 Poster: A snowHead
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Pretty restricted on skiing dates next season due to kids exams (they are 15/17 yrs old so we’re in the thick of it). So, we’ve just booked up for Xmas week in Val Thorens, self catering.
Never done a family skiing Christmas before, so thinking ahead (and to manage the kids expectations on how festive it may or may not be!), are there any recommendations from those who have the Knowledge for:
- restaurants in VT that serve a British turkey dinner on Xmas day?
- restaurant recommendations for the Xmas Eve dinner (which is the traditional time to celebrate in France I think), if there’s anywhere that does anything particularly special or festive?
- any other VT Xmas festivities that are usually on - eg fireworks visible from x place?
Have a had a look on search and can’t see anything, so thank you in advance for any info, and may I be the first to wish you Merry Christmas 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Can't comment on VT for Xmas but all of the above are available in La Tania... 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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TBF, the only thing I think you might struggle with is a "British turkey dinner on Xmas day". I can't think of any Brit oriented restaurants in VT (other than the Frog & Roast Beef pub) but I guess there may be. Might be time for a bit of Trip Advisor research.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Turkey for the Xmas dinner will be hard to find, even if you are willing to cook it yourself, let alone at a restaurant. In the large supermarkets in the valley may be. Or freeze one and bring from home.
Our hands down favourite restaurant is La Maison at the Place De Caron, right above the new snowboard shaped thingy.
Place de Caron is the place to be on Christmas Eve as well - fireworks, torch descent, music, vin chaud, etc.
Fireworks are also visible from some of the apartment blocks - if you can see unobstructed in the general direction of the Cascades lift, you will likely have a good view of the display.
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| Je suis un Skieur wrote: |
| TBF, the only thing I think you might struggle with is a "British turkey dinner on Xmas day". I can't think of any Brit oriented restaurants in VT (other than the Frog & Roast Beef pub) but I guess there may be. Might be time for a bit of Trip Advisor research. |
Mm, couldn’t find anything on Tripadvisor/T’internet so suspected it might not be possible. There could be an opening for an entrepreneur there! Sure there is a significant Brit contingent in the 3V/VT. Not a massive issue if it’s not possible, would just be a festive bonus.
We did nearly go for La Tania, been before and like it a lot, but in the end the package was better for VT (and I love Orelle as well…).
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@Handy Turnip, @Oleski, thank you! Exactly the kind of info I was after 
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| Oleski wrote: |
| Turkey for the Xmas dinner will be hard to find, even if you are willing to cook it yourself, let alone at a restaurant. In the large supermarkets in the valley may be. Or freeze one and bring from home. |
Apartment might not even have an oven - plenty only come with a microwave/grill and mini fours are the exception these days. I specifically bought a tabletop mini four/grill/air fryer for my apartment so I could do the odd roast chicken etc.
Talking about being at home though, I'd be willing to bet that you could pre-book roast potatoes and maybe a small rotisserie turkey or whole duck from the local deli.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Good point @Je suis un Skieur, although we did have one in the more expensive places like Les Balcons and Beausoleil.
@chaletgirl002, if all else fails, there is a rotisserie chicken place as you exit the shopping mall to Place De Caron. Also I think some of the supermarkets have it.
For pigs in blankets, bacon and sausages are available.
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I prepared a traditional Christmas dinner for a dozen people in our little apartment once. I cooked a big turkey crown in advance, sliced it up and froze it immediately in some very good (if I say it myself) gravy. We took it deep frozen and insulated in a couple of pairs of salopettes. Was still mostly frozen when we got there (we drove) and it then thawed very slowly in the cave for a couple of days.
It made the whole thing more practicable. A niece staying in a different apartment came down with a big tray of roast potatoes. It was a great Christmas and the best thing of all was that no TV was watched at any time by anyone! Christmas in the Alps is great, precisely because it's different.
But of course we didn't have Christmas dinner till 6 pm as we'd all been out skiing all day. By the time we ate, having already had more than a couple of drinks, we were in festive mood.
