Table du Ruitor Restaurant Review
Three Restaurants Rolled into One, to Suits all Tastes & Pockets
La Table du Ruitor restaurant is, in fact, three different restaurants. Depending on your preference and budget you can enjoy hearty local dishes at the ‘Coin Savoyard’; brasserie-style dishes taken either on the terrace overlooking the pistes or indoors; or yet more refined cuisine from Chef Christian Farenasso in the gastronomic restaurant.
Conveniently located in the centre of Mottaret, a stone’s throw from the Tourist Office, the Alpen Ruitor Hotel is right on the main piste, ideal for skiers’ lunch or dinner in town. The hotel and its restaurants have recently been totally refurbished in a charming chalet style, with plenty of wood and cosy fabrics that make for a welcoming and warm atmosphere. When we visited, the staff were equally welcoming: young, smiling and helpful, they couldn’t have been more eager to please.
The Savoyard restaurant is sensibly located apart from the other restaurants - the smell of cheese is delightful when you are eating fondue, but less appealing for other diners. All the classic mountain dishes are found here: tartiflette (22€), meat fondu (29€) and cheese fondu (25€), plus more creative variations such as fondu with truffles (35€).
La Table du Ruitor main restaurant has a more extensive menu, offering traditional dishes mainly based on local ingredients, including more interesting fare than usually available on the slopes. Dishes include soups (16€), large salads (19€), charcuterie and terrines, pasta dishes such as ravioli gratiné with Beaufort cheese (19€) and risotto (24€). Carnivores will enjoy the selection of steaks at the Argentinian Grill. These start at 24€ and include a pata negra rack of pork or a mouth-watering hamburger with fresh foie gras and truffles (34€).
We chose to dine at the small Gastronomic Restaurant, which is located in a separate alcove off the main hotel dining room. The atmosphere here was refreshingly unstuffy and pleasingly free from the pretentiousness of many haute cuisine restaurants. The menu (thoughtfully translated into English) offered plenty of seafood and fish dishes, a very welcome novelty in a ski resort, plus lots of rich, traditional dishes including foie gras and truffles. Steaks from the Argentinian Grill are also on offer.
For starters, I chose scallops with white butter sauce and a truffle and leek compote (32€) which was beautifully cooked and presented. My companion had the lobster fraicheur with fresh herbs and roquette pistou (29€) which he found fresh and clean-tasting and generously sized.
My main course of wild duck confit with Perigueux sauce (39€) was excellent in every respect. The gambas with fleur de sel was simply presented and tasty.
The desert menu (18€ each) included some revived old favourites including crepes suzette. This is flambéed at your table in a pleasingly theatrical manner. Alas, my eyes were bigger than my stomach and I was unable to eat more than a tiny portion of the generously sized pancakes which were oozing with delicious buttery orange sauce. My companion’s candied apple croustade was equally generous in size. You would need a big appetite to eat all three courses here…
The wine list offered a good range of reasonably-priced French wines as well as a choice of grand cru. We particularly liked the choice of ten different wines available by the glass.
Overall, we very much enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, unpretentious setting, the super-friendly staff and the traditional French cuisine served in hungry-skier sized portions.
