“There is no gourmet food in the hut,” explained Chef Franck Reynaud with a broad smile. “After all, when I go to the beach, I don’t like to eat fondue.”
Clearly, there’s more to this Michelin-starred chef than fish knives and fine dining. With climbing skins attached to the bases of his wide touring skis he adjusts sleek sunglasses and begins a near-sprint up through the crusty melt-freeze of an early Swiss morning. Chef Reynaud’s energy level is high as his destination: Crans-Montana’s rugged, mountain-top Cabane des Violettes.
For someone as fit as Reynaud, it’s just over an hour’s skin up from the glamorous village to the sturdy stone Swiss Alpine Club hut. This 80-year-old outpost –he is co-guardian – provides the yin to a driven chef’s revered culinary yang. Every few days, he hangs up his whites at the Hostellerie du Pas de l’Ours, the Relais & Châteaux hotel where he’s earned one Michelin star and 18 Gault-Millau points, to immerse himself in the simple alpine pleasure of skiing up to lunch.
Behind red and white candy-cane shutters, beneath the fluttering Swiss flag, the atmosphere is relaxed and convivial, that familiar rough and tumble you’d find in most mountain huts: the small windows, the long benches, the cutlery stacked on communal wooden tables. The menu is familiar yet exceptional in its simplicity, its components read like short-hand poetry for locavores. There’s crispy rösti, fragrant air-dried meats, fondue made with Vacherin and Gruyère, a sublime tarte au pommes, and real whipped cream from cows with names. Chef Reynaud is a fervent defender of the rich regional gastronomic world of the Valais, and his simple dishes at altitude reflect the same respect for high-quality local produce as his linen-draped restaurants in town. Sure, you can book one of his sought-after Michelin tables for Gruyère ice cream with chestnut honey and Périgord truffles. Up here, the simple delight of homemade yoghurt served with gingerbread and Poire Williams will lift your soul just the same.
It’s downright delicious and geographically appropriate. Together with long-time friend and high-mountain guide Pierre-Olivier Bagnoud, Franck has been co-guardian of Les Violettes for a dozen years – the pet passion of buddies who ski and dine all around the world – from the Alps, to Norway, to Japan and beyond. Each brings his own international expertise to the enterprise.
“When we travel in the mountains, we were always saying ‘Oh, if I had a restaurant I would do it like that. And if we had a refuge, we do it like that,’” Franck explained. And then the moment arrived when the guardianship of Les Violettes was ready to change hands. “Pierre-Olivier said to me, we have a very special cabane right here at home. Do you want to do it?”
Surrounded by 360-degrees of high-def peaky porn – from the mighty Matterhorn to magnificent Mont Blanc capped with its recognizable cloud hat – this is privileged terrain indeed. As the two guardians laugh together over glasses of frothy beer, their affection for the place is obvious. But more than being merely beautiful, the enriching function of an iconic mountain hut such as this – and the reaching of it on skis – clearly occupies a special place in their hearts.
“When I take my skis in the morning to go the cabane, it’s like a psychiatric moment for me,” says Reynaud. “All the rest of the day is speed, speed. You arrive at the restaurant, it’s speed. During the service, during the night, it’s speed everywhere. For one or two hours I am alone, I don’t speak on the phone or hear music, I think.”
On the south-facing terrace under glittering sunshine, there is a sense of shared magic in the air. He excitedly mentions that when one of the world’s most famous footballers, Lionel Messi, visited Crans-Montana the previous week, he ventured out to only one restaurant – Cabane des Violettes.
“We’ve made a restaurant like we want to find when we go into the mountains,” said Reynaud. “I have my work in the resort, but when we come here it’s like we are on holidays.”
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