La Plagne Apres Ski Report: 27th March 2013
Switch, Snails and Superheroes
For the purposes of research I have been branching out with my restaurant choices this season and experiencing as many different venues as possible, however this week I fell back on an old fail-safe; Le Refuge.
In previous seasons I have spent more time in Le Refuge than anywhere else and when I returned there for dinner this week I remembered why. The food there is just excellent and although I’ve had many a cheese fondue this year, the one in refuge is definitely my favourite and the best part is where most other restaurants will bring you a little dish of gherkins and you find yourself having to ask for refills, Le Refuge will bring you a vat of gherkins bigger than your head and don’t judge you if you finish the whole thing! I also experienced snails for the first time; some friends and I shared an escargot starter which came on a very fancy little snail plate and although I am not adept at using the tools required to remove a snail from it’s shell I did enjoy the snails themselves, which were wonderfully seasoned though remarkably chewy.
Le Refuge used to have the same rustic French décor as many other restaurants in town but last year had a total refurbishment and is now much more sleek and modern, looking very cocktail bar-esque and setting itself apart from the rest. They specialise in all the Savoyade classics and come with a free Genepi, what more can you ask for?
For afterhours fun I headed this week to Le Switch bar where Kevin Rolland, La Plagne local and international pro skier, held an invite only event for pro riders in La Plagne and held the Shred It after party, open to everyone, in his own bar Le Switch on Monday night. The party was absolutely packed with revellers, pro skiers and people pretending to be pro skiers, I swear my friends and I met no less than six different guys claiming to be Kevin Rolland’s brother that’s a big family.
Check out the video from the Shred It evemt.
The bar staff were decked out in funky Shred It shirts, the tequila was flowing (always a terrible idea) and the djs were on fire, spinning the most eclectic line up of songs I’ve heard for a while, they followed up Rage Against the Machine with Elton John then Nirvana followed by dub step (I don’t know who by, as dub step makes my life hurt) then finished up with tribal music from the lion king, it’d make your head spin but definitely kept us all on our dancing toes. It was a great party, the only complaint being that it was over all too soon.
In other news and a disconcerting sign that the season is drawing to a close, Scotty’s bar had their last band night of the season this week, sad though that makes us all, they saw it out in style by booking a bands called 90’s Club Classics and calling it a theme party. Enter 90’s flashback chaos, there were power rangers, powderpuff girls, Mario and Luigi, Spice Girls, Nick Carter, Rugrats, Courtney Love, Grungers and Flintstones, the bar was covered in the debris of many home made outfits and you’ve never seen so much tinfoil in your life. The band lived up to the hype and had us all dancing down memory lane and screaming “oh my god do you remember this song?” at each other across the bar.
The unfortunate part was that a large percentage of staff in resort were born too late to know what the hell was going on and had never even heard half the songs played and were frankly baffled by a lot of the fancy dress choices, which served to make those of us who do remember feel very old, but hey I was feeling old in a kick ass power ranger outfit so things could have been worse.
Go go Power Rangers!
