Live To Eat: Lyon-blues.

Lyon.

#Instaquote: ‘Are you on a foodie holiday in Lyon?’

Me: ‘No but my life is a foodie holiday’.

Right now, I’m at the LYS airport and I reminisce.

Not only about the food, but everything.

There’s something about beautiful Lyon… To me, Lyon feels like a second home. It’s petite, cute and unpredictable (reminds me of someone…. HMMM! ;)) During my second visit, I was bombarded with nice and charming people. It changes from the coldness of London and I’m not talking about the weather only!

Timeline:

1^st day: Bought some Paul patisseries at the station as a snack.

K.O-ed, sleep, wake up and decided to go for dinner. It was a no brainer really, the place to go was ‘Bleu de Toi’ on rue mercière. I fell in love with the place back in January. Though its online reviews aren’t great, to me it has this comforting appeal. It heals the loneliness of eating alone. First visit back in Jan, the waitress brought me a salad, I thought: OMG I hate salads how am I even going to finish half of the plate?! BAM! It was so delicious with the little croutons and a seafood pate yum! This time I had the salmon with curry sauce and 'frites'.

On the way back to the hotel, a very nice stranger bought me a Coke and we had a long chat in ‘Place Bellecour’. I will not forget :)

2^nd day: Lunch at Charbonnières Les Bains, two words: Awesome bakeries. I went for my favourite: tuna in a brioche bun. Dessert was ‘le mango coco’ – what a sumptuous dessert with a little tang from the fresh mango and crunch from the coconut.

It was such a lovely night so I walked along the bridge and went to ‘Rue des Maronniers’. It’s the cutest little road filled with restaurants and on that day it was an alfresco feast! Oh well, I’ll go solo alfresco too and have some galettes at Escale a Belle-Ile (again previously tried and tested). Picture this: me sitting outside a restaurant with the other tables unoccupied for the first 15mins. Once I never thought I would feel comfortable enough to eat alone, but WRONG it felt perfectly fine! I had the egg and spinach galette (oeuf mirroir) – I have to say not my favourite, I prefer the one with smoked salmon and cream (plus greedy me usually asks for some emmental added :D)

For dessert, there’s a long list of toppings for the crepes – I chose the salted caramel, chocolate, crème de marrons and vanilla ice cream (once again, I asked for extra toppings). Agreed, I should probably go hide myself :p

3^rd day: ESCAPE(s)!!!!!!!!! It was raining heavily and I did not have appropriate shoes or an umbrella, so the closest option it was and I was craving meat (I AM A MEAT-LOVER hah!). Went to ‘Le Caveau’ and looking around (I mean staring at people’s plates, you knowwwwww), the lamb was tempting so “Souris d’agneau, s’il vous plait monsieur”. It looks magnificent, doesn’t it?

First bite, very dry and not to my liking at all. 2^nd bite, can I really keep eating? I felt like puking! Think, think, think, little birdie.. I call the waiter (all of them looked so dodgy) and I say: Oh no I have a really big emergency at home and I need to leave NOW. My traumatised face from the traumatising lamb was enough to give some credibility to my story and I made my way to Le Tunis, a small little North African place which was empty. But the food is SO nice J I was the only customer, not really a problem when you are alone anyway. Had the couscous with vegetables, merguez (big fan!) and harissa sauce. YUM.

Then awkwardness sets in because of the TV. There was only me and the chef and there was a documentary about a girl being raped and she was literally going through the whole thing in detail. BIG CRINGE and the chef didn’t seem to be bothered. So I left shortly after and had the ‘Monte Carlo’ dessert I bought earlier.

Oops not to forget lunch: had the best quiche ever with goats cheese and courgette and dessert was as good, a raspberry moelleux!

4^th day: Solo fine-dining. I had to try the place my French colleague recommended to me: le Potiquet.

Perfect weather for a 20mins walk along the river. Got there, the chef was at the front of house and took me to my table. It was full of older people (mostly couples) and err me.. lol Chef Adrien asked me if I wanted ‘un apero’ (aperitif) I said yes please so he made a very fruity raspberry non-alc drink for me and I had my amuse bouche : croutons with an aubergine hmm.. chutney.

The menu is quite fun to read, there’s a little (maybe little is an understatement here…) intro about the chef and how you are expected to order. They had 3 set menus and I chose the prestige one. My starter was lobster, crab and mango ravioli (Homards et Crabes en Ravioles de Mangue) over a tomato tartar – I don’t like raw tomatoes but the plate was fresh with a good balance of sweetness and acidity.. and beautiful right?

Next, the dish I was very excited about: Pavé de Filet de Bœuf "Herdshire" Bocuse d'Or, Fricassé de Champignons d’Été Cèpes, Mousserons. Such a good cut, so tender pairing so well with the mushrooms. A point! :)

For the dessert, I wanted to try something different: a mojito crème brulee. Surprise! It was a trio. One was mint flavoured, the middle one lemon J It was ok, just the consistency of each one was so different! Anyway, bonus points for originality!

End of the meal, the chef came around to have a foodie chat. He explained, in English s’il vous plait, that he stayed at the Manoir and worked for Raymond for 6 months until Paul Bocuse called him to work in Lyon. The End J

5^th day: Only highlight of the day was the cake. See below. THE CAKE.

6^th day: A superb lunch at Cote Couleurs in Charbonnieres with the nicest French people ever. I had le magret de canard avec miel, figue et pommes de terres (duck with honey, fig and potatoes). Delish – love these potatoes and the perfectly cooked canard. Parfait!

Dessert was the café gourmand pour moi (a selection of mini desserts with a coffee). On that day, it was a yummy pistachio crème brulee and a fruit salad.

Dinner was shisha overdose at l’Orienthe [Lyon has the best shisha spot, indoors and so cosy] and a much, much awaited chicken kebab with samurai and tartar sauce :D Oh and if you were wondering (no? whatever, I want to share) which shisha flavours I tried: Vanilla, Blueberry+Cherry, Watermelon+Mint and Pomegrate, all very nice J Yes this means 4 shishas, 2 charcoals each you do the maths.

Last day: Breakfast was at Pignol Patisserie in Bellecour: a nougatine with raspberry and pistachio macaroons. Such a shame they didn’t have my all-time favourite rose-litchi macaroon L

It’s quite an experience (probably not to you) to sit there at one of the few tables where locals keep coming to get huge boxes (yes, not only one) of amazing desserts to go. Maybe it's a Saturday morning ritual or something? Half an hour, a lot of bell rings heard, a lot of beautiful cakes seen. I learnt about the ‘macafraise’: a fraisier topped with a huge macaroon! Looks amazing :x

After walking around for 2 hours, I went back to Bleu de Toi for lunch for their speciality, mussels and chips. Poor girl who worked there brought me the wrong one and I had no idea. After a few minutes she brought me the one I ordered so in the end I tried 2 :) She was mortified and I felt so bad for her :(

I love Lyon, it’s small and pretty.. again, sounds familiar? Haha! I love wandering around, getting lost in the small roads. The Rhone river is so beautiful I could just sit by the quay for ages. There’s something about exploring a city alone and embracing the freedom that comes with it. A few pics: