Yesterday i had the pleasure of an early morning tandem parapente flight off Brevent with Sean Potts of Fly-Chamonix. Having spent the weekend at a music festival sporting angel wings it all felt extremely appropriate and magical. What a fantastic way to start your day, an altogether different angle to see the valley floor and looming mountainscape.

In the words of Elbow:

Drinking in the morning sun
Blinking in the morning sun
Shaking off the heavy one
Heavy like a loaded gun…

I can recommend it to anyone looking for something original to do, and what a lovely guy to do it with

http://www.fly-chamonix.com/

thanks Sean

If any of you have survived the first wave of Bastille day celebrations we have a second tricolore wave for you today, Wednesday 14^th July from 4pm at Le Délice. There’ll be our usual daily happy hour from 4 till 6pm, live music from Jon Dobson, who’ll be playing his usual mix of mellow acoustic covers and a few of his own songs from 6 till 10pm.

I know, at times, the bonkers taxes, laxadasical opening hours and frustratingly slow response times of businesses and workmen means we lose sight of why we are all here in this fabulous country. So on this French national holiday lets take our hat off to this delightful race, and remember all that we love about this country: the breathtaking scenery, fine wine, great weather and the relaxed gentle pace.

So don that beret and stripey T, come and soak up some evening sunshine, drink a cold glass of rosé, admire the view, eat a long drawn out dinner and check out the fireworks from the comfort of our terrace (pétanque balls optional)

Chapeau!

Katy

Big up to all those that made it to Le Delice’s opening do, you ate and drank me proud. Great to see your happy friendly faces again. I feel an extremely lucky lady to have such a great crew of mates around to boost business and morale, your support never goes unnoticed.

We’ve made one or two alterations to the menu, on your advice and our agreement, so do please check it out.

I forgot to mention in my last update that we are a football free zone this World Cup. So all of you that’d rather consume dinner and drinks in a calm, relaxing and quiet environment as opposed to one with a soundtrack by vuvuzela blowing inebriates (dangerously sweeping generalisation I know )then Le delice is the refuge for you over the next few weeks!

katy

We’re back and raring to go. After 4 weeks of calm it’s lovely to see the place buzzing with activity again. Colonel paint (aka my mother) has been beavering away potting plants and generally beautifying the place, in such a thorough way that only mothers seem to execute. Great smells are wafting out of the kitchen and a fabulous team of staff and generous friends are dashing about organising last minute touches I probably should’ve sorted before running away on holiday!

We open tomorrow, Thursday 10^th June, at 5pm. The new evening menu will be available from 6 –  10pm. Rich and Doug will be playing music from apero time till 10pm, so fingers crossed our terrace will be sun-drenched not simply drenched!  

This season sees the return of our harem of ladies. Jackie and the Claires will be front of house again and Lou will be manning the fort in the culinary hub. There’s two new arrivals on our kitchen team, and one of them may even be male (da da da dah). Although we’ll see how he copes with us overexcitable ladies, maybe I should issue him with uniform ear defenders!?

Our new summer menu is a veritable medley of flavours. There’s twists on French classics, Asian inspired salads, Italian style tapas and some hearty vegetarian dishes. It will be posted here tomorrow once we’ve had a chance to taste and tweak the dishes later today (poor old us!)

Here’s a summary of what goes on over the summer here at Le Délice and don’t forget that our terrace catches the sun all day till it sets (well after Chamonix is plunged into cool shade) so not only are we a perfect spot for lunch but also for sunny aperos and dinner. If you are inclined to linger late then the amazing sunsets are not to be missed too.

Summer Opening Times

Thursday 10^th and Friday 11^th June

5pm – 1am

Saturday 12^th June onwards

11am – 1am

Everyday:

Lunch will be served from 12 – 3pm

Salads, sandwiches, soups, burgers, pastas and plat du jour 9.90

Dinner will be served daily from 6 – 10pm

International fusion a la carte menu

We have a non-stop service of snacks, tapas, sandwiches, coffee and drinks

Happy Hour everyday from 4 – 6pm

Demi stella, glass of house wine 2€ and Cocktails 5€

Free WIFI for all customers

Live music 3 nights a week from 6 – 9.30pm

Thanks for taking the time to read this, I hope to see you tomorrow or sometime soon. I’m eager to hear your interseason news and share hilarious holiday stories over a chilled glass of rosé.

