This wonderful Boucherie/Charcuterie/Traiteur in Chamonix was a last minute find before we left for home and it was the perfect end to a short break away.

It isn't a general deli really, they focus on cured meats, cheese and wine and the choice is fantastic for such a small shop. The front consists of baskets of cured meats, most of which I'd never heard of. There are also lots of dried hams etc hanging from the ceiling. It looks like many of the saucisson are local specialities and I bought one standard "salami looking" one and a bundle of fageots(?) which were much thinner. Both turned out to be extremely tasty.

The centre of the shop is cheese and I was all at sea again with the names. I did know some like Comté and Vacherin but the rest were all new to me. I went with Vacherin and Tomme de Savoie. The latter (according to Wikipedia) is an Alps speciality and I devoured it all within a day or two. Soft, creamy, tasty. The Vacherin was less successful for me. The smell in my travel bag afterwards was overwhelming and even when grated over hot food, the strong, almost "off" smell really wasn't appealing. The soft texture is good but I think you'd have to be a cheese fanatic to try it. I should have gone with Comté which I'd been loving for the three previous days.

In addition to all the great food, I found the shopkeeper extremely friendly and happy to converse in a mix of English and French. If you like food along with your skiing, then a trip to this shop is a must. The value compared to Ireland will completely blow you away too!