Eating Lyon: Le Garet, the perfect bouchon

Lyon