Everybody knows, and goes to, Paris. Less well-known is the former Roman capital of Gaul: Lugdunum. Never heard of it? Perhaps in its French form: Lyon? Lyon prides itself as France’s gastronomic capital, and as such, it is also arguably the world capital of gastronomy. We’re starting our three week tour of France and Italy with a stop in Lyon.
Long before Paris was much of anything, Lyon was a bustling city. Its strategic position at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers was quickly assessed by the Romans, where they chose first a fortified settlement then built a city. Its navigable rivers–far into Gaul (France)–made it a trade port, and it eventually became a center for silk weaving, which had an unusual effect on its culinary traditions (more to follow).
It’s a beautiful city, with an impossible number of fine restaurants. Paul Bocuse, the legendary French chef who died in 2018, set up shop here, and his influence is deeply felt. Hundreds of aspiring chefs still train at his Institute, and the quality of culinary artistry in the city is very high. So we decided to spend a few days in Lyon before heading off on a river cruise down the Rhône.
After a day-and-a-half of flight delays and diversions (nothing serious), AeroMexico and Air France finally got us and our luggage to Lyon. Adjusting our eating habits to the French style was as difficult as overcoming jet lag. We arrived at 7:00 pm: early dinner time for the French. Our bodies were on -7 hour time (or lunch), and we had had a series of meal and snacks on the plane. So we went out for a light meal before bed. We stopped at Food Traboule, which deftly combines two Lyonnais traditions.
The first is the traboule, a series of secret or non-obvious passageways which honeycomb the city. They developed in the Middle Ages as covered routes for deliverymen to bring fresh products across town without being exposed to the elements (or thieves). They doubled as covert smuggling routes (or for liaisons of a sort) from then on. The second is the tradition of the independent chef. Put those two together, and about five years ago some aspiring chefs bought row houses, knocked down adjoining walls, and opened Food Traboule. You enter into a series of rooms with single-chef stalls, preparing a limited menu which you order directly from the chef. Sit wherever you want, and order whatever you want and pay the chef directly; waiters drop by to get you drinks from a central bar. It’s a cross between a Michelin star restauarant and a Mall food court! The beauty is you get to try out new concepts from up-and-coming chefs, cheaply and easily, without commiting to a full meal or menu. Just in the room we visited, you could find a stall with South Asian-Middle Eastern fusion, another with French gourmet hot dogs, and a third with French-Mexican mixes.
The next morning, we went out to join the French breakfast tradition: an espresso with a croissant or baguette on the way to work. We found many cafes did not open until 8:30 or 9:00 (when does work start?). The fresh pastry was delicious, the coffee strong but very good. After breakfast we got in some sight-seeing, visiting the main Cathedral for Lyon, then taking a funicular line up to the newish (19th Century) Basilica Notre-Dame de Fourvière (with Romanesque and Byzantine flourishes). It resides next to the well-preserved Roman amphitheater, each a unique architectural structure with bold views of the city below.
Now we normally eat one large meal a day (around 2:00 pm), with a small snack in the morning or evening. The French eat lunch between 12:00 and 2:00 pm, and don’t start dinner before 7:00 pm, so there was no way to square that with our style. We decided to go all in at 12:00, so we tromped in to the legendary bouchon Chabert et fils. There are many origin stories for the term bouchon, but the concept is firmly rooted in the silk-weaving story. Wives of the silk workers banded together to buy cheap meat parts (think brains, tripe, sweetbreads) from local butchers, then slow-cooked them into hearty meals for their husbands to return to after work. Eventually this evolved into a culinary tradition of family-owned businesses featuring a daily prix-fix (set price) menu of such hearty fare, a tradition which continues to this day.
As starters (entree here, a matter of some confusion for Americans), we chose a warm goat cheese pastry and a cold pâte pastry with a tart side salad:
Next, we had a pike quenelle ( a creamy pastry) and garlic flank steak with hash browned potatoes:
For dessert, a Guignol (named after a Lyonnias marionette character, but this dessert is a puffy cake with flamed crème and candied oranges) and a chocolate cake, both drenched in cream:
With espresso to cleanse the palate:
A statue of the Sun-King (Louis XIV) with appropriate backdrop:
In the Place Bellecour, a huge central plaza
The city has twenty Michelin-star restaurants, but more importantly, thousands more excellent places to eat which draw upon the unique culinary history and the impressive modern example of chef Paul Bocuse. You don’t have to spend a fortune to eat well, and the fine cuisine does NOT come with a side order of attitude one might encounter elsewhere (at least in our experience). My mauvais français was warmly received as an attempt at communication, and every waiter seemed to know more than enough anglais. As we like to say, when in Lyon, make sure and wear your eatin’ pants!
I am salivating already. The closest we got to Lyon during a 1016 Rhine trip was Strasburg, also a gem.
Finally a city I can speak intelligently about. Do you see the restuarant with the Punch and Judy ‘s build into the ceiling of the dining area – creepy ! We dined on that little street int hat first photo. It was 62degrees outside and had to verify if we were smokers or not feeling weel as it was “freezing” outside. ( I was mid0October). Loving city in which to walk across the many bridges to vist different parts of the city and eat. We look forward to our next visit there