Where to eat and drink in Méribel: long lunches and the nights to book
Lunch on the mountain every day, and in a chalet resort the nights out are few enough to choose with care. Le Monchu is the lunch for a family, Les Rôtisseurs du Mottaret is the cheese night, Le Close-Up in the centre has card magic at the table, and Le Clos Bernard is the evening to book.
Méribel is chalet country, and for a lot of British visitors dinner is cooked by a chalet chef most nights of the week. That makes lunch on the mountain the meal you eat out every day, and the few dinners out in resort the ones to choose with care. Where you are staying matters too: the centre and Mottaret, higher up the valley, each have their own good tables.
Lunch is the meal to plan if there are children. Le Monchu, three hundred metres above the centre, is the mountain lunch that suits them, and a proper sit down there runs to about two hours, so build the day around it. The onion soup is a lunch in itself for anyone not eating meat.
For the cheese night, Les Rôtisseurs du Mottaret is the one: raclette, or the fondue with cepes, and leave room for a cafe gourmand that arrives as full sized desserts. In the centre, Le Close-Up is the easy one with children or a group: puzzles on the table, and the owner doing card magic once the meal is over. The evening to book is Le Clos Bernard on the altiport plateau: mulled wine first, then a walk by torchlight through the snow, or a horse drawn carriage if walking is not the plan.
Le Rambler in Mottaret is a pub for drinking and nothing else, Guinness on tap and singers out in the courtyard, so eat first and carry cash. On a day off the skis, the Buvette de Tueda by the lake has deckchairs, blankets and homemade crepes, and it turns the Tueda walk into a morning out. Book the dinners you care about, and if one is in the other village, sort out the ride home before you go.
Mountain lunch
A long lunch above the centre that suits children, and an evening in the trees on the altiport plateau, reached on foot by torchlight.
Le Monchu
Three hundred metres above the centre and about two hours if you sit down properly, so make it the plan rather than a stop. It is the mountain lunch that actually works with children, and one family ate there twice in a week. The onion soup is hearty enough to be lunch on its own if somebody is not eating meat.
Le Clos Bernard
In the trees on the altiport plateau, and the evening is the version to book. Mulled wine when you arrive, then a torchlit walk through the snow to the door, with a horse drawn carriage for anyone who would rather not walk it. Traditional French cooking, and the tiramisu is the dessert to leave room for.
Dinner
Raclette and a fondue with cepes in Mottaret, and a dinner in the centre that ends with the owner doing card tricks at your table.
Les Rôtisseurs du Mottaret
Cheese is the reason to come. The raclette costs a little more than at the places either side of it and people say it earns the difference, and the fondue with cepes gets called the best somebody has eaten. Finish with the cafe gourmand, which arrives as full sized desserts rather than the usual thimbles.
Le Close-Up
Optical illusions on the walls, puzzles brought to the table and close up card magic from the owner at the end of the meal, which makes it the easiest dinner in Meribel to take children or a group to. The cheese fondue is the shared order and the smoked tuna is the one to break ranks for. Champagne by the glass, because the owner has a stake in a producer.
Bars
A pub for drinking in Mottaret, Guinness on tap and singers in the courtyard, so eat before you go.
Le Rambler
A drinking pub and nothing else, so eat first or bring something in, which is what everybody does. Guinness on tap, a house beer, happy hours and live singers out in the courtyard. Carry cash, because cards are refused under fifteen euros.
Cafes and quick bites
Deckchairs, blankets and homemade crepes by the lake at Tueda, a good end to a morning's walk.
Buvette de Tueda
By the lake at Tueda in the nature reserve, open from half ten in the ski season, with deckchairs out front and blankets to go with them. Crepes with a choice of four fillings and a plat du jour, all homemade. It pairs with the Tueda loop walk, which is the one thing a non skier can do here without a lift.
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Opening times and ownership change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.