Tried & Tested: Reviews
starters – well, antipasti, if we’re being Italian. Primi followed suit in the taste
stakes with pockets of yellow tortelli stuffed with Swiss chard, ricotta and parmesan; we hoovered them up so quickly that Hutson asked Angela to send out some more, and they were soon gone too. The meat-eaters also got guinea fowl with sage and truffle and Maialino – suckling pig made in the new wood-fired grill – while the Orata seabream with lemon and potato and tiramisu to finish were also delicious. Accompanying the restaurant is
Portetta, Courchevel, France
author: April Hutchinson
Over the years, I’ve blamed a lot of things for my inability to truly master snowboarding. Wrong kind of snow. Bad instructor. Too many button lifts. General unfitness. Bad boots. Bad board. You get the drift. This time – I blamed the fact
that I felt like the Michelin man, after being so full of exquisite Italian food and wine from the night before. I was on a fleeting visit to check out the new restaurant at Portetta, Cucina Angelina, which made its debut in December in Courchevel 1650 (well, now known as Moriond since a rebrand in 2012, but its altitude-name has stuck around regardless). Cucina Angelina is the work of Angela Hartnett, the Michelin-starred chef patron of Murano in Mayfair and once hailed as Gordon Ramsay’s protege; she has more than proved her own prowess since then. In 2012, she teamed up with chef Luke Holder and Robin Hutson to makeover the restaurant at New Forest hotel Lime Wood and her time with the duo has flourished.
Good to know: As well as being ski-in/ski-out, the boot room and ski shop in the heart of the hotel is a massive saviour, meaning guests can hire what they need to without leaving the warmth of Portetta. Portetta also offers four serviced lodges five minutes away, directly on Belvedere. They include four-bedroomed Marmotte and a romantic bolthole for two, Petite Marmotte. In the candle-lit spa, therapists work Bamford products into aching muscles and offer facials by OSKIA. There is also a hammam, sauna and gym. The hotel has a great outdoor bar to watch the world go by while eating lunch or snacking on pizza and building up to some icy shots; it’s also hoped non-residents will swoosh on by for lunch at Cucina Angelina.
As well as Hartnett Holder & Co, there is now also a cooking school at the hotel. It’s amazing this dynamo has
time for anything else, but found time she has, with the chance to take her trademark Italian cooking on the road, or rather on the slopes to Portetta, which is the snowy sister hotel to Lime Wood. Hartnett’s grandparents are from Bari, but this time she’s blended Italian mountain food with Savoyard inspiration, working with existing chef at Portetta, Henri Dereani. The new-look restaurant and
bar are kind of how a modern-day Hansel and Gretel might design a boutique hotel, with oodles of Alpine style, plenty of wood, reclaimed materials and antiques, mixed with contemporary lighting and luscious red leather bar chairs. The sheer volume of stuffed animal heads was a little disconcerting for me –picked up as a job lot and now hung throughout the public spaces – but I could fault nothing else. And certainly nothing could put
me off my dinner, set in the warm glow of the newly refurbished restaurant and involving dollops of creamy mozzarella with lentils, marjoram and olive oil; Vitello Tonnato with juicy tuna, capers, rocket and parmesan; and a divine pear salad. And that was just for
Fire and Ice, an outside decked bar and dining area decorated with illuminated three-metre artificial blossom trees by Enchanted Trees which give off a pretty glow, while there’s a wood-fired pizza oven and a menu of shots served in frozen glasses, along with roaring fires. It’s open all day, so from here you can chew over your day’s progress or watch other skiers come and go, as the hotel sits at the foot of the Belvedere piste and is just a stone’s throw from the Ariondaz ski lift. The hotel has 38 rooms, all
completely refurbished when Jim Ratcliffe bought the hotel in 2006 and reopened it two years later. The categories include Piste-view, Valley-view and even family rooms that sleep up to six and there are also six lofts, which are chalet-style but set within the hotel. My room was cosy and in here, it felt as if every day could be Christmas Day – Alpine feeling, lots of wood, reindeer motifs, fluffy throws and flashes of red. The bathroom is tiny, but there is at least a bath to soothe aching ski muscles. Having to call reception to ask them to adjust the temperature in the room seemed a little antiquated, but on a more modern side, Wi-Fi is fast and included, for when you need to share those smug pictures on social media. Tel: 00 33 479 08 0147,
portetta.com
How to book it Oxford Ski Company offers seven nights from £1,555pp in a valley- view room with half board at Cucina Angelina, easyJet flights from London and private transfers from Geneva (Portetta closes for this season on April 18). Tel: 01993 899420,
oxfordski.com
TRIED & TESTED SPRING 2016
TTGLUXURY.COM 81
Dining on the slopes
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