the adult evening meals in chalets, except in our two ‘Family Dining’ chalets.

Breakfast
A good breakfast is essential on a ski holiday, so we provide a choice of cereals or porridge, fruit juices, plentiful tea and coffee, local bread (and croissants or ‘pains au chocolat’ in France), cold meats, cheeses and preserves, and boiled eggs. This is normally presented buffet-style for you to help yourself.
Additionally we are delighted to be offering our guests in France the opportunity to sample the re-packaged and re-styled muesli from Jordans, their Fruit & Nut Muesli. This fruit & nut recipe is packed with 50% fruit, nuts & pumpkin seeds. Raw British wholegrain oats & barley are blended with crispy toasted wheat flakes for a balanced cereal base, while whole nuts, pumpkin seeds & coconut add a crunchy layer, ending in a juicy finale of sweet flame raisins & tropical fruit.

Afternoon tea
The traditional ‘welcome home’ after a day on the slopes will be laid out for you by your chalet host, ready for your return. A good cup of tea or coffee is the perfect accompaniment to a delicious slice of freshly home-baked cake.

Children’s High Tea
Served at around 5.30pm and supervised by our staff, high tea provides children under 13 with a healthy menu, but tailored more towards children’s tastes than our main adult dinner. Puréed food is available for infants on request. Chalets serve a fixed ‘menu of the day’, and parents are asked to accompany children under 36 months, whilst children 3-12 years will be supervised by Esprit staff.
Adult Dinner
Our four-course chalet dinners start with canapés and an apéritif, followed by an appetiser, main course and dessert, accompanied by a choice of wines, and followed by coffee with mints or chocolates.

 

Special Diets: Vegetarian options are always available if you advise us in advance, and other special diets can generally be catered for at a cost of £25 per person per week. and please advise us at the time of booking, and specify details on your Booking Form .
Family Dining Chalets:  For those who want to eat with their younger children, we offer two chalets with our Family Dining concept - the Valentine in La Rosière and the Lucas in Les Arcs. Everyone in these chalets eats together in the evening, starting at 6.30-7.00pm. The meals are based on our adult menus with some flexibility for younger taste buds, although not a complete ‘à la carte’ choice!
You can also choose our Family Dining option if you wish in any chalet of up to 10 beds, if you book the whole chalet for your own party, subject to chalet suitability. The additional charge for changing meals to Family Dining is £39 per child.

We are very proud of our wine selection for Esprit chalets which combines crisp and fruity whites with medium to full bodied reds, for a variety of palates.
We select our wines in conjunction with our good friends Nicolas and Véronique Perret the third generation in the Perret family’s fine wine business based in the Savoie. Nicolas is a Master of Wine, having trained at the prestigious Burgundy Wine University in Beaune.
Each season in October, Nicolas & Véronique bring over a new selection for us to sample (someone has to do it!) and together we choose our four wines for the coming season, based on our menus and their pure enjoyment factor.
Wine is an incredibly subjective and emotive subject, however the feedback we have received from our guests over recent seasons endorses our aims of providing wines to enhance your meal and to suit most tastes.
We hope you will enjoy them as much as we do!