The Helios Hotel and Spa lunch review
Delicious lunchtime crepes and galettes
The Helios Hotel and Spa in Meribel is not particularly well known as a lunchtime eating spot, but it should be!
Located on the run down towards town and the ‘Access Pistes’ elevator (ski past the Rond Point and stay right, keep an eye out for the blue umbrellas), the Helios serves a simple lunch menu of sweet and savoury Crepes. I popped in today to check it out.
I arrived at the restaurant having not booked a table and was told that there would be an hour-long wait. While the impending wait was long, I took the popularity as a good sign and took a seat outside to watch the skiers whizzing past on the steep slope beside the terrace. To my delight, upon sitting down I noticed that my whole body began to feel warm, which was very strange for such a cold day. It turned out that the table I was sitting at doubled up as a wood burning stove designed to keep people, food and drink toasty and warm. I ordered a hot chocolate with cream and enjoyed the heat.
After 40 minutes a table became free. I was invited inside by a young English waiter who bore a striking resemblance to Neil Patrick-Harris (it’s all about the details). The lunchtime crepe menu is very affordable so I was surprised to be led into a fancy looking room filled with large wooden tables surrounded by plush chairs – certainly not your typical creperie.
The lunchtime menu consists of a few salads, several classic savoury pancakes or ‘galettes’, Savoyard galettes and the amusingly translated ‘from elsewhere galettes’. There are also several sweet crepe options for dessert.
I decided to go for the ‘Formula’ that consists of any one Galette, any one Crepe for dessert and a glass of cider (a lovely touch I must say) all for a very reasonable €17.
I opted for the ‘Tartiflette galette’. I’ve not had many savoury crepes before and certainly not one filled with tartiflette. It was superb, with creamy sauce, salty lardons and thinly sliced potatoes all covered in delicious melted reblochon cheese – a great choice.
For dessert I went for the Apple with Salted Caramel Sauce crepe - another great choice. Filled with soft, piping-hot apple slices and generously covered in salted caramel, it didn’t disappoint.
What I really loved about lunch at the Helios was that they have a small, well thought out menu, which means they can concentrate on cooking it really really well – and that is exactly what they did.
