Hey all, we’re back and preparing to open for the summer. We’re welcoming back some old faces, with the return of Lou, Jackie, Claire and Jo and we’ll be introducing a couple of new ones, with the arrival of Aine and Ellie. So yes, as you see, unintentionally (promise!) we have an all girls team! We are still hoping to recruit another chef, males welcome, although must own ear defenders!

There’ll be an exciting new menu plus a load of fresh ideas from our resident manager, Jackie. Watch this space for what’s coming up and don’t forget we’re opening this Friday 10th June at 5pm…

We’re winding down for the end of the season at this end of the valley and life is taking a gentler pace. Considering I’m working less it’s amazing how there’s still not enough hours in the day to tackle that backlog of paperwork what with all the leaving/birthday/end of season shenanigans to fit in! The end is in sight though and rest for the body, mind and liver is near, at least I hope so.

We’re closing up the restaurant this Tuesday 26th April until the 10th June. We thought we’d hold out until the Winter Sessions tornado has done its damage, thinking that you might all be in need of a calm chill on the terrace with a nice glass of wine and some delicious home cooking by then.

For our last 2 nights (tomorrow, Monday 25th, and Tuesday 26th April) we’ve decided to sell off all our food at a huge 25% off the usual price. This’ll be your last chance to sample this winters menu (the amazing sticky toffee pud, scallops with sweet potato and wasabi pea purée, the tikka lamb with len til dahl and all those other top sellers Lou created) as we’ll be doing our usual overhaul of the menu for the summer.

In addition on the Tuesday we’ll have an extended happy hour all evening.

Looking forward to a final fling with you all, I hope some of you can make it down, it would be lovely to celebrate our last shift with the usual suspects.

This weekend in Les Houches we’re extremely lucky to be hosting the Men’s Alpine ski World Cup. It’s not often something so exciting happens our end of the valley, usually the highlight of the year is the farmer leading his flock of nibbling sheep through the village in June to the dismay of the locals and their newly planted geraniums. So we’re certainly going to make the most of this!

The races are on Saturday and Sunday on La Piste Verte. The lifts will be open so you can ski the Les Houches area and position yourselves anywhere along the sides of the descent to catch the lycra clad human cannonballs zooming past. There’s a huge screen showing all the action at the finish line for those on foot. The atmosphere’s normally brilliant, cowbells and cheering filling the air, just like it used to be when the family gathered round the telly to watch Ski Sunday!

At Le Délice we’re going to be serving food all day from 11am – 10pm, and the bar will be open till 2am on both Saturday and Sunday. We’ve got homemade soup, burgers, sandwiches, plat du jour for 9.90€ and a host of other warming fair available all day. Then our evening fusion menu starts from 6pm. If you’d like to eat I’d suggest booking in advance (04 50 91 52 06) to guarantee not having to wait for a table but I’m sure we’ll be able to squeeze you all in.

The Schedule for the races is:

Saturday 29^th Jan – Downhill

12am – 2pm

Sunday 30^th Jan – Super Combined

11am – Downhill

2pm – Slalom

3pm – prize giving

So once you’ve rung your bell, got frozen hands and toes come warm yourselves chez nous, we’ve got oodles of hot chocolate, vin chaud and other boozy tipples that’ll heat you from the inside out.

Katy

Ding dong Christmas week is here, and our upcoming (12 drummers drum roll please) festivities are….

 Friday 24^th December - Santa, caroling, dinner n warm up drinkies

Santa will be making a special appearance in Les Houches village centre around 6 o’clock just down the road from us, so to help set the scene and show him a little support we will be gathering outside le Délice a-Christmas caroling from 6pm. I’ll provide the song sheets, free vin chaud  and a super uber gas heater, all you have to do is don your warmest and woolliest winter gear and come sing around our Christmas tree.

We’ll be serving dinner from 6pm and the bar will be staying open till 2am, if any of you are interested in a serious Christmas warm up session.

Saturday 25^th December  - Overindulgence for 30€

For those who have not organised an opulent Christmas dinner yet or live in apartments with ovens the size of Fisher Price kiddies ones we still have a couple of tables free for our Christmas dinner extravaganza on Christmas Day.

We’re offering a Christmas starter, main course and dessert, which can be ordered separately or as a menu deal for 30€, in addition to our usual evening menu. Choices choices…obviously you’ve all been very good children this year.

Please call 04 50 91 52 06 to make reservations

Have yourselves a merry little Christmas

Katy

Unfortunately we are now fully booked for the dinner but you are welcome to come along to the party afterwards, 10.30pm -2am.

For those coming to the the dinner here’s the menu

new year’s eve menu

Vendredi 31 Decembre 2010

Menu a 50€

Apero

Coupe de champagne avec amuse-bouche

Glass of champagne with appetizer

Entree – starter

Soufflé de Roquefort avec poires pôchées, noix et une salade de roquette

 Roquefort soufflé with poached pears, walnuts and a rocket salad

Granita au citron – lemon granita

Plat – Main course

Rumsteck d’agneau avec croute aux herbes, purée de pommes de terre et celerie rave, tarte au panais et asperges au beurre.