Katy

TWO AH AH AH….

In true Count Von Count style we’re eagerly ticking off the calendar boxes. Just 2 days to go till the Délice team can put their feet up and let their hair down (as it has obviously been in a metaphorical tight ballet face-lifting bun till now!)

Our closing party is tomorrow night, Friday 23^rd April from 4pm - 1am.

Happy hours from 4-6pm

Demi stella or glass of house wine 2€, cocktails 5€

1/3 off all remaining food (and yes that includes the cheesecake)

The weather forecast looks good so come and soak up some last rays of sunshine on our terrace and toast the end of a happy and successful season.

Huge thanks again to customers, friends and staff for all your support, both moral and financial, I couldn’t have done it without you.

If we don’t see you tomorrow, see you in June when we’ll  all be emerging out of our interseason cocoons refreshed, rested n glorious.

Katy x

And the countdown begins…

For fear of sounding like my mother (e.g. Oh my haven’t you grown, if the wind changes you’ll stay like that..) I will resist saying doesn’t time fly but simply note that we suddenly find ourselves with only 11 days left of our winter season at Le Délice. Sniff sniff.

It  has past in a happy blur of yummy food, bottles of fine wine, sunny lunches and beers on the terrace, mellow live music, laughing staff and bustling customers. My thanks to all of you for recommending us to new arrivals and popping in yourselves whenever you get a rare free moment. Owed to your help and the hard work of my brilliant team of staff this winter we’ve accomplished our best season yet. I’ve been bowled over by the support and compliments from clients and only hope after a well earned rest we can continue this success into the summer months of 2010.

Our final fling will be on Friday 23^rd April from 4pm - 1am. There’ll be live music from Rich and Morgan, happy hour from 4 - 6pm, our usual huge discounts on food and enough bubbles and shots to fill any sized pair of drinking boots!

We will be closed for the interseason from Sat 24^th April right through till the Wed 9^th June, (even writing that has crept a broad smile across my face) re-opening with a new summery menu, a flower adorned terrace and a revitalised team of ladies on Thursday 10^th June.

For all those who didn’t catch that the first time round, that’s ONLY 11 days to enjoy a rosé tinted lunch on our sunny terrace, the melt-in-your-mouthness of our rich lambshank, the sumptuous creaminess of our rhubarb and vanilla cheesecake…

Tick-tock  Tick-tock

It’s official we can smell the grass again. The sun’s melted all the snow in the village and the foliage is creeping through the dirty remains. It’s a huge relief as it has saved the Delice all ladies team from brandishing a pickaxe. Not that we wouldn’t have got round to it, eventually! To celebrate the arrival of spring and the plethora of sunburnt  noses round town we thought we’d dust off the terrace furniture and host a little ray bathed après at the bar tomorrow, Wednesday 24^th March. For your aural pleasure we’ve got Jonny Tarr and Rich playing some soul and motown covers from 4 till 6 and the thirsty amongst you can take full advantage of our daily happy hour on cocktails, beer and wine.

Thursday 25^th sees the return of guitarist Jon Dobson accompanying our regular sushi night, so if you’ve not managed to make one yet get recruiting fellow diners as there may be only a few left before the end of the season.

And how’s this for a coop, some customers yesterday pointed out after their (delicious!) dinner last night that they’d discovered us after a mention in the Telegraph’s pick of the top 5 restaurants in the Chamonix valley…

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/snowandski/3194632/Chamonix-ski-guide-bars-and-restaurants.html

What a lovely discovery! Nothing like a non bribe induced, unexpected plug to make me feel like a very proud restaurant owner. Huge thanks to my amazing team for running such a fantastically consistent ship this winter, you gals rock!