There were essentially "no presents" - though that had been pretty much our extended family rule for some years. We always used to take our kids out of school in deepest, cheapest, January for ski holidays. They loved skiing but always knew it was expensive and that it was their "big" Christmas present. We talked about it. I guess if one of them had hated skiing we'd have left them at home with local friends to go to school as usual and put the cost of their ski pass into their savings accounts.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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We tend to take the traditional Christmas dinner stuff with us. The apartment oven is big enougth for the top quality joint of beef (smuggled in the car fridge) along with parnsnips, horseradish sauce, sprouts, Christmas pudding and rum sauce. Other items are sourced localy. Even when we haven't, a roast chicken from the resort shop has been a more or less traditional subsitute. I have contemplated getting a goose from the SuperU in Bourg but they look a tad big for our little apartment oven.
Like @Origen, this is an evening meal.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I managed to cook a dinner on two hobs and an air fryer last year - for 4 people. Air fryer we took as there was no oven.
Took stuffing with us - cooked in the air fryer first. Cooked Yorkshire's in the air fryer in mini loaf tins, alongside roast potatoes on the other side. Veg in one pan on the hob and steak fried on the other. Topped off with bistro gravy bought from home. Look less than an hour in the afternoon - it was great and we really enjoyed it.
Could equally have roast chicken joints cooked up rather than beef and instead of turkey.
Always lots of options. We absolutely loved Christmas out there - even made a fry up for brunch before we went out skiing…
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@chaletgirl002, You would need to get a lift there (they may well put on a minibus), but Chez Pepe Nicholas is pretty special for a lunch or dinner, and I bet they do something really lovely (but French) on Christmas eve.I know this winter they have also had their own fireworks on some nights. You would definitely need to book well in advance.
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You know it makes sense.
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At 15 and 17 do the kids really care about a Xmas dinner?
When we’ve done it we had Christmas the weekend before, full dinner, presents the lot. Skiing was skiing 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Quote: |
Alas we are flying, plus the oven in the apartment only seems to get up to ‘luke warm’ (we’ve stayed there before), so I don’t think cooking is a realistic option (and aren’t you no longer allowed to take meat and dairy across the border?!
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Yes - apartment ovens do vary in quality. Mine was fine. And when I took my frozen turkey the dreaded Brexit hadn't happened! I was away last Christmas, with my daughter and family. They love their Christmas dinner too, so we had all the family around for a Christmas meal a bit earlier in December. We ate in the apartment the whole week, apart from some cheap "nuggets and chips" lunch options and one evening where we went to a restaurant near my old apartment, where we've known the proprietor for years. My daughter's family, including girls of 11 and 14, are permanently hungry. They eat far more than I do and feeding them "out on the mountain" would be ruinously expensive. The apartment was well equipped for cooking and a good shop was 100 metres down the road, so it wasn't too much of a hardship and as we drove in a huge van we took lots of stuff with us, like the making of gins and tonics, lots of little choc bars for skiing, condiments, oil etc. And I'd made cottage pies for the first evening meal AND packed wine to go with it. The apartment "instructions" were that ALL foodstuffs must be binned at the end of the week, so our preparations paid off. Much harder if you are flying, and promising a traditional Christmas dinner is giving yourself a hard time!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@chaletgirl002, We had Xmas dinner a week early last Xmas, then froze the remaining meat, veg etc and smuggled into France. And by smuggled mean it was highly visible in a fridge in car - if checked would have claimed ignorance and accept it was being throw out.
Managed to cook a pretty good dinner from leftovers on the day itself
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I'd probably go for a nice lunch on the mountain somewhere rather than hunt for what will be a pretty mediocre attempt at a UK turkey dinner. Evening with board games, cheese, charcuterie and maybe some smuggled mince pies. We ended up cooking ours on 26th this year gone as we'd had so much lunch. No turkey though, it was a poularde, and we do have a working oven.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Is it just me that finds it a bit strange to choose to go on holiday in France but be looking for British style Christmas dinner? I can understand it if you lived there. But otherwise why go all that way for a week and not eat the very fine local cuisine? Or stay at home and enjoy the traditional British lunch with all the trimmings?
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FAQ
Doing the whole thing a week earlier was my plan b.