Restaurant in La Chapelle-d'Abondance, France
Rustic mountain cooking, Michelin-listed since 1933.
A Michelin Plate holder listed in the Guide since 1933, Les Cornettes is the most dependable traditional table in La Chapelle-d'Abondance. At the €€ price point, it serves game pie, lake trout, and house-smoked cold cuts with the kind of consistency a 4.6 rating across 1,025 reviews confirms. Book here for honest Savoyard cooking without the altitude pricing of smarter Alpine addresses.
Les Cornettes is not a destination restaurant in the modern sense — no tasting menus, no chef's table theatre, no Instagram-ready plating. What it is, and has been since 1933, is one of the most durable institutions in the French Alps: a Michelin Plate holder serving game pie, lake trout, and house-smoked cold cuts to guests who know exactly what they came for. At the €€ price point, it delivers honest, well-executed mountain cooking that is harder to find in this region than you might expect. If you want contemporary French cuisine, look elsewhere. If you want the real thing — rustic, flavourful, and grounded in place , book here.
The most common mistake visitors make about Les Cornettes is assuming that a Michelin Plate listing signals something aspirational or chef-driven in the contemporary sense. It does not. The Michelin Plate, awarded in 2025, recognises good cooking , full stop. What Les Cornettes offers is exactly that: a restaurant that has been doing the same thing well for over ninety years, which is itself a credential worth taking seriously. The Michelin Guide has carried this address since 1933, making it one of the longest-running entries in the Guide's French Alpine coverage. That kind of continuity is not nostalgia , it is evidence of consistent execution across generations of diners.
Sitting in the Chablais region of Haute-Savoie, La Chapelle-d'Abondance is a small ski and hiking village at altitude, and Les Cornettes is the restaurant that the region points to when locals are asked where to eat. The cold cuts here are matured and smoked on site , a process that takes time and space and genuine commitment to craft, the kind that larger, more commercial operations in mountain resorts tend to skip. The smoke from that process is part of what greets you: a signal before you've ordered that the kitchen is doing something production-led rather than plate-assembly. For food and travel enthusiasts who seek depth over novelty, that detail matters.
The menu anchors on Savoyard mountain tradition: game pie, lake trout fillet with wild garlic and morels, guinea fowl roasted on the bone. These are not fashion-forward dishes, and they are not trying to be. They are the kind of cooking that places like Flocons de Sel in Megève have moved away from in pursuit of Michelin stars, and that Arpège in Paris has reinterpreted into something entirely different. Les Cornettes does neither. It executes classic mountain recipes with the kind of confidence that comes from decades of repetition. For the diner who values that over invention, this is the stronger choice in its price tier.
The 4.6 rating across 1,025 Google reviews is a useful signal here. At volume, that score suggests a restaurant that performs reliably rather than brilliantly on occasion. Diners are not coming back disappointed. The consistency is real.
Les Cornettes is well-suited to group dining in the way that traditional French auberges typically are: a format built around generous portions, shared plates, and a menu that rewards table-wide ordering rather than individual tasting journeys. If you are organising a group dinner in La Chapelle-d'Abondance , a ski party, a family gathering, a walking-holiday celebration , this is the most practical choice in the village. The rustic, communal atmosphere of a mountain institution like this is better suited to groups of six or more than a more refined or intimate room would be. Booking in advance is advisable for groups, particularly during ski season (December to March) and summer hiking season (July to August), when the village sees its highest visitor numbers. For group-specific arrangements or private room availability, contact the restaurant directly , no booking method or private dining details are confirmed in the available data, so treat any assumptions about private room configuration with caution.
For groups who want the most traditional, smoke-scented, deeply Savoyard table in the Chablais, Les Cornettes is the direct answer. For groups who want a more polished private dining environment, Les Gentianettes in the same village is worth comparing. Our full La Chapelle-d'Abondance restaurants guide covers both in context.
| Detail | Les Cornettes | Flocons de Sel (Megève) | Les Gentianettes (La Chapelle-d'Abondance) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price range | €€ | €€€€ | Not confirmed |
| Michelin recognition | Plate (2025) | 3 Stars | Not confirmed |
| Cuisine style | Traditional, rustic mountain | Creative Alpine | Traditional Savoyard |
| Booking difficulty | Easy | Hard (book weeks ahead) | Easy to moderate |
| Google rating | 4.6 (1,025 reviews) | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Leading for | Groups, families, traditionalists | Occasion dining, serious food travel | Couples, quieter setting |
For more on the area, see our guides to La Chapelle-d'Abondance hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences.
