Marmotte d'Or Restaurant Review

With warm welcoming lighting throughout and cosy tables for groups to huddle round, it was the perfect venue on a wet, stormy evening. It’s also an amazing place to go on the hot summer days, with its expansive terrace out the back, which keeps the sun well into the evening and gives a unique view of the south side of town and the surrounding mountains.

It’s an extremely popular place and always very busy with locals, expats and tourists all heading there to sample the new food menu and also some of the unique ales on offer. You’ll always find people sitting at the bar talking to the friendly bar staff or sitting around tables trying out the special offers. It is rarely quiet.

The Marmotte d’Or is a relatively new venture, with the people running it still very much keen to keep a high profile to tempt new customers in. This means the effort that they put in to making their bar special and unique continues to shine through. When we were there, they had specially brewed beer on offer, tempting cocktails of drink to try and a special platter with locally sourced produce on the their chalk board. They are also the first to organise special events like BBQ's, fetes and celebrations. The music coming from the Marmotte d’Or on the day of the Fete de la Musique could be heard ringing out across the Morzine valley! It’s a bar that’s always buzzing with activity and also a sense of celebration that things seem to be going so well for them.

We decided to sample the menu in the middle of the week, arriving at around 7 o’clock and sitting in a cosy corner to enjoy our drinks. He had the special IPA that seemed to be a favourite amongst the lads around our table as they managed to polish off a fair few pints of the stuff! I stuck to the house white wine, which at 3.50€ for a large glass was very reasonably priced and tasted pretty good! There were quite a few people huddled round the bar when we arrived so it’s not always quick and easy to order but the staff recognise this and are very helpful, coming to our table to take food orders and bringing drinks to us. They really go out of their way to make your evening special.

There was a large group of us so we managed to sample a fair few dishes on the modern menu.  Priced at around 12€ a dish, it offers a page of platters including meat, veggie and cheese boards. I opted for the falafel mezze; three of the boys were taken by the Texan (a board full of all things fried!) There’s also a page of tasty burgers and side orders but after seeing one of the burgers, this page is definitely for the brave. One of guys who was out with us decided to try a burger which comes with black pudding (he’s from Yorkshire) and he certainly wasn’t left disappointed (or hungry).

After ordering, we only waited around half an hour for our food, which was good when out with a group of hungry bikers. The veggie platter comes with pitta, dips, salad and falafel and was really tasty. The falafel was crispy and full of flavour and the dips complemented it really well. The boys were blown away by their Texan platters, complete with beer battered onion rings, chicken wings and chips. According to him, the onion rings were the best, “juicy and tasty!” Now: onto the burger. We were all left stunned when it arrived. Piled high with meat, salad, black pudding and bread, it looked enormous! However, our yorkshireman dug in and pretty early on into his meal shocked the table with the comment, “easily, the best burger in Morzine”. Quite the claim. But, after polishing off the entire thing he reiterated that statement – and clearly thoroughly enjoyed his taste of home!

I’d very much suggest trying out the Marmotte d’Or: you won’t be disappointed. It’s a friendly, no frills attached, chilled out bar. You can pop in for quick drink, stay the whole evening or make it your regular haunt. Whichever you decide to do, you’ll be made to feel very welcome and certainly won’t be left hungry if you sample the menu!