L'Impossible Restaurant Review

The restaurant is one of the oldest buildings in Chamonix and the interior has a wonderful farmhouse feel, with none of the clichéd Alpine tat that you find pretty much everywhere else. The thick wooden beams and massive fireplace are all original features and the artwork on the walls changes regularly - there is also a piano for the regular live music concerts that take place.

Run by Auro and Donatella, the menu reflects their Italian roots with all pastas, breads, sauces and desserts being entirely homemade using fresh seasonal produce from organic sources. The menu changes each season, according to whatever fresh produce is available.

One of the best things about L’Impossible is that it suits pretty much everyone - although the menu is not massive, it is well-thought out and incorporates meat, fish and vegetarian dishes with a good selection of vegan and gluten-free options. They even have a dessert menu featuring naturally sweet dishes made with no sugar, butter, eggs, milk or gluten!

While deciding what to have we were brought a basket of homemade bread and a little dish of softly baked dough balls - still warm from the oven - with an amuse bouche of lentil dahl. The bread put me in the mood for something to dip into, so I opted for the tomato and courgette soup with turmeric and chilli oil to start while my boyfriend chose the pink veal filet with tuna sauce, olive oil, mustard mayonnaise and black truffle.

Despite being dairy-free my soup was satisfyingly rich with an almost creamy texture - I wasn’t sure that you’d be able to taste the courgette over the tomato but it came through and balanced the flavour well, with the turmeric and chilli oil giving it a subtle but warming little kick. I would have sprinkled a tiny bit of salt into it but there was none on the table, indeed there were no salt or pepper sets on any of the tables. My other half was very happy with his dish, the delicate veal was wonderfully presented to look like a giant flower and generously scattered with slivers of truffle that permeated the creamy mustard sauce.

Next up was a tagliatelli for me with courgette, porcini mushrooms and saffron - the homemade pasta was perfectly cooked and the sauce was like a thin dark gravy, coloured by the juice from the mushrooms and the orange saffron; the combination of flavours was delicious. Although the vegetables kept a great texture, I would have preferred them not to have been diced so small - particularly the mushrooms. Part of the pleasure of mushrooms (or the horror of them, depending on your preference) is the “bite” that they have when lightly cooked - it would also have made them easier to get on to the fork!

My partner also decided on a pasta dish of ravioli stuffed with gorgonzola, spinach and nuts, swimming in a creamy peach and mascarpone sauce with star anise and lemon zest. When he ordered it my first thought was that there would be too many flavours going on and some of them just sounded a bit too bizarre together - however, the homemade pasta parcels where light and delicate while the filling and the sauce were deliciously rich and decadent. Our waiter anticipated that we wouldn’t want to waste a drop and brought over another basket of bread for mopping up.

As all good Italians restaurants should have, L’Impossible has a great wine list. Their organic ethos is represented by a strong selection of “bio” wines and there is, of course, plenty of Italian classics such barolo, chianti and montepulciano to choose from. We went for a smooth fruity chianti classico, which may not have been the perfect complement to our food choices but was delicious anyway and just what we wanted.

After two courses we were both feeling rather full but after a slight hiatus to finish the wine we rallied round and ordered a dessert between us. Intrigued by the “natural” dessert menu, I chose the skewer of fruits with an agave syrup and hazelnut crust, served with chocolate mousse. I’ve no idea how they created a mousse so rich, creamy and chocolatey without using sugar or eggs but it was amazing - I could happily eat this at the end of every single meal from now on. Alas, the fruits were a bit tasteless, I don’t know if it is due to the time of year or if they were just unable to source any particularly ripe ones, but they had no flavour and little texture other than that given by the hazelnut crust. The choice of fruits was a bit boring as well, with most of the skewer being taken up by a big chunk of apple that was hard to eat without looking like a dog gnawing on a bone. Either, way the mousse more than made up for the fruit and went down particularly well with the amaretto that I had ordered alongside it.

For 120€ we enjoyed two starters, two main courses, one dessert, once coffee, a bottle of wine, an amaretto and a limoncello - not the cheapest night out but well worth it for a special occasion and we’ll surely be back there as soon as the autumn menu is available.