The Gastronomic Capital of Europe ... Lyon

And some would say the world.  I mean, when I read that for the first time, I knew I had to visit this place, and soon.  It's hard to envision what a place holding this title could possible be like, the treasures it must hold - the rare, the unexpected, the glutiny, the kitchen gadgets, pork, cheese, buttery croissants, buttery bread, butter  ... breeeeeeeathe, breathe.

OK, so coming back down to Earth, I did see a glimpse of why Lyon may get such accolades, but in a vote I probably wouldn't pick Lyon.  Gasp!  {What did she say?}  To be fair I didn't have a reservation for any of the top bouchons in town, and I am sure they would have been amazing, but eating every last bit of a pig or pressing bits of fish with gelatin into terrines is not so much my thing.

So here's how it goes ... I arrived a bit on the exhausted side at my hotel in town via taxi (after dropping off the car at the airport from the Burgundy trip).  The room was adorbs (because one should always pick charming, small boutique hotels) with a window over looking a large square in town.  Lyon is big, so there were long pedestrianized shopping "High Streets" with H&M, Zara, and even a Subway.  Bah.

I wandered a bit in disbelief that I wasn't being engulfed by adorable little comestible shops, with little old French men in berets offering me a taste of their bounty.  Not so much.  I did finally find, after peering down a slim alley, the type of wine bar I envisioned.  Had a glass of wine and started scanning the web for places to eat.

Lyonnaise Salad

There was a place near my hotel that came highly rated and served Bresse chicken.  A colleague of mine is from Burgundy, and he had mentioned to me this very specific breed of French chicken with blue feet that are esteemed, highly sought after, etc.  So, I had that, after a Lyonnaise salad (you know, the one with frisse lettuce, bacon lardon, Dijon dressing, and a poached egg).  All good.  Oh, and I was in Cote du Rhone territory now, so that was the beverage du jour.

The whole point of the trip was to see the famed Les Halles de Lyon, their modern indoor food market.   In fact more modern than I expected.  This is highly unlike the Borough Market in London or La Boqueria in Barcelona.  However, I was giddy as I ran up the steps, and nearly leapt in the air to click my heels as I walked in.  Hallelujah!  Amen!

This was the morning to top all mornings ... as I browsed slowly from side-to-side up and down each aisle, yes, arguably the best food products in the world were here.  To my surprise, I was literally stopped in my tracks as I saw a man cutting open fresh sea urchins one after another and arranging them on a serving platter.  I had just read an article about a man who flew to Japan regularly just to find these.  After about 15 minutes in awe, I decided what the heck and ordered just one (and a side of Champagne).  What can I say, it was delicious ... the little buttery wedges scraped from the shell were simple with just the hint of the sea.


So, feeling extra adventurous, I decided I would tackle the escargot.  In case you didn't know this about me, I have a sunken garden in damp England and in the Summer snails come in droves to devour my precious plants - I have gone militant on them and putting one in my mouth wasn't high on my list.  However, in the name of trying all things once and having an opinion on exemplary foods from the world, I decided to set in to a full dozen of Burgundy escargot.  They first brought out quite a set of complex utensils, and then a plate of sizzling butter, parsley, and garlic.  I dug them out one-by-one and ate the whole plate, more or less non-stop.  I may not need to do that often, but it was enjoyable.

After that feast, I grabbed a local praline tart and grabbed the trolley car up to the north side of the city, Croix-Russe.  It is a hill with sweeping views of the city, and well, not much going on, so I walked through the winding streets, back into town ... fortunately to find the old city centre.  This is the historic section of town, and had much more of the locales I was expecting to see.  Cute cafes, cobblestone streets, ancient passageways, etc.  Did some shopping and by the point of exhaustion started to hunt out the grand finale dinner location.

I was ready to splurge ... so I found some highly rated places ...  first one, fully booked.  Second one, fully booked.  Third one, fully booked ... Fourth one, you guessed it!  Boo!  OK, so I ended up at a spot that served only local ingredients and the chef's own creations, and it was splendid!  To be honest, I was so over meat by this point I ordered a crawfish ravioli!  Ha, ha ...

Up early the next morning to catch the Sunday morning market along the Soane river.  So, so pleasant ... browsing morning food markets is my favourite thing to do.  Anyway, the produce was bountiful, the stinky cheeses sprawling, the chicken spinning on the rotisseries, and the little old ladies were scrutinizing their selections.  I picked up a couple few local items to snack on then and a few to bring home.  Home ... time to go, and time to fast for a while!

I'm afraid Flickr may have gotten more technologically advanced than I, so for now I am pasting in the link to the photo album!  Click Here.