Meredith A.
Yelp
This is a terrific experience of a Lyonnais bouchon. Stop in the day before and book for the following night, and don't come for lunch - the food is heavy, dinner fare. The place is too small to accommodate many walk-ins on the day itself, as we learned. It's got a Michelin bib gourmand listing, and no surprise.
We loved our chat with the gregarious, warm owner, who frequently made the rounds. We began with a communard (red wine with crème de cassis) while we perused the menu. Note that the portions here are big - we got an entree, two plats, a cheese, and a dessert, and we basically needed to be rolled home. We shared quite a lot of red wine throughout the meal, and took our time as we ate, looking at the homey décor.
First we shared the sausage and potatoes - rich, hearty sausage sliced thick, with boiled potatoes. Lyon knows how to do pork, and this was no exception. Divine. Big enough to be a main, we were both already filling up after sharing it. Then we got the steak and the quenelle, which is like a fish dumpling, it's a Lyon speciality. The steak was cooked perfectly and was meltingly tender, but we both agreed the meat had less flavour than we expected! No idea why. If it had been a more flavorful steak, the dish would have been absolutely perfect, but as it was, we hoped for just a bit more. The baby potatoes served alongside, however, were gorgeous. Possibly the best potatoes I've ever had. You don't realize how amazing a potato can be until you have them in a place like this. Neither of us were hugely taken with the quenelle. I know it's a speciality so maybe you feel you must order it, but we didn't care much for it. The sauce tasted, I think, like cinnamon in a rather odd way, and we mainly ate the steak and picked at the dumpling. Just not our thing.
We had a bit of two cheeses instead of a lot of one. One was totally soft and creamy, actually more whipped than anything else, with chives and such in it. Neither of us cared much for this, but the hard cheese was fantastic and we ate that whole piece with bread. Gorgeous bread, of course. The dessert was a berry sorbet of sorts, but they poured a liqueur over it so it was boozy as all get-out. The ice cream was lush, the booze was intense, but hey, it's traditional!
Honestly, keep that in mind when you're here. You may not like everything you eat, though you will like most of it, but you are getting an introduction to true Lyonnaise cuisine. The atmosphere is second-to-none, they know what to do with pork, the bread, cheese, and wine are divine, and I can only recommend with plats that you stick to things that sound good to you, and don't order something just because it's a local tradition or speciality. But no matter what you order, you won't regret eating here. We were utterly charmed by this bouchon and would recommend to all.
