Monday 20 May 2013

Dining in Lyon

I mentioned Lyon in my last post but thought I'd tell you a little bit more as it was so delicious. A beautiful city that I didn’t really know much about before I visited, I had heard talk of amazing food, Michelin stars, markets and cocktail bars, which was all I needed to know really...



I was there for a few days, having taken a laborious route via Schiphol, where the plane left everybody's bags behind; thank goodness that we only had hand luggage. I did not want to spend all weekend in one outfit with no make up or toiletries, the poor people of Lyon did not deserve that...




The food, the delicious, delicious food... We ate so well, Le Café des Fédérations being the highlight. A poached egg in red wine with lardons to start, who would have thought it could be so delicious! Cured meats, creamy lentils, salad Lyonnaise, black pudding, praline tarts and all the cheeses... Saint-Félicien, my new best friend. Amazing. Raymond Blanc was there the week before us, we obviously have good taste!





We drank delicious cocktails, I've never been to so many lovely cocktail bars in one weekend. La Passage with it's Luxury Spritz is still stuck in my mind; Aperol, Champagne and soda, my god, so so good... L'Antiquaire where we sat outside with Negroni's and The Monkey Club, my new favourite bar, pity it's 850 miles from Newcastle... Full of taxidermy, butterfly's and cocktail Archaeology; Absinthe in teacups and long forgotten recipes revived... Then there were the little pots of red wine everywhere we went; ahh, the tasty pots...

 




Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse, the most amazing covered market, full to bursting with every meat, cheese and fish you could think of. A lunch of oysters, tiny grey shrimp and wine. Amazing. The pink praline tart was a pretty special way to finish. La Garet was another good Bouchon and Butcher was a lovely steak filled way to spend our last night. I was struck down with some awful bug on the way home, thankfully it didn't ruin any of the holiday, I would have been devastated to miss out on any of the pots, cocktails or feasting that went on...

...and I think we've found a woman who knows a woman who can get hold of some Saint-Félicien back home, so fingers crossed we can carry on being friends...
 



2 comments:

  1. Looks and sounds completely amazing. I don't get it when people say France isn't what it was, food wise. Plenty of evidence to the contrary here. Have considered Eurostarring it down to Lyon, thanks for a bit of extra motivation!

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    1. it was SO good, we did a lot of research, but pretty much everywhere we went was good. We wanted to do the Eurostar too, but it ended up pretty expensive hence the odd route via Amsterdam! Definitely recommend a trip there though, I loved it.

      Anna x

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Happy cooking! Let me know if you make any of my recipes, send a picture, and let me know any of your own recipes and tips! Anna x