Rendezvous Restaurant Review

However, it's a mere 20 minute walk (when you are dawdling!) from Les Praz back in to town so there really is no excuse! And so on a wet Thursday evening we decided to test out the Rendezvous Restaurant at the Hotel Les Lanchers.

It was simple enough to get out to Les Praz since the buses run up until around 8/8.30pm, and we started our evening by having a quick drink in the bar of the hotel. It was surprisingly busy for what feels like low season at the moment, I guess Easter has come early this year! But there did seem to be a nice mix of tourists, and residents who use this hotel bar as their local. When we were ready to eat we were shown to our table by the lovely staff, who can't seem to do enough to make sure you are happy, and they ran through the night's specials for us. They have quite an extensive and varied menu of International and Savoyarde dishes, and their specials included several meat dishes, a fish of the day and of course a dessert. The restaurant itself also has a nice ambience, it was busy but not packed so if felt as though the staff were able to be attentive, but without hovering over you.

As is usual, the problem of being a vegetarian in France, reared its ugly head...they have a very limited selection unless you are a vegetarian who eats fish. However, having said that, there was a three cheese fondue on offer and the other vegetarian option was in fact a tartiflette! I am pretty sure that this is unique in Chamonix as I have asked before to get one 'sans lardons' and it always seems an impossible task. So for the first time since I moved to Chamonix three and half years ago, I ordered the most classic of Savoyarde dishes.

Looking back I should really have known that going for soup starters was probably overcooking it a bit...especially since my friend's French onion soup came heavily packed with croutons and what looked like an entire block of cheese on top. It looked amazing! Although my vegetable soup was good I can't help but admit that was incredibly jealous and felt a little let down at my choice.

But luckily the best was yet to come, and with a delicious glass of the house red to help the starters go down we moved on to round two. My friend had chosen the steak special which came with a pepper sauce, mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. After his mammoth starter he had to choose wisely what to focus on first in case he wasn't able to finish the whole plate and he made quick work of the rare cooked steak and creamy mashed potato.

My tartiflette was amazing! This might be a bit of an overstatement but if you can remember back to your first ever tartiflette experience then you can probably understand... It is the perfect dish for a cold, wet, April evening and I devoured it pretty swiftly. Luckily it came with a really nice salad on the side so I didn't feel that I was being entirely unhealthy with my dish full of potato, cream, onions and gooey reblochon cheese.

By this point we were both sure that dessert was going to be off the cards and we were ready for the 'roll' home...but then we foolishly let them tell us the nights deserts and suddenly there was a raspberry crème brûlée in front of us - to share of course! And it was delicious, the raspberry that was through the crispy brûlée really made it for me. I'm not always a fan of the sugar sweet caramel topping but the tartness of the raspberries toned it down just enough.

So after a great (and huge) meal, I have to say that we were suddenly glad of the walk home in the fresh air. Twenty minutes later and we were back in Chamonix, feeling slightly less full, very satisfied and very happy that we made the journey out to Les Praz to eat at the Rendezvous Restaurant!