Savoy cuisine

The dining room is entirely made of ice.

You sit on these massive ice blocks that are covered in thick, warm animal skins, and they serve you this piping hot traditional Savoyarde cheese fondue right in the middle of the ice dome.

The contrast is just brilliant.

You are sitting inside a frozen dome of ice surrounded by freezing snow walls, but you are eating this rich, hot, bubbling cheese pot and drinking a crisp Savoyarde white wine.

It is incredibly cozy and has this wonderful intimate atmosphere.

And after dinner, you walk back through the silent, starlit forest under the moon.

But as beautiful as these high-end chic places are, eventually the mountain calls, and when you've spent five hours burning calories in a freezing blizzard, you don't want delicate sushi or truffle-infused mashed potatoes.

You want cheese, mass melted Savoyarde cheese.

And when it comes to the heavy-duty Savoyarde classics, Avoriaz is home to some absolute shrines of dairy.

It really is.

And the first spot we have to talk about is Le Fangel.

But in the winter, the goats are tucked up warm in their barns, and the village becomes this absolute gourmet paradise for skiers.

La Crémaillère is an old mountain dairy chalet at 1,470 meters that was restored and turned into a rustic restaurant.

It has been run by the Brays family for three generations, and they serve some of the most authentic, rustic Savoyarde cooking in the entire Portes du Soleil.