Katy

Well it’s been a manic few weeks but we’ve made it through the halfterm madness relatively unscathed . For those of us without children it is an insight into the world of babywipes, endless patience and multitasking. I thought running a restaurant whilst maintaining a healthy social life had shaped me as a multitasking heroine but I was seriously put in shadow by one mother.  Her 3 children, bounding full of energy and curiosity, were pottering about exploring the nooks and crannies of Le D. She managed to feed all 3 of them, and herself, whilst chatting in depth to her friend, not for a second losing her train of thought with intermittent comments of…”no peter”…”careful Molly” …”what’s the magic word?”.  All the while maintaining a sing-song, calm tone of voice as Peter threatens to open the door and stroll out into the street, Molly is scrambling up a threateningly toppling bar stool and toddler is toddling near the top of the stairs. I never really understood all the French congratulations cards, declaring “chapeau!” but in this case “I take my hat off” to all you mums! The debris of children’s food droppings sprinkled on the floor has been swept away and all that is left to show for the madness is a wonderful selection of drawings from ages 3 up, which OF COURSE I’ll be putting up on my fridge! That, or I am considering a Take Hart style gallery ….(although the possible colour overload on a wall of Le Délice does give a colour-coordinating addict like me the heebie-jeebies, I don’t know how you parents cope!)

The new menu’s been going down an absolute treat. The Chinese BBQ pork ribs have created their own following , and we can’t seem to make the lambshanks quick enough. If any of you missed the new menu changes, you can peruse it’s delicious details here, just click on evening menu on the right hand side of this page.

Our sushi and live music nights, every Thursday, have been gathering momentum. Amazing sushi and Jon’s laidback playing and singing makes for a consistently intimate and friendly atmosphere.  Unfortunately he’s not able to play this evening but will be back next Thursday playing his acoustic mellow covers.

Don’t forget we’re open all day, everyday, serving lunch and snacks from 11am till 6pm (homemade burgers, 9.90 plat du jour, tapas, sandwiches and soups) and our a la carte international fusion menu from 6 till 10pm.

Please call us to reserve your table if you fancy dropping in for dinner (tel: 04 50 91 52 06) as we’ve been bonkers busy and I absolutely hate turning people away unfed and unwatered!

Hope you’re all enjoying the child free slopes and adult conversation

See you soon

Katy

Open daily 11am – 2am

Bar snacks, coffees and drinks available all day

Brasserie style lunch menu 12 – 3pm

Soups – sandwiches - pastas – stews – burgers – plat du jour 9.90€

International fusion evening menu 6 – 10pm

Happy Hours 4 – 6pm

Demi Stella or glass of wine 2€ cocktails 5€

Sushi and Live music every thursday from 6pm

Free wifi

While the deluge of snow brings most of Britain to a standstill (sorry but it still makes me laugh!) it has meant for another busy week here in the valley. Some of us have even managed to get up the hill to play in it and remind ourselves why we live here. I, personally, dream of being snowed in and unable to get to work but alas life in well prepared Cham evokes memories of snowy days at school when I was always practically the only classmate who’d made it in. Cursing the fact I didn’t have to get a bus, lived round the corner and owned a rather unattractive pair of wellies!

2010 has started well. There’s something wonderful about the clean slate a new year can bring. A solitary, slightly loose skinned, satsuma left in the fruit bowl reminds us we better start eating healthily again, and maybe think about putting into play some of those optimistic (shot induced) resolutions!

We are still clutching at the ebbing festive feeling and the hospitality industry belated Christmas/new year party (maybe I should consider a catchier title for next year!) is a GO. Anyone up for it please keep Monday 18th Jan free. I am closing the bar for the night so it will be a BYO food and booze do. For the food I’m hoping everyone will bring something Christmassy, maybe something you had every intention of eating on the 25th but never got round to (excluding aforementioned Satsuma!). Please let me know if you would like to come and what you are going to bring so I can try and fill the gaps. It would be a wonderful change to eat a balanced meal since all us hospitality types have consumed since the beginning of December is advent calendar chocolate, toast, cereal and anything else we can eat in 5 minutes on the hoof!

Our first sushi and live music night was a huge success. Miranda got to show off a little of her Asian cooking skills and wowed us with her beautifully prepared, sumptuous tasting sushi. Jon’s playing fitted the mood perfectly and it was all sooo good we’re doing it again this Thursday, and the one after…

Now we have a little time to gather our thoughts we’ll be making a few changes to the menu to keep even you seasoned locals on your toes!

Hope to see you soon