Aux Petits Oignons (formerly Les Enfants Terribles)
If you are looking for a Méribel restaurant that (a) serves reliably delicious food (b) charges sensible prices (c) has an unpretentious atmosphere and genuinely friendly, efficient service and (d) isn’t overwhelmingly British, then we can thoroughly recommend Aux Petits Oignons at Altitude 1600. Owners Sarah Mundy and Eric Gelin have turned former restaurant Les Enfants Terribles into a popular eating place and a heart of Méribel social life. Aux Petits Oignons is open all year round; in winter serving lunch every day and dinner every evening except Monday.
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As you enter the restaurant you are immediately warmed by the open fire in the centre of the room. The decoration is simple and unfussy, and the atmosphere is animated, thanks to the open bar. This has become a popular spot for both British and French locals to drop in for a drink.
The dinner menu offers a mixture of French, international and (unusually for France) vegetarian dishes. Starters include Burgundy snails and Brillat Savarin cheese tartlet with a shallot cream, and sun dried tomato and black olive risotto with red pepper coulis and crispy Parmesan. We opted for the beef carpaccio with parmesan shaving and roquette salad and the home made foie gras terrine with walnut bread and red port syrup, both of which were excellent.
Our main courses, chicken breast with a chorizo and paprika risotto, grilled red pepper coulis and lamb shank with a vegetable polenta and confit onion sauce were equally tasty and generously sized. We only managed to squeeze in one pudding between two of us, a delicious tartlet tatin with gingerbread ice cream. The wine list is unaffected; wine buffs can choose from a selection of fine wines, those on tighter budgets will find good, inexpensive bottles too
Prices are good by Méribel standards, with starters at €8 - €16, mains €15 - €25, and deserts €5 - €6. We very much liked French chef Eric’s “home cooking” style which is honest, generous and unfussy. We also very much enjoyed the friendly and relaxed service from the Anglo-French (and this year Swedish) team members.
At lunch, Aux Petits Oignons offers a simpler menu of dishes such as warm goat’s cheese salad with caramelized onions and pine nuts, entrecote steak with green pepper sauce and homemade cheese and bacon burger plus a particularly good value set menu. This 3 course lunch menu costs only €13 and represents one of the best deals to be found in town. There is a new outside terrace area, so lunch can be enjoyed outdoors on warm days, and the restaurant is within a couple of minutes’ walk from the piste.
On Monday nights the restaurant is closed. On this evening bar snacks are served and there is live music from the band Hobo Chic.
We very much enjoyed our visit to Aux Petits Oignons and will certainly return soon.
Review date: Dec 2009
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