By MARK PALMER

Slipping down nicely: Top class skiing and great food is the secret of Meribel's success


The blonde (well, platinum, really) is wearing fur and an angry snarl. Her Russian entourage includes an elderly woman, presumably her mother, two thrusting men in fancy ski kit, a nanny and three children. The youngest child is sitting in a four-wheel-drive, sheep-skin-lined buggy.

All that's missing is a pooch with a silver collar - though her husband seems like a suitably willing lapdog. They are not a happy bunch.

The baby is screaming, the nanny looks as if she'd rather be working in a Siberian cement factory and the ice blonde is incandescent with rage that her table isn't ready.

We are high above Courchevel in France's Three Valleys in Le Panoramic restaurant, where duck a l'orange costs £38 and a tiny bottle of mineral water £6. The food is good-ish, the passing parade spectacular.

A culinary blow-out here is a stark reminder that the Three Valleys - Val Thorens, Meribel and Courchevel - come with three radically different price tags.

There's cheap-and-cheerful Val Thorens, with its ugly blocks of self- catering apartments bang on the piste, brilliant for beginners and experts; middlebrow, Middle England Meribel, where you are unlikely to hear much French spoken during high season; and Courchevelski, which is the resort of choice for Roman Abramovich and Victoria Beckham.


Charming: Parts of Meribel are still quaint and quiet


After coming here off and on for 25 years, I think I know where to eat in the Three Valleys, but my list has always been confined to restaurants.

Now, I can add a chalet operator to the gastronomic mix, thanks to a company called Fish & Pips, launched five years ago by two former chalet girls with a passion for food and a love of skiing.

Holly Fisher and Philippa Eyles have known each other since they were babies. They are cordon-bleu trained, aged 28 and either brave or barmy, depending on how you read the winter sports market.

We all know the history of skiing is littered with defunct companies with catchy names (Ski La Vie, Ski Dreams, Descent), but something tells me these two bright buttons may have cracked it.

Location, price and food are their three selling points. But I'd add a fourth: charming, enthusiastic staff whose main aim is not to get dinner done and dusted so they can push off to the pub.


Star of approval: The Michelin-starred La Bouitte is a popular eatery


Star of approval: The Michelin-starred La Bouitte is a popular eatery
During the week, we sample two ski school companies. Ed Woolley, who hails from Jersey, but has been based in the Three Valleys for 23 years, started Parallel Lines a few years ago. His knowledge of the terrain is, well, unparalleled.

And Derek Chandler has just set up Marmalade, with the intention of focusing on skiers who can get down anything perfectly competently, but never seem to improve. Which is me. Both are terrific company and sensational skiers. You need to book early to avoid disappointment.

Back to food, my favourite two mountain restaurants are Les Cretes on the way down to St Martin de Belleville and Bel Air above Courchevel 1650.

Best runs? It all depends on the time of the year, but the gentle, wide-open spaces down to St Martin de Belleville take some beating and it's worth lingering in the village when you get there.

It was once an old cheese-making centre and has at its centre a church with a magnificent baroque interior. L'etoile des Neiges is the place to eat there, ideally on the sheltered terrace.

Fabulous skiing, wonderful food - but there's more. Live music has been big here ever since The Feeling rose to fame in 2000 doing covers at the apres-ski mecca of Rond Point.

Sleepy Meribel village wakes up every Tuesday evening when a band called Bring Your Sisters performs during Happy Hour at The Lodge, while on Thursdays, the Langers whip up a storm into the early hours.

The Russians imploding at Le Panoramic wouldn't feel comfortable at The Lodge.
Thank goodness.


Travel Facts
Fish & Pips (0845 4741054, www.fishandpips.com) has seven nights in Chalet Aurigny, Meribel, from January 29 from £645 pp. Chalet sleeps eight in four double/twin bedrooms, all with en-suite bathrooms. Price includes breakfast, picnic lunch (optional), afternoon tea and four-course dinner with unlimited wine.

Freeride ski hire (0845 0042 442, www.freeride.fr). Pamper Off Piste massage and beauty (07950 038 353, www.pamperoffpiste.com). Parallel Lines ski school (0844 8112779, www.parallel-lines.com). Marmalade ski school (07725 606546, www.skimarmalade.com).

For general information about Meribel, visit www.meribel.net


source: dailymail