Restaurants and Dining
Mountain Restaurants
As you’ll find down in the village, Megeve is more or less unrivalled on the ski slopes for its restaurant choices, with more than 30 different huts to choose from, ranging from large cafeterias to intimate cozy chalets serving up a gourmet lunch, but virtually all are good at what they do. It’s not difficult to find organic-only mountain restaurants or Michelin-starred mountain eateries, but for some you will need a hefty credit-card spending limit so if that might be an issue it’s best to check the menu before you sit down to save potential embarrassment.
Typical of the small Savoyard specialists is the Auberge Bonneval (+33 (0)4 50 55 80 41), a welcoming authentic old wooden Alpine chalet between Megève and La Giettaz, accessible from the Christomet or Torraz chairlifts. There are many more like it and it's hard to go wrong really.
A larger player, also on Jaillet at the top of the gondola, the Face au Mont Blanc (+33 (0)4 50 21 06 51) has two restaurants in one chalet with outstanding views over the Mont-Blanc.
Restaurants in Town
Arguably the best ski resort in the world for eating out, although in some cases you do need to be fairly well heeled to do so. But there are simpler, affordable establishments among those that are rated in the Michelin, Gault Millau and other prestigious gastronomic guide. There are more than 80 restaurants to choose from anyway, many of them serving refined French cuisine, some trading for more than a century.
The Bistrot Savoyard (1541 route Nationale : +33 (0)4 50 21 02 18) is a good choice for traditionally cooked Savoy specialities but owners Andrée and Jean-Pierre, who have been running their bistro in Megève for 25 years, also have a reputation for their great pizza.
The Alpaga’s Restaurant (Allée des Marmousets; +33 (0)4 50 54 65 36; http://www.lodgemontagnard.com) serves ‘bistronomic’ cuisine which is casual, but well thought out and delicious.
Among the many gourmet options are the Coeur de Megeve which is home to a famous chef, Jerone Tison, and The Flocons de Sel (+33 (0)4 50 21 49 99; floconsdesel.com) which has two Michelin stars (and were you can take a cookery lesson with chef Emmanuel Renaut if you like). Cintra (196, place de l'Eglise; +33 (0)4 50 21 02 60; lecintra-megeve.com) is one of the resort’s original restaurants, trading since 1937.
Grocery Shops
Just as Megeve has great restaurants, so too it has dozens of wonderful food shops, many of them frequented by the resort’s many chefs no doubt.
There are ten bakeries, patiseries and chocolatiers. One of the best is Le Refuge du Boulanger (22, rue de la petite Taverne; +33 (0)4 50 93 26 12; lemazotduboulanger.com) which has lots of different types of bread, tarts, cakes and jams and famous “Megève” chocolates made in the shop.
There are also two butchers shops and two fromageries (cheese shops) and half a dozen more including the huge Mouton Rouge deli (77 rue du Général Muffat de St Amour ; +33 (0)4 50 34 91 97), several long-established green-grocers and even unusual outlets for a French mountain resorts such as the Satsuki Japanese food store (Rond Point de la Poste; +33 (0)4 50 90 50 19; satsuki.eu).
There are two supermarkets if you need them – Shopi 681 (route de Sallanches; +33 (0)4 50 21 46 96; shopi.com) and Carrefour (150 rue Ambroise Martin; +33 (0)4 50 21 46 92) which is open to 8pm, seven days each week).
The weekly market is in town every Friday morning, unfortunately late if you are on a week’s stay from the Saturday, but worthy of a visit for food to take home none the less. The good news though is that there’s a second market of local producers in the village square every Sunday morning, perfect timing for the week ahead.
Look out for locally produced Tomme and goat’s cheese, Tousfais (fromage blanc) from Megeve, as well as chocolates, honey and jams made in the town. Dried sausages, hams and other meat products are produced from animals who graze the ski slopes in the summer and organic vegetables come from the jardins de la Mottaz.