Where to eat and drink in Tignes: the right table in the right village
Tignes eats in its villages, so where you stay matters. Le Panoramic at the top of the Grande Motte is the long lunch to plan a day round, La Ferme des 3 Capucines in Le Lavachet is the dinner to book, Mendikoa is the change from cheese, and Jam Bar in Tignes le Lac is the bar.
Tignes eats without much ceremony, and well. The villages sit apart, and our picks are spread across Val Claret, Tignes le Lac and Le Lavachet, so it is worth knowing which one a table is in before you book it.
Lunch is the meal to go high for. Le Panoramic, at three thousand metres on the Grande Motte, cooks everything on a wood fired grill, and the côte de boeuf is the order. Let lunch run late if you like, but know when the last lift goes, because getting down from up there is the part people get wrong.
Melted cheese is the default here, and La Ferme des 3 Capucines in Le Lavachet serves it on a working farm, with a dining room that looks into the barn and a tomme made on the spot. It fills within minutes of opening, so book. When the cheese wears thin, Mendikoa, also in Le Lavachet, is Basque run and the fish is the surprise, turbot and hake on a ski resort menu, though there is no children's menu. In Val Claret, La Pignatta leans Italian but keeps tartiflette and fondue next to the pasta, the easy room for a table that cannot agree.
For a drink, Jam Bar near the Palafour lift in Tignes le Lac is small, Italian run and good enough on food to stay and eat. By day, Oxygène Café in Le Lac suits a family week, with real gluten free choice, a flat white if you ask and baby changing. Book all three dinners before you go.
Mountain lunch
A wood fired grill at three thousand metres, for a lunch to make long and late.
Le Panoramic
Three thousand metres at the top of the Grande Motte, and the only mountain restaurant in Tignes we would send anyone to. Everything comes off a wood fired grill and the cote de boeuf is what to order. Make it a long late lunch rather than a stop, and keep half an eye on the last lift, because the descent is the part that catches people out.
Dinner
A farm with a window into the barn, Basque fish where you expect cheese, and an Italian leaning room that keeps a mixed table happy.
La Ferme des 3 Capucines
A working farm with a restaurant in it, and a window from the dining room into the barn where the goats, doves and chickens are. The Tomme a la cidre is made here and comes with local white wine and charcuterie. Savoyard at lunch as well as dinner, which is when melted cheese actually sits better. It fills within minutes of opening.
Mendikoa
Basque run, and the seafood is the surprise. Turbot and hake sit on a menu of three fish starters and two mains, which is not what a ski resort usually offers. Skip the raclette everyone else is having and take the rest of the menu, which is where the cooking is. Book, and note there is no children's menu.
La Pignatta
The busiest room in Tignes by a distance, Italian leaning but carrying tartiflette and fondue alongside the pasta, so a mixed table is easy. The gambas are the starter people order twice and the suckling pig is what some of them book for. Reserve, because it fills, and two separate parties went back within the same week.
Bars
Tiny, Italian run, food made rather than reheated, and the two who run it will get on the microphone.
Jam Bar
A tiny Italian run bar near the Palafour lift where the food is actually made rather than reheated. Goats cheese ravioli, panini and a hot chocolate people mention by name. Roco and Delphi run it themselves and will get on the microphone. Low prices, too.
Cafes and quick bites
Gluten free taken seriously, a flat white when you ask for one, and baby changing for a family week.
Oxygène Café
Serious about gluten free, with a choice of sandwiches and cake rather than one token item, and the people who have to care about it say so. The coffee is above the local standard and they will make a flat white. It also has baby changing, which for a family week is not a small thing.
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Opening times and ownership change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.