Flavour Avalanche

The Terrace Restaurant employs a novel technique to attract its clientele. By situating itself at the bottom of an insane alpine decent (OK, snow and ice covered stairs), people literally avalanche the place when they lose their footing. OK, the stairs are entirely the responsibility of the local council, but The Terrace does a wonderful public service by having a huge picture window situated just there, so that as you climb to your feet and brush the snow and ice from yourself, your view is drawn inexorably to the warm golden glow of the dinning room, the laughing dry people, and the distinct lack of snow indoors.

For a small town (admittedly a snow resort), the quality of the food was outstanding. We decided on just two courses, main and dessert. Unexpectedly, but happily, the chef sent us an amuse bouche. It was a shot glass of warm potato and leek soup with truffle oil, and it instantly banished all thought of the cold and dark. The soup had a fantastic flavour, bringing the caramelised leek and seasoning to the fore. But the truffle oil was a master stroke, with its distinct earthy tones making the whole set of flavours linger on the palate.

For mains, we shared a saddle of lamb on a bed of baby spring vegetables in a hearty jus. This was one of those strange dishes where the accompaniments outshone the main attraction. The lamb was OK, but the chef’s preference for erring on the rare side meant a flavour and texture a tad too waxy for my liking. The vegetable souffle was magnificent. I really can’t describe how this worked - it was one of those dishes you just had to experience. I was tempted to say “make the trek just for this”. But then, we still hadn’t had the best dish of the night.

For dessert, flush with the enjoyment of the first souffle, I decided to go for another. This time, it was a peach souffle matched with peach ice cream. This was good, if possible a little lacking in punchy flavour. But it couldn’t hold a candle to the other dessert. It was billed as a “dessert trio”, incorporating poached pear, vanilla jelly, granny smith sorbet on biscuit base, and burnt apple brandy pannacotta. Just writing those words has made me salivate again. We speculated what a trio of apple-based desserts might be like. Our imaginations didn’t come close to this masterpiece.

The poached pear was as you’d expect, for anyone who’s had Poire Belle Helene or Poire Bourdellou, and it was a particularly good version - but in keeping with not making the dessert unbalanced, it was in miniature. The vanilla jelly was sublime! (OK, I couldn’t resist that pun). It was clear in appearance, but the moment you tasted it, it was clear that an expert had cooked sugar, water, gelatine and vanilla pods, and then crafted exquisite little cubes of joy. The pannacotta was magic … I have never previously thought of apple and milk as a good combination, but my eyes have been opened. Unbelievably light, and flavoursome, with the burnt apple brandy finishing on the tongue beautifully. And finally the Granny Smith sorbet. Granny Smith is an Australian apple variety, big, green and acidic. They’re rarely eaten as table apples; instead finding their way into apple crumbles, tarte tatin and the like. Here, however, we had entered Granny Smith heaven. The sorbet was sweet and tart at the same time, almost acting as an ambassador for the flavour highlights of that particular type of apple. The biscuit base was a granita crumble that added a textural dimension, and had a note of toffee that segued nicely to the burnt apple brandy in the pannacotta.

In summary, The Terrace is a haven from the elements, but more importantly a temple of flavour and innovation. The dessert trio stands out as probably the best dessert we’ve had on 5 continents in the last 5 years. Of course, that just means we need to search further for an even better one :-)

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