Forno inferno

Too late to make a booking for dinner, Monsieur Gourmand, our friend and I strolled down the street searching for sustenance. And then we spotted the roaring flames behind the window panes of Les Chamois and knew we were in for a meaty feast.

We installed ourselves at a table with a view of the chef at work. Flames licked around the bars of the grill as he masterfully sizzled the fillets, entrecotes and rumps to perfection, somehow managing to resist catching fire himself as his white overalls dangled precariously over the inferno.

I didn’t want to put his efforts to waste so I ordered a juicy fillet steak with delicious rock salt crust, while Monsieur Gourmand and our friend shared a pierrade – a hearty helping of raw beef which you then cook on a hot stone at the table and eat with gherkins, pickled onions and a quartet of sauces (tartare, aioli, curry and something pink).

We were trying to decide whether we preferred the potatoes dauphinoise or the frites when we realised the place was full of men… groups of men getting more and more rowdy and raucous with each glass of wine…

Yes, Les Chamois is a welcome antidote to the town’s trendier haunts, a down-to-earth den where you can devour copious amounts of red meat and red wine when zonked from a hard day’s skiing. 

Les Chamois, rue Médran 9, 1936 Verbier

+41 (0) 27 771 7525; www.hotel-chamois.ch