I've always said that if I were a condemned woman pizza would be my last meal (or at least part of it because I would probably fancy a juicy steak for good measure and maybe a crème brûlée to top things off).
So it was fitting that the night before venturing down the Vallée Blanche - or, more importantly, scaling the height of 3800 m on the Aiguille du Midi cable car - pizza should be my sustenance.
Monsieur Gourmand and I, with two of our more adventurous friends, stumbled into Neapolis from the icy outdoors, not fancying a long search for food. We were told it would be a 20-minute wait but we could tell it would be good - the ground floor and the upper balcony bit looked warm and cosy, heaving with sophisticated-looking ski types. So we settled in at the bar with a carafe of plonk and some focaccia and tried not to think about the famous "walk of death" leading from the cable car to the beginning of tomorrow's mythical mountain itinerary.
No time for faffing with starters, we went straight to the main course. Tania had spaghetti bolognese, which was doubtless far better than most of the Chamonix Brits are used to, while the other three of us tried the delicious Neapolitan pizzas, all topped with the freshest ingredients and the bases nicely charred around the edge.
Of course, there's more to Italian cuisine than pizza but ice cream isn't usually the first thing that springs to mind in the mountains. These ones though were outstanding, I might even say the best I've ever had. The 90% dark chocolate flavour was beyond chocolatey with big chunky bits, while the mint choc chip was refreshing after our cheesy mains.
Well, it turned out not to be the last supper after all (the ridge walk was nothing short of terrifying, the skiing magnificent) but this would have been a more than satisfying last meal on earth had I fallen to my death.
Neapolis, 79 Galerie Alpina, 74400 Chamonix, France
+33 (0)450 53 98 41
So it was fitting that the night before venturing down the Vallée Blanche - or, more importantly, scaling the height of 3800 m on the Aiguille du Midi cable car - pizza should be my sustenance.
Monsieur Gourmand and I, with two of our more adventurous friends, stumbled into Neapolis from the icy outdoors, not fancying a long search for food. We were told it would be a 20-minute wait but we could tell it would be good - the ground floor and the upper balcony bit looked warm and cosy, heaving with sophisticated-looking ski types. So we settled in at the bar with a carafe of plonk and some focaccia and tried not to think about the famous "walk of death" leading from the cable car to the beginning of tomorrow's mythical mountain itinerary. No time for faffing with starters, we went straight to the main course. Tania had spaghetti bolognese, which was doubtless far better than most of the Chamonix Brits are used to, while the other three of us tried the delicious Neapolitan pizzas, all topped with the freshest ingredients and the bases nicely charred around the edge.
Of course, there's more to Italian cuisine than pizza but ice cream isn't usually the first thing that springs to mind in the mountains. These ones though were outstanding, I might even say the best I've ever had. The 90% dark chocolate flavour was beyond chocolatey with big chunky bits, while the mint choc chip was refreshing after our cheesy mains.
Well, it turned out not to be the last supper after all (the ridge walk was nothing short of terrifying, the skiing magnificent) but this would have been a more than satisfying last meal on earth had I fallen to my death.
Neapolis, 79 Galerie Alpina, 74400 Chamonix, France
+33 (0)450 53 98 41
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