Those who treat lunch as a refuelling stop should read no further. This is a selection of places for a proper lunch, which means food served at your table, often in no great hurry, quite possibly extending over several courses and certainly accompanied by wine. (My figures for the price of lunch assume two modest courses and a half-bottle of house wine.) Looking over my selection, I realise that several offer bedrooms, in case you like the idea of lunch leading painlessly towards dinner. Reservations are generally a wise precaution.
Alpe d'Huez
Chalet du Lac Besson
(00 33 4 76 80 65 37; lunch £20-25)
Here is one place you would never come across by accident - it's tucked away on the cross-country trails at mid-mountain, with a special trail across from the downhill pistes. It's a bit of an effort, but worth it. The woodfire-grilled lamb is superb; traditional cheese dishes are another speciality. There's a big terrace with windshields, but the views are nothing special and it's at its best on bad-weather days.
Avoriaz
La Cremaillère
(00 33 4 50 74 11 68; lunch £15-20)
Drop down into the valley immediately behind the futuristic apartment resort of Avoriaz and you enter another world. Les Lindarets is a jumble of wooden barns and chalets, practically all of them now restaurants. La Crémaillère is, as it were, the cream - it has a welcoming, traditional atmosphere and richly satisfying food (on my last visit, I particularly enjoyed the mushrooms).
Courchevel
Mont Bel-Air
(00 33 4 79 08 00 93; lunch £15-20)
If I'm paying, I forget swanky Courchevel 1850 and head across to Bel-Air in the middle of the 1650 slopes. It's particularly good for a fine day, when the tiered terrace gives a great view of La Vizelle. The emphasis is on straightforward, traditional Savoyard food, with some pork specialities. The plat du jour is reliable, and the house salad is a satisfying affair. Service is that rare thing: friendly and efficient.
La Grave
Refuge Evariste Chancel
(00 33 4 76 79 92 32/ 4 76 79 94 21; lunch £10-15)
La Grave's huge and steep off-piste mountainside is strictly the preserve of experienced and confident skiers. But even here the French require a good lunch and this climbing refuge halfway down the Chancel route is the place to get it - along with glorious views from the simple benches on its snowy terrace. The food is simple but satisfying; call in during the morning to find out what's cooking and place your order.
Les Menuires
La Bouitte
(00 33 4 79 08 96 77; lunch £15-40)
OK, this is not a mountain restaurant - it's in the hamlet of Saint Marcel. But it's not a resort restaurant, either, and it makes a great target for lunch. La Bouitte is a proper restaurant, with crystal and linen on the tables in its cosy wood-walled dining-rooms. The cuisine combines subtlety with the substance that hungry skiers need; there's lots of fish as well as some traditional Savoyard dishes - a local delicacy is loin of lamb cooked in hay. The family and staff are welcoming and helpful and after lunch they'll ferry you to a lift. Smart, inviting bedrooms.
Montchavin (linked to La Plagne)
Chez Pat du Sauget
(00 33 4 79 07 83 51; lunch £10-15)
When a snowstorm socks in, this little chalet, a lift-ride above the rustic village of Montchavin, comes into its own - a cosy haven where space is at a premium. The food is traditional and substantial - sausages in wine with pasta, perhaps, and hazelnut terrine - and it can be difficult to get moving again after a serious lunch. Of course, if you have had the foresight to book one of the comfortable bedrooms...
Serre Chevalier
Pi Mai
(00 33 4 92 24 83 63; lunch £15-20)
Pi Mai is well worth the hike up from the piste to the hamlet of Fréjus, just below the Fréjus lift station. The log fire in the spacious, rustic dining-room is the natural focus. As well as grills from the fire, specialities include croûtes au fromage , strangely using Swiss cheese. I've found the service charming as well as efficient, but I've heard of occasional frost. Pi Mai is a comfortable hotel with quite a few rooms.
Val d'Isère
La Fruitière
(00 33 4 79 06 07 17; lunch £15-20)
Most of the best places for lunch around Val d'Isère and Tignes are at, or just above, village level. The main exception is La Fruitière, at the top of the old gondola from La Daille. The contents of a defunct dairy have been hauled up here to give a distinctive decor, and the dairy theme extends to the food: the feuilleté (ham and cheese in pastry) is not for the faint-hearted.
