Dine with Kat Judge, co-owner of AliKats Mountain Holidays, and delight in a delicious six-course taster menu

Kat Judge, an award-winning chef and co-founder of AliKats Mountain Holidays, now offers a new foodie experience in all the chalets. ‘Dine with Kat’ comprises a six-course taster menu personally cooked and served by Kat, including fine wines to compliment the food, pre-dinner cocktails, and cheese and digestifs for afters.

AliKats Mountain Holidays offers seven beautiful chalets in the year-round village of Morzine, in the French Alps. This year, the company has added three new chalets to its hand-picked portfolio, ready for the up-coming ski season: the self-catered Chalet La Grande Ourse (Chalet Big Bear) and Chalet La Petite Ourse (Chalet Little Bear), and The View, a luxurious catered lodge built exclusively for the family-run company.

Food has always been an integral part of the AliKats offering, and it shows: the company has won ‘Favourite Food in Morzine’ for three years running at the Morzine Source awards and been included in articles alongside celebrity chefs.

All the wine served by AliKats has been carefully selected to compliment the menu, with the house wines included in the cost of the week. And for those budding sommeliers, AliKats also offers an additional selection of French wines from surrounding regions, for a supplementary cost.

Plus, with food allergies and intolerances rising continually, AliKats has a lot of experience in catering to suit all needs. Al Judge’s aunt runs the Food Matters blog, which offers a valuable resource to Kat and her team and provides inspiration for fantastic allergen-free recipes.

For guests staying at The View, the Dine with Kat experience is included in the new Indulgence Package, along with Vintage Bollinger champagne on arrival, high-quality wines matched with dinner by AliKats’ wine consultant, Rob Wade, and pre-dinner cocktails and digestifs every day. However, Kat is keen for more guests to sample her adventurous signature dishes…
Kat says: “Food has always been incredibly important to me. Growing up, both my parents were amazing cooks, so eating a meal together was how we spent time socialising as a family.”

Eager to continue this tradition with her husband and co-founder, Al, and their three children, Ivy, Wilf and Albie, she makes sure they all sit down at the table as a family at least once a day.

Processed foods are one of Kat’s main bugbears; she loves to know where all the ingredients have been sourced and cooks everything from scratch, even stock sauces.

She says: “I love going to the market in Morzine and chatting to the vendors about where their produce has come from and what makes it special. For example, we buy free-range meat that’s local and reared to the highest possible standards of animal welfare.”

During autumn, Kat and her family explore the nearby forests and fields around Morzine to forage for pumpkins, apples, nuts and wild mushrooms. The apples are used to make chutney for the guests during the ski season, and the plums are frozen, ready to use in the colder months.

Guests staying at AliKats’ catered chalets will be taken on a culinary journey throughout the week. Kat says: “I tend to start with some traditional French dishes and then mix it up a little and introduce Asian spices and citrus flavours. I’ll follow this up with the earthy, rich flavours of Italy by using truffles and wild boar, before returning to French food with a twist towards the end”.

She delights in the unpredictable and always tries to push the boundaries a little. For example, her Reblochon ice cream is quite challenging and has an unusual flavour. “It divides opinion”, says Kat, “but this adds excitement and always sparks conversation around the dinner table”.

It is this spirit of adventure that Kat is hoping to expand upon with her ‘Dine with Kat’ menu, so guests can expect the unexpected and join her on her culinary voyage.

Sample menu (any dietary requirements will be taken into consideration):

Roasted carrot & pumpkin soup
Venison carpaccio
Fillet of fera (fish)
Roast duck breast with parmesan risotto, cabbage & wild mushrooms
Lemon Tart
Cheese board

To find out more, take a look at this short film showing Kat in action:

Dine With Kat costs from €50 pp (minimum of 10 people) and includes Kat’s six-course taster menu, fine wines matched to the menu by AliKats’ wine consultant, Rob Wade*, pre-dinner cocktails and digestifs and cheese to finish. Dine with Kat is only available on Friday.

The View: Seven nights’ chalet-board stay costs from £741 pp (two sharing). Price includes accommodation, parking, use of the hot tub and committed service from the AliKats team: on hand to help with lift passes, equipment hire, ski lessons, childcare, and beauty treatments. The price also includes the brand-new Indulgence Package, exclusive to The View. Enjoy Vintage Bollinger champagne on arrival, a free massage for every guest, six-course taster menu by AliKats’ executive chef, Kat Judge, fine wines with dinner matched by AliKats’ wine consultant, a-la-carte breakfast in bed, unlimited quality house wine and beer, unlimited espresso coffee, pre-dinner cocktails and digestifs.

*Rob Wade is a restaurant consultant, food writer and presenter.

For more information and to book, visit www.alikats.eu or call +44 (0)203 514 6012 / +33 (0)689 388 149.