Chalet Etoile

Chalet Etoile is a self catering chalet available to rent in the village of Chinaillon, the upper ski station of Le Grand Bornand.  After a hard days skiing catering for yourselves does not have to be stressful, here are some ideas:

The local supermarket in Chinaillon The Spar  is run by fluent English speakers, Philippe and Micha.  They can prepare the cheese for fondues and raclettes  to take home.  This provides very traditional and easy to cook meals, that costs a fraction of eating out, all the necessary equipment can be found in the chalet.  They can also provide internet shopping with delivery to the chalet, for details contact Philippe .  The butcher in the main street in Le Grand Bornand can produce trays of thinly cut meats to cook with a raclette.  The Boulangerie is about 10 minutes walk from the chalet and is next to the Adrenelin sports shop.

 A larger ”Intermarche” supermarket can be found on the main road into Thones, about 15 minutes away by car.  If you go past the Intermarche and take the turning to Thones there is also a Carrefour on the outskirts of the town, this is a more modern shopping experience than the Intermarche. 

 There are lots of fantastic restaurants in the area.  Some favourites or ours are:

 In Chinaillon

Le Jalouvre   + 33 (4) 50 27 00 94- our local! next to the boulangerie, perfect for an early morning coffee when doing the morning bread run.  It provides standard mountain fare, all the usuals! and good omelettes.

L’Entracte + 33 (4) 50 27 05 30– local restaurant with good atmosphere and good food, another favourite of ours.  They also do  good take away pizzas.

La Bournerie    + 33  (4) 50 27 00 28 – a firm favourite.  A very traditional Savoyard restaurant, serving traditional fare only - no chips here!  It is in a beautiful spot at the bottom of the piste, it also provides good exercise as there are over a hundred steps on the way up!  Pefect if you like cheese!

Le Chalet Venay  + 33 (4) 50 27 02 01 -- on the road out of the village towards the Col de Colombiere this is another nice traditional Savoyard restaurant.

In Le Grand Bornand

Le Croix St Maurice  + 33 (4) 50 02 20 05 -  the downstairs bar always has a good atmosphere and does a good array of simple food, pizza, steak, fondue etc.  Upstairs is a slightly more formal and quieter restaurant with a very nice atmosphere and larger menu.

Pizzeria Casanova  + 33 (4) 50 02 20 88 - this is a small little restaurant with a good atmosphere and great food, always full of locals - a real favourite of ours.  The owner is Senagalese, so there is always something interesting on the menu.

 La Ferme De Lormay  + 33 (4) 50 02 24 29 – also known as "Chex Albert", this is a famous and  very traditional family run restaurant in the heart of the Bouchet Valley, serving very authentic french food, you will not find pizzas or chips on the menu here! The following is an interesting review of the restaurant from a local wine critic.

In La Clusaz

L'Outa + 33 (4)  50 02 45 35-  is one of our favourite restaurants in the area, great decor, great atmosphere, friendly staff, and above all great food for all the family.

Le Chalet du lac   +33 (4) 50 02 53 26 - on the edges of Lac Confins in La clusaz is a truly special restaurant.  The setting is stunning and the food fantastic.  Their speciality is Tartiflete -  the best I have ever tried, but beware it is enormous!

Lunch on the piste

Unlike many French resorts you can still find reasonably priced food at lunch time in Le Grand Bornand.  A favourite of ours is La Taverne  (slightly off the beaten track, but with a very loyal clientele) They do the usual standard fare, but also a good macaroni cheese, tartiflette and other local dishes for just 6 euros.  The Restaurant Les Terres Rouge, at the top of the Terre Rouges lift is a good value self service restaurent with most meals at approximately 8-12 euros with smaller childrens portions at 5 euros.  On the way down to Le Chatalet and the Le Floria  lift the aptly named "Snack bar" is another self service restaurent, which according to most of our family does the "best burger" in Le Grand Bornand (possibly in the world) for just 4.50 euros (without chips) they also serve very good paninis.  The Maroly is another great restaurent, it is very busy during peak season due to its fantastic location at the bottom of three major lifts, it does great food and when they are not rushed off their feet the staff are very amusing! Finally Le Solaret a hundred yards up from the Snack Bar, while not the cheapest restaruent does fantastic food, and according to our kids the BEST hot chocolate in the world - you need a spoon it is so thick (chocolat chaud ancienne)

See the following article "In praise of lunch on the piste"