Among France's most celebrated traditional institutions, Les Cornettes occupies a specific and honest tier. It is not Paul Bocuse's Auberge du Pont de Collonges or Auberge de l'Ill in Illhaeusern , those are destinations in their own right, drawing international visitors and carrying multi-generational reputations of a different order. Nor is it trying to be Mirazur in Menton or Troisgros in Ouches. Les Cornettes is a regional institution with a clear identity: the leading traditional table in its village, at a price point that does not require a special occasion to justify. For travellers exploring traditional French cuisine beyond the obvious names, it sits alongside places like Bras in Laguiole, Les Prés d'Eugénie in Eugénie-les-Bains, and Georges Blanc in Vonnas as proof that the most interesting French dining is often found outside Paris. It is a different category of experience from those starred addresses, but the underlying argument , that regional French cooking executed with conviction is worth seeking out , is the same. For traditional cuisine comparisons in other regions, Cave à Vin & à Manger in Narbonne and Coto de Quevedo Evolución in Torre de Juan Abad offer useful reference points for what committed traditional cooking looks like at a similar tier. And for the food traveller who wants to understand what La Table du Castellet in Le Castellet is doing in Provence, the contrast with Les Cornettes , same country, very different expression , is instructive.
| Venue | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Les Cornettes | €€ | — |
| Plénitude | €€€€ | — |
| Pierre Gagnaire | €€€€ | — |
| Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen | €€€€ | — |
| Kei | €€€€ | — |
| Le Cinq - Four Seasons Hôtel George V | €€€€ | — |
A quick look at how Les Cornettes measures up.
It depends on what you mean by special. Les Cornettes has held a Michelin Guide listing since 1933 and carries real institutional weight in the Chablais region — that heritage makes a meal here feel meaningful. But if your occasion calls for formal service, elaborate tasting menus, or a polished dining room, look elsewhere. This is rustic alpine cooking done with conviction, and it suits a celebratory group lunch or a post-ski dinner far better than a wedding anniversary expecting white-glove formality.
Dress casually. The Michelin Guide describes Les Cornettes as 'rustic as can be,' and the mountain atmosphere is deliberately unfussy. Clean ski clothes or relaxed country wear are entirely appropriate. Arriving overdressed would feel out of place rather than respectful.
Les Cornettes has been in the Michelin Guide since 1933, which means the draw is tradition, not novelty. The kitchen leads with dishes like game pie, lake trout with wild garlic and morels, and guinea fowl roasted on the bone — all grounded in regional French alpine cooking. The cold cuts are matured and smoked on site, which is genuinely worth ordering. Come expecting hearty, ingredient-led plates in a no-frills setting, not contemporary cuisine or tasting-menu theatre.
Les Cornettes is the Michelin-recognised anchor in La Chapelle-d'Abondance itself. For a step up in ambition and budget within the broader Haute-Savoie region, La Maison des Bois (Marc Veyrat, Manigod) offers three-Michelin-star alpine cooking at a significantly higher price point. For comparable traditional mountain fare at a similar price range, the valley's other family-run auberges are the logical comparison, though none carry Les Cornettes' documented longevity.
Yes. The traditional French auberge format at Les Cornettes suits groups well: generous portions, shared dishes like house-smoked charcuterie, and a convivial rather than hushed atmosphere. check the venue's official channels via the address at 43 Rte des Frasses, La Chapelle-d'Abondance, as phone and online booking details are not publicly listed. For larger parties, arriving with a reservation is strongly advisable given the restaurant's regional reputation.
Les Cornettes does not operate a tasting menu format. The kitchen runs a traditional à la carte or fixed-menu structure in line with its alpine auberge identity. If a multi-course chef's tasting experience is what you're after, this is not the right venue — consider a Michelin-starred address in Megève or Annecy instead. What Les Cornettes offers at the €€ price range is honest, well-executed regional cooking, not a tasting menu progression.
At the €€ price range, yes. A Michelin Plate listing, house-smoked and matured charcuterie, and dishes like lake trout with morels represent solid value for cooking that has sustained a Michelin Guide presence since 1933. You are not paying for ambience or prestige service — you are paying for well-sourced, regionally grounded alpine food prepared with clear competence. For the money, few mountain auberges in the Chablais can point to the same documented track record.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