Pour les végétariens – Feuilletté d’epinards et champignons sauvages, sauce au poivre rose, purée de panais et asperges au beurre.

 Herb crusted lamb rumpsteak served with potato and celeriac mash, a parsnip purée tart and buttered asparagus

For the vegetarians – Spinach and wild mushroom wellington, with a pink peppercorn sauce, parsnip purée and buttered asparagus

dessert

Marquise de chocolat noir avec rayon de miel et du parfait au sucre roux dans un panier en tuile

 Dark chocolate Marquis with honeycomb dust and brown sugar parfait in a tuille basket

This year we’ve decided to shake things up a bit. We’ve hugely decreased the price of our New Years Eve set menu this year to 50€ for 4 courses with a glass of champagne. We’re nearly fully booked but have a couple of tables left so give us a ring or drop me a mail if you’re interested.

The Grand Plan for the evening is as follows …

from 7pm - 11 pm – Dinner service

10.30 — doors open to drinkers and revellers

midnight — fireworks

1am – we drop — dancing, drinking, partying

Hope to see you here Katy

Vendredi 25 Decembre

servie 18h – 22h, Served 6 – 10pm

En plus de notre carte du soir nous allons offrir les plats suivants:

In addition to our normal menu we will be offering the following specials:

A lacarte ou Menu a 30€

Entree – Starter 8.50€ (5.50€)

Gravlax au saumon et betterave, crème de raifort et pain au lait, fait maison

Homecured salmon and beetroot gravlax, with horseradish cream and homemade soda bread

Plat – Main course 18.50€ (12.50€)

Dinde farcie des marrons et canneberges, pommes de terre rotis, choux de Bruxelles au sirop d’erable et pecan, carrottes et panais au thym, sauces traditionnelles d’Angleterre.

Pour les végétariens – Feuilletté de champignons, marrons et canneberges avec les mêmes accompaignements.

Turkey stuffed with cranberries and chestnuts, served with roast potatoes, Brussel sprouts with pecans and maple butter, buttered bay and thyme carrots and parsnips, bread sauce and gravy of course.

For the vegetarians: Filo pastry parcel filled with mushrooms, cranberries and chestnuts with the same accompaniments

dessert 8.50€ (5.50€)

Petites tartes aux fruits confits, servies tiede avec crème Anglaise au cognac et glace a la vanille

Mini Christmas style Eccles cakes, served warm with brandy cream and vanilla ice cream

Well here we are again. Albeit slightly deeper in snow than this time last year. It’s looking like an exciting winter ahead. Let’s hope the tourists arrive in droves, but only ski the pistes and leave the powder for us!

Le Délice is a hive of preparatory activity readying for the winter opening this Friday 3rd December with the sounds of saws and paintbrush swooshes melding with the high frequency blender and giggles from the kitchen. Having gathered the usual menagerie of generous and wonderful (can you tell I’m sucking up!) friends and family we should be ready for the 5pm deadline.

We’re only opening in the evening for the first week (5pm-1am, Fri 3rd – Fri 10th Dec inclusive) then from Saturday 11th  December onwards we’ll revert to our usual opening hours (11am-1am everyday).

We have our formidable team of staff back this winter with a couple of valuable additions in the kitchen. Dani and Russell are joining head chef Lou in the bubbling hub of Le Délice. Their joint creative juices teamed with requests from regulars and knowledge of our clients tastes has produced another exciting and original menu for you (and us staff if we’re lucky!). We have, of course, kept a few classics, namely the rhubarb cheesecake, the homemade garlic bread and the delectable Délice burger, for fear of picketing in the streets. We are kicking off with a smallish menu but will be adding dishes every week in the run up to Christmas.

I promise I will be posting our new winter menus here sometime in the next 2 days when I’ve managed to work my way down to it on my ever expanding to-do list!
I’ll also be posting our Christmas menu for the 25th December and our 50€ New Years menu sometime soon (when Lou works her way down to it on her ever expanding to-cook list!)

I hope you are all adapting to the inevitable, but always system shocking, change of season. Now that we need to wind our lives back up after a comfortable inter-season, the universe intervenes and makes life difficult so it takes twice as long to do anything. I, for one, had forgotten the enormous amount of time that is consumed moving white stuff about. From paths, cars, the inside of my windscreen (grrr) so apologies to all those i’ve met un peu en retard this last week, I may have to concede defeat and actually get up a bit earlier in the morning!

Hope to see you all soon

Katy

Quick heads up if any of you are tempted to pop in for some food over the next two months, we are unfortunately shut till the 3rd December. If you’d like to make an enquiry about this winter please do not hesitate to email me. I may have sloped off on a ridiculously long  holiday but I promise I’ll check my emails, between cocktails!

Katy