NOT A BAD SELECTION, BUT MOST OF THE BETTER ONES ARE QUITE LOW DOWN

The main restaurant news is that the vast Les Ruinettes restaurant has been bought by a consortium with plans for major development - but for the moment only the self-service part is open.

Up at Attelas 1, L'Olympique is a relatively new service restaurant, decorated with Winter Olympics memorabilia, and boasting a surprisingly original, Italian-influenced menu. Standards here have been improving steadily. There is also a separate fondue restaurant here. La Cabane du Mont Fort is a splendid proper Swiss mountain hut on the way down from Gentianes. It serves the local specialities very competently.

Chez Dany, a wooden chalet in the hamlet of Clambin, is the most charming mountain restaurant in the region and is especially renowned for its cheese dishes. Although very handy for non-skiers to walk to, Chez Dany is too low down for most serious skiers except when they are having a late lunch at the end of their skiing day, since you are obliged to ski right down to Medran in order to get up the mountain again. In 2007, Chez Dany was taken over by a group of British financiers in collaboration with the lift company, Televerbier. It has been given a modest make-over and is more popular than ever - reservations essential.

Just beside the Medran station, incidentally, the Vieux Verbier is a popular lunching spot for locals and regular visitors – try the Filets de Perches. The Chalet Carlsberg is a newish establishment on the slopes between Attelas and Ruinettes which has had a chequered career. It has both self-service and service sections but, although the food in the latter is quite decent, the failure to take reservations means you may have to wait - add your name to the list as soon as you arrive. The mezzanine level has a slightly more expensive menu.

On the Savoleyres sector La Marmotte is the best mountain restaurant, with an excellent reputation for its rosti. Just off the main slopes is Le Sonalon, a gastronomic restaurant run by a local young chef-patron, Claude-Alain Besse, who studied under the great chef Roland Pierroz, who owned Verbier’s Rosalp hotel/restaurant. (Besse also oversees the kitchen at Chez Dany). The food and drink at Le Sonalon are excellent but, partly because of its immense popularity, the service is somewhat draconian. Be sure to book and turn up on time. (Le Sonalon can also be accessed by non-skiers.)

The terrace restaurant of the hotel Chalet d’Adrien beside the bottom station of the Savoleyres gondola has spectacular views and serves both lunch and afternoon tea, weather permitting. In bad weather the rustic Le Grenier restaurant in the same building is an appealing place to hole up for a long lunch.