From restaurant kitchens to Alpine chalets
I’m Lee Vintin, and my career has taken me from restaurant kitchens in Britain to chalet dining rooms in the Alps. This November, I’m returning for my third season in Tignes with Ski Miquel, bringing together years of restaurant, hotel and chalet experience.
I started my training at Granville College in Sheffield. A college placement gave me an early taste of high-end catering, and after qualifying I headed south to build my experience in restaurants and country pubs. Working alongside experienced chefs taught me the discipline and attention to detail that have stayed with me throughout my career.
My first ski season was a very different experience from chalet life today. We drove out in a minibus, without a training week or a set menu, and served generous, family-style meals for guests to share. The chefs worked closely together, swapping ideas and helping each other find our feet. It was a practical education in making people feel at home through good food.
Between winters I worked in Jersey, progressing from pastry work to sous chef and then head chef at a beach hotel in Gorey. But the mountains kept drawing me back. I spent two seasons with an independent chalet and five with Purple Ski in the Méribel valley, cooking in several different chalets as the business grew.
When I joined, the company wasn’t even called Purple Ski. Its own history records that it began as Ski Crêtet, named after Chalet Le Crêtet, before adopting the Purple Ski name in 1999. Méribel sits at the heart of Les 3 Vallées, with access to 600km of linked pistes: a wonderful setting for someone whose love of snowboarding helped take him overseas in the first place.
From London events back to Tignes
The years between ski seasons brought plenty of variety, including a summer working as a head chef in Paris in 1998, when the city was caught up in World Cup excitement. In 2001 I moved to London and joined Rhubarb Food Design, now Rhubarb Hospitality Collection. Founded in 1996, the company grew from an events business into an international hospitality group. For me, it meant working my way up to sous chef and cooking for film premieres, awards ceremonies and private dinners, including occasions for Queen Elizabeth II.
I also became head chef at the Bond Street Brasserie within Selfridges. It was another chance to develop my cooking in a busy London setting, before my career brought me back to the Sheffield area. I worked at the Walnut Club and the Devonshire Arms in Middle Handley, where our team won Eat Sheffield Restaurant of the Year in 2011.
Running my own café, Eten, gave me the opportunity to explore vegetarian cooking and gluten-free food in more depth. Later came a head-chef role at Seasons in Wickersley. Each kitchen added something different to my experience, from pastry and carefully presented restaurant dishes to the generous food people want after a day outdoors.
Eventually, the pull of another winter in the mountains proved too strong. I reapplied to Ski Miquel, returned for a 90-day season and was invited back. With the arrangements made for a longer return, I found myself back in Tignes, ready for the next chapter.
Tignes shares a 300km ski area with Val d’Isère, so guests have plenty of exploring to do before dinner. My part is in the kitchen: bringing that varied experience to the menu and helping make good food a memorable part of a Ski Miquel holiday. After all those different restaurants, hotels and seasons, I still enjoy the simple pleasure of turning ingredients into a meal people love.