If there is one thing that sets my cooking apart from other private chef services in the Chamonix Valley, it is my love of Asian cuisine. Do not get me wrong, I adore cooking classic French and European food, and a good confit duck or a perfectly braised lamb shank will always have a place on my menus. But Asian flavours are where my heart truly lies, and it is something that my clients get genuinely excited about because it is so different from what they expect to find in the French Alps.
My love affair with Asian cooking goes back years, but it really came into its own during the lockdowns. Like many chefs, I found myself with kitchens closed and time on my hands, but I could not stop cooking. I started a takeaway service, and it was the Asian dishes that flew out the door. Butter chicken makhani, Thai green curry, crispy duck pancakes, katsu curry, pad thai. People could not get enough. It taught me something important: even in the French Alps, surrounded by raclette and tartiflette, people crave bold Asian flavours. And honestly, after a day on the mountain, there is nothing more warming and satisfying than a fragrant curry or a bowl of steaming noodles.
That experience gave me the confidence to make Asian cuisine a real centrepiece of what I offer. It is not a sideline or an occasional option. It is something I am genuinely passionate about and have spent years perfecting.
My Indian feast night is one of the most popular things I do, and it is easy to see why. I set the table with a proper spread of dishes designed to be shared, and the colours and aromas alone are enough to get everyone talking. The centrepiece is usually my butter chicken makhani, slow-cooked in a rich, creamy tomato sauce with just the right amount of warmth from the spices. Alongside that you might find lamb rogan josh with tender chunks of meat in a deeply flavoured sauce, vegetable pakoras with a tamarind and mint chutney, fluffy pilau rice, homemade naan bread, and all the trimmings.
For dessert, I often make kulfi, the traditional Indian ice cream. It is denser and creamier than regular ice cream, flavoured with cardamom and pistachio, and it is the perfect way to finish a spiced meal. The whole evening has a wonderful celebratory feel to it, and groups always end up lingering at the table far longer than they planned.
Thai food is another great love of mine. The balance of sweet, sour, salty, and spicy in Thai cooking is something I find endlessly fascinating, and it translates beautifully to a shared banquet-style dinner. A typical Thai evening might include a rich Penang curry with coconut milk and fragrant Thai basil, a classic pad thai with prawns or chicken, som tam green papaya salad, Thai fish cakes with a sweet chilli dip, and fragrant jasmine rice. I make everything from scratch, including the curry pastes, because the difference between a paste you make yourself and one from a jar is night and day.
What I love about serving Thai food in a chalet setting is the contrast. You have got the snow outside, the mountains, the cosy alpine interior, and then this explosion of bright, vibrant flavours on the table. It catches people by surprise in the best possible way.
While Indian and Thai are probably my most requested Asian menus, I also cook Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian, and Japanese inspired dishes. A Malaysian laksa, rich with coconut and fragrant with lemongrass and galangal, is a stunning thing to eat after a cold day on the mountain. Chinese-style crispy chilli beef or sweet and sour prawns make for a brilliant shared dinner. Japanese-inspired dishes like teriyaki salmon or chicken katsu are always crowd-pleasers, especially with families where the children might be a little less adventurous.
I also love mixing and matching flavours from different Asian traditions within a single evening. A starter inspired by Japanese cuisine, a Thai main course, and an Indian-spiced dessert. Fusion in the truest sense, and it works because the flavour profiles complement each other when you know how to balance them. You can see more details on my sample menu page where I have listed some of my Asian-inspired menus alongside the European options.
Chamonix has plenty of excellent restaurants, but the options for really good Asian food are limited. There are a couple of places in town, but if you want the kind of authentic, made-from-scratch Asian cooking that I offer, having it prepared in your chalet by someone who genuinely loves these cuisines is a completely different experience. You get to choose the dishes, the spice levels are tailored to your group, and everything is fresh and made with care.
Many of my clients book a mix of cuisines across their week. They might have classic French one night, Italian the next, and then an Indian feast or Thai banquet for their big night. It keeps things interesting and means everyone in the group gets something they love during the week.
If you are coming to Chamonix and the idea of sitting down to a proper Indian feast or a Thai banquet in your chalet sounds appealing, I would love to cook for you. Whether you want one Asian-themed evening or a whole week of global flavours, I can put together menus that will surprise and delight your group. Get in touch and let me know what cuisines excite you. I guarantee you will not find another private chef in the valley who loves Asian cooking as much as I do.