Lyon, France

We caught an early train leaving from Torino to Lyon, France. I wasn't really interested in coming to France because of lots of negative experiences that my friends had. But I've also heard that people are nicer outside Paris. Since this is my ultimate foodie journey, I couldn't pass Lyon, which is the "foodiest" city in France.

We arrived at the hotel around 1:00 knowing it would be a little early to check in. We just wanted to drop off the suitcases and leave for the city center. The office of the hotel (actually apartments) would not be open until 2:00pm. So, we had to kill 1 hour somewhere. So, we found a café and ordered a beer and a sandwich. The waitress didn't speak English well but she was trying to help us by showing us the menu items. It was a good sign that the people in Lyon could be nice.

Because we were in Lyon, we decided to try one of the Michelin starred restaurants, called Pierre Orsi. I made a reservation before I left the US. Before the reservation time, we went to a market, called Les Halle.

 

It was near closing time so many stores were starting to clean up. But they all looked amazing!! Lots of cheeses, seafood, various kinds of sweets, meats, etc. I'd be in big trouble if I lived in this city.....

Macarons are a big thing in Lyon. On top of the many interesting sweet flavors, there are many savory flavors, such as sesame gorgonzola, jamon iberico, foie gras and black olives.  By the way, they refused to mix sweet and savory macarons in the same box. They need to be in separate boxes.

After walking through the market, we headed to the restaurant. Here is the restaurant from outside.

                                                                    Very classy.......

We entered the restaurant at 8:00pm. The host spoke English very well. But the waiter kept speaking French so we tried to understand what he said. Well... it was getting too much for our very limited French knowledge. So, we asked if we could communicate in English. He immediately switched to English and his English was even better than the host. Well this was very "French".......

I have to apologize for the quality of photos I took at the restaurant. Because the restaurant is so classy, I had to be sneaky to take a picture. Every time the waiters walked away, I was taking quick shots.... Even tasting each other's dishes looked awkward. So, we were hiding our attempts at tasting each other's dishes from the waiters....Tie is not required (we inquired in advance) but this is definitely not a jeans type of restaurant.

We chose one of the Prix Fixe options that comes with two dishes of our choice, cheese, and our choice of dessert.

One of the waiters brought a small baguette.

                                    Perfectly baked baguette (crusty outside and chewy inside)

Then, amuse bouche (complimentary appetizer)

                                        Cold pea soup, kind of vichyssoise? Very refreshing.


For the first dish, we chose sautéed foie gras and raviollo with foie gras and truffle.

 I don't know if you can tell but this is sizable foie gras. Very rich and creamy but the seasoning wasn't heavy. I'm not a "Foie Gras Guy", but I had to try this because we were in France and foie gras is particularly special for someone from California (foie gras is banned in California). Great dish!

 Again this is not a good photo. But....

AMAZING!!! (This is my first all capitalized red-Amazing) This would be something I would remember for long time.

There were two big raviollo. Inside was foie gras and topped with truffle. It sounds a little tacky but it was simply delicious.


Second plates were lobster and steak.

This was a whole lobster chopped to big pieces with its shell. It was a little saltier than I like. But other than that, a very good dish.

The steak was substantial too. Nicely cooked with a very rich sauce (probably reduced beef stock). This sauce was fantastic.

For the cheese dish, we had some options. Normally a server brings a cheese board with various kinds of cheeses and the customers choose ones they want to try. The server slices each kind and plates them. Maybe because they thought we couldn't handle that (for our knowledge in cheeses and French language). The waiter offered an option of local cheese. I know some about cheese but the number of the cheese on the board was a little intimidating and my French language skill is close to zero so we chose local cheese. I was expecting a few kinds but it was just one. But it was pretty big piece.

It tasted like aged brie. Very good but I was getting full. I wanted to leave some room for dessert so I didn't finish it.

OK, I'm ready for dessert and waiting for the dessert menu. Instead we receive complimentary sweets.

These looked really good. But I was getting full. I had one small bite of each. More tangy sweets, which was good for me.

OK, do we get the menu for sweets now? What??

Palate cleanser (sorry for the blurry picture). Some panna cotta-like stuff at the bottom and probably apricot puree on top. Very refreshing but I'm really full at this point....

Finally we got the dessert menu. Because of miscommunication, we had two of the same dessert (I wanted to taste different desserts, though).

The chocolate mousse was a little too sweet for my taste but presented very elegantly. The ice cream was so delicious.

Well, I would say this is one of the most memorable meals.