Excursion: Visit to Lyon – impression on the capital of gastronomy

As this blog makes no secret about, I am big fan of good food. Then, what is not a better idea if not for me to visit a city that is nicknamed the capital of gastronomy. It also seems a no-brainer that this capital should be in France, so world-renowned for its hearty cuisine and the cradle of haute-cuisine with its star chefs. My wife and I, decided to visit Lyon, which is not only a major economic center of France, but also deemed to be epicenter of French cooking. Charmingly located on the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers, its cuisine resembles everything so dearly celebrated about French food. The city is wedged in between two major wine regions producing high quality, usually softer wine: the Beaujolais in the north and the Côtes du Rhône to the south. It is also close to the Alpes and the Massif Central-Auvergne, which are major cheese producing regions. Finally, the city is known for its hearty meat-based cuisine, born out of catering to the hard-working silk laborers of old Lyon, using every part of the beasts possible – from pig’s feet to goose’s livers.

We spent a long weekend in Lyon expecting to mostly eat well and drink plenty. Our first stop was therefore straight to famous food market of Les Halles de Lyon-Paul Bocuse (link). This is an assembly of fromageries, charcuteries, fish and vegetables shops selling high quality produce and small restaurants that already processed the ingredients for you. The facility was initiated by Paul Bocuse, who is something like a local culinary god. The chef world-wide renowned for its inventive cooking style was born in Lyon metropole and operates a three-star restaurant in the city since decades. The local Frenchmen and tourists can get a great impression of the riches our earth is producing and humans forming into products for our enjoyment – endless amounts of different cheeses, fresh seafood, ham and salamis in various variants to colorful macarons, biscuits and tarts. Obviously, we did not get around trying some of those great products. We had some amazing macarons – almost expected to be that fantastic in France – and sat down to enjoy a cheese plater. One of the local cheeses I enjoyed the most is the Bleu d’Auvergne, which is a very strong blue cheese and went extremely well with the softer Côtes du Rhône red wine we ordered. We were off to an excellent start.

For dinner, I reserved in a traditional bouchon – another must do when going to Lyon. Bouchons are local restaurants serving traditional Lyonnaise food typically in a homey atmosphere. Bouchons are scatter around the city, but especially the Old Town (Vieux Lyon) is absolutely packed with them. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to find an actual authentic bouchon there. I guess only the locals know which one is really great. Anyway, I studied a bit and think found one that is quite alright – though I don’t know how authentic. We went to Les Fines Gueules (link) and it was quite as expected – situated in an old charming house, the interior decorated in red and occasionally the typical red-white-squared patterns showed up. We were greeted very friendly and, contrary to some stereotypes (and actual experiences), received great service. All bouchons usually offer menus of three courses: an entrée, a main plat and a dessert/cheese. My wife went for a poached egg in creamy red wine sauce. I ordered escargôts (snails) as entrée. I know they come (or are more famous) from Burgundy, but since I tried them already sometime before, I decided to wanting them again. It sounds more adventurous than it is. The texture is fish-like and the taste dominated by the butter that the snails are cooked in. As a main course, my wife had the veal and I took the pike dish. My fish was so processed that I could hardly identify what was done to it, but I quite like it. The sauce was of course also heavy and delicious. Finally, I got a classic crème brulée as dessert. The mandatory red wine also paired well with everything. Overall, I do not know how authentic this experience really was, but I enjoyed it anyway.

Lyon, of course, boosts plenty of different restaurants. But I found it surprisingly difficult to find really great places just by roaming around the city. I guess, my expectations were too high, also it doesn’t help not to speak French and only visiting for short-time without the help and knowledge of a local. The bouchons are really hard to tell apart, I found. They look very similar, and especially the Old Town is so overloaded with them that whole squares and streets had basically no house not having a bouchon restaurant. I also found it bewildering that most food place close the kitchen after 2pm and only open around 6-7 pm again. This is of course appropriate for a working day, but makes it difficult for a foody tourist expecting to eat all the time anywhere.

Nonetheless, I had one more fantastic food experience on the last day. We went to a nice trendy restaurant called Le Potager des Halles (link), where we were lucky to be early and secure a table. The weather was still very warm and so we could very well sit outside. The place was extremely popular and the terrace filled quickly. I felt lucky to enjoy the big city flair on a charming street with majestic house facades framing the scenery. As usual, I tried to order in French, not understanding really the menu. I ended up getting a carpaccio-style dish of raw beef. It was not what I thought I will have, but it turned out to be absolutely amazing. It was very soft and flavorfully dressed. We too had a cheese platter and some red wine of course. Again, the cheese was to die for and it was a fantastic end to our culinary short-trip to the Rhône-Alpes region.