I couldn’t leave Lyon without going to at least one bouchon (a traditional type of restaurant you can find all over the city that’s casual and that serves a variety of hearty meals). This particular one has a three course menu for 15.90 Euros — an absolute steal.
I started with the salad Lyonnaise (how could I not?), which features lettuce, bacon, croutons, and a poached egg topped with a mustardy dressing. This might have literally been the heaviest salad I’ve ever had; I think there might have been more bacon than lettuce. Please note: I’m not complaining, though I do wish the bacon had been crisped up a bit more (or at all). Still, it was quite tasty.
For my main, I actually asked the waitress what she recommended, and she mentioned the lamb shank, which turned out to be… not great! In her defense, I think this normally would have been very good, but this particular one hadn’t been braised quite enough, resulting in tough meat that was almost impossible to cut, with a whole bunch of fat and collagen that was gummy and unrendered. I ate as much as I could, but it needed a much sharper knife than what I was given. The flavour was quite nice, at least.
The lamb came with a side of scalloped potatoes, and they were so incredibly good that I can’t even be mad about the borderline inedible meat. They were ultra rich and creamy, and the flavour was — to use a technical cooking term — bonkers delicious.
For dessert, I had the praline tart, a local specialty made with praline roses (which I talked about here). This kind of reminded me of a pecan pie, but much, much less sweet, and with almonds instead of pecans. I quite enjoyed it.
Location: 24 Rue Saint-Jean, 69005 Lyon, France