La Biskatcha

By Amie Henderson

Pre-COVID, if asked to contemplate the national closure of restaurants in a country so globally famous for its food, the prospect would have been unimaginable. It’s no secret that dining out is a national pastime here in France. Restaurants are the backbone of family life, social life and more. Yet “do you remember your last meal in a restaurant?” became a much-discussed topic for those of us missing our mountain meals.

Since you asked, my most memorable ‘last supper’ involved a delicious Biska Burger and a shared bottle of Sancerre early one evening at La Biskatcha at Hôtel la Marmotte in Les Gets.

The dining formula here has been perfected in recent years to include three different experiences with three different menus all under one roof. La Pivotte is an atmospheric Savoyarde chalet within the hotel, serving exquisite, traditional dishes and regional specialities. It’s a ‘must-do’ holiday experience. La Piste Noire is a fine dining experience focused on locally-sourced and seasonal produce in a chic, bistronomic setting, while La Biskatcha is a more relaxed mountain brasserie and grill with a casual, family-friendly vibe, which suites my tribe perfectly.

In a month when he’d usually be plating up hundreds of meals a day to happy holiday makers, La Biskatcha Head Chef Loïck Deschamps tells me how he’s been keeping busy.

Of course, it's been a long time since any of us have been able to enjoy a meal in a restaurant. How did you spend this time?

“During this time, I cooked a lot, for my family and myself. I tried out new dishes for the restaurant and spent time discovering small producers that I did not know before, around my home and around the region. This allowed me to get closer to these people, build relationships and to discover new type of cuisine. When we know where our food comes from, we respect the products more, and this helps me to highlight our local cuisine as well as our producers.”

Tell me about the style of food you serve in the restaurant and where do your influences come from?

“In our restaurant La Biskatcha, we seek to serve creative but simple cuisine. I mix several influences from bistronomic, to gastronomic, through to street food in pursuit of original dishes, but accessible to all. We like to play on new flavors and atypical dressings.”

Of course, using seasonal and local products is important. How do you use ingredients from the region in your dishes?

“We seek to take the maximum number of ingredients from as many small local producers as possible. This is always the ultimate objective. Sometimes, because of production capacity at these small producers, this can become complicated because of the volume we need for our restaurant. However, this point is really close to our hearts and so we always offer ‘specials’ and ‘suggestions’ throughout the year in addition to our regular menu. It is also possible that we include certain products on the menu for an entire season.”

When you are not working in your own kitchen, where do you like to eat?

“When restaurants are actually open, I like to eat in venues run by young chefs. I'm always curious and looking for new things and new flavors, so I find this inspiring.”

Can you give us some clues about the new dishes on the menu for this summer season? What can we expect?

“We’re always tweaking the menu, right up until the final moment. But, to give you some clues, we are going to offer a lamb-based dish, with several different cooking options, and which will include several different parts of the animal. The lambs will come from several local producers, all located within 30km of the restaurant – we’re so lucky to have this on our doorstep! We’ve also discovered new local vegetable producers to complement all of our dishes, which I am excited about.”

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