La Chamade Restaurant Review
A stunning restaurant with good food & a bit of culture thrown in
La Chamade in the centre of Morzine is a restaurant to head to on a special occasion. The food is rich and the restaurant itself contemporary and beautifully decorated. It’s not the cheapest restaurant in Morzine but it really is somewhere you have to try.
La Chamade calls itself is a cheese and wine bar so it’s no surprise that there’s literally hundreds of wines to choose from and equally a menu full of cheese dishes. If you’re not a fan of cheese, this most certainly isn’t the restaurant for you.
We had visitors over from England when we decided to head to the restaurant, in our eyes this definitely constituted as a special occasion. It was also one of the only restaurants open during the inter-season so it seemed like the ideal place to take our friends to. It was very busy on the evening we went there but the friendly manager found us a table to sit at which was already laden with a selection of tasty nibbles for us to tuck into while we perused the menu.
The first thing we noticed about the restaurant is its incredible decoration. It has sculptures dotted around, corners decorated like rain forests, beautiful paintings and a really warm and inviting atmosphere. It gets better though - we discovered (when nipping downstairs to the loo) that there’s a cellar full of cheese directly below the restaurant. It has cheese from all around the region on stands around the large chilled room. There’s also a huge water feature right next to the toilet, which takes you a little bit by surprise. If you really want to learn more about the region’s cheese, this is certainly the place to go.
The lovely manager was very busy the evening we were there but she still took time away to talk us through some of the wines on the wine list. We were able to pick a couple of good locally made wines, which would compliment our meals without breaking the bank. If you do have a bit of extra cash at your disposal you really could go to town on picking your wine, but there is something to suit every budget.
When it came to picking the food, like the restaurant itself, the menu is pretty eclectic. You’ve got cheese platters, Savoyard specialities, gourmet starters, fish dishes, pizza and much more to choose from. Like the wine, you can choose according to your budget. The pizzas are priced from 10 to 20€ whereas some of the specialities like fondue and the gourmet meals start at 20€ and rise upwards from there. We opted for a bit of a mix, a couple of pizzas, a fondue for one and a goats cheese selection with salad.
Another great thing about the Chamade is that the kitchens are all open so you watch your meal being prepared. The restaurant feels very busy and lively as a result, which adds to the atmosphere. In that sense it reminds me very much of a pizza express restaurant in the UK.
We didn’t have to wait too long for our meals to arrive despite it being a really busy evening for the restaurant. When they did arrive we couldn’t believe our eyes. The cheese salad for one consisted of a plate of around 15 different cheeses and a small bowl of green leaves. For 18 euros we never expected to get such an amazing selection. The cheese was accompanied with dried fruit and homemade chutneys. It really was delicious, but we felt far too much for one person. The pizzas were also very rich but really delicious. The Niçoise pizza was topped with salmon and anchovies whilst the chicken and mushroom one was loaded with large chunky mushrooms and covered in cream and cheese. The fondue for one was spectacular. It came with a selection of cured meats and potatoes and left our friend full for days. He did however say it was one of best fondues he’d had.
As you can imagine, after our cheese feast we weren’t really in the right frame of mind to consider a pudding. We did see some being brought out to surrounding tables and they looked absolutely fantastic. I’ll be going back again to try one at some point.
I think La Chamade is a really unique and special restaurant in Morzine, it brings something a little different to the table. It offers all of the traditional dishes that people visiting the region want to try, whilst also giving those who need a break from Savoyard specialities a bit of choice. It’s clearly very popular with locals and tourists and the manager’s hard work to make each customer feel special is clearly paying off. I have to say, I couldn’t face eating cheese for a day or two after our trip here but now I’m already planning what I’ll have when we go back there...
