Where to eat and drink in Alta Badia: lunch is the point
Lunch is the event here, and the cooking to seek out is Ladin: i Tablà above San Cassiano is where to eat it. KELINA Fine Dine at the top of the Boe cable car is the lunch to book early, Steakhouse L’Fanà in La Villa feeds a hungry group, and Badia Pub is the local apres.
Alta Badia eats best in the middle of the day. Lunch in the huts is the main event, not a pause between runs, and the cooking worth coming for is Ladin: canederli in broth and polenta with cheese, with strudel to follow. Dinner is quieter and spread between the villages, so where you are staying shapes the evenings more than it would in a single resort.
For Ladin rather than Italian, i Tablà above San Cassiano is the one, with big plates, a venison dish worth asking about and sledges for children to play on while they wait. At the other end of the scale, KELINA Fine Dine at the top of the Boe cable car out of Corvara is a chef's menu eaten in ski boots, with a wine collection you would not expect at that height. It is small and hard to get into, so book it early in the week. On a day off the skis, Rifugio Utia Paraciora above Badia is reached without a lift; go either side of the lunchtime crush.
In the evening, Steakhouse L’Fanà in La Villa is the dinner for a hungry group. Steak is sold by weight and the sharing plates are big enough that three portions feed four. In Corvara, Pizzeria Fornella takes no bookings and fills soon after the doors open, so get there as they do, or order a takeaway. It can make every pizza and pasta gluten free.
The evenings are calm. Badia Pub is where Badia itself goes after skiing, and because its kitchen runs late, plenty of people end up having dinner there too. Book the places you care about ahead, KELINA above all, and give lunch the time it asks for.
Mountain lunch
Ladin cooking on a roomy terrace above San Cassiano, and a chef's menu at the top of the Boe cable car that wants booking early in the week.
i Tablà
In the middle of the ski area above San Cassiano, and this is where to eat Ladin rather than Italian. Canederli in broth, a venison dish the owner's son will point you at, and polenta with cheese. Big plates at low prices for the altitude. The inside fills, the terrace is roomier, and there are sledges for children to use while they wait.
KELINA Fine Dine
Fine dining at two thousand one hundred and eighty three metres, reached by cable car, with everybody arriving in ski boots. A three course chef's menu that changes often, built on local produce, and a wine collection that has no business being up a mountain. Small and hard to book, so decide early in the week.
Dinner
Steak by weight and plates built for sharing in La Villa, and pizza in Corvara that is worth arriving early for.
Steakhouse L’Fanà Food & Wine
A basement room fitted out like a Tyrolean house with an open kitchen, and steak is the business. It is sold by weight per hundred grams using local beef, and the ribeye is the cut. The sharing plates are very large, so three portions will do four people. Tortellini, wine soup and grilled vegetables for anyone not eating steak.
Pizzeria Fornella
No reservations, and it fills within about twenty minutes of opening, so arrive as the doors go or expect half an hour. Every pizza and pasta can be made gluten free, and a lot of the salads and meat dishes are anyway. Takeaway is easy to order if you would rather not queue. The gnocchi with sausage is the thing to get beyond the pizza.
Bars
An Irish style pub in Badia, the local apres, with a kitchen that runs late enough to turn the evening into dinner.
Badia Pub
An Irish style pub in Badia village, five minutes from the middle, and the local apres. The kitchen runs late, which is why people end up here for dinner. The food beats the format: the lasagne gets named by two people, one of them a working chef, and the pizza is homemade. IPA on the list and live music.
Cafes and quick bites
Lunch above Badia without needing a lift, beside the deer park, with blankets put out on the covered terrace.
Rifugio Utia Paraciora
Above Badia beside the deer park, with free parking, so it works without a lift. A large covered outdoor area with blankets put out for cold or wet weather. Lunch only, and the strudel and canederli are the orders, with a wide vegetarian choice at fair money. It gets very crowded at lunchtime, so go either side of it.
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Opening times and ownership change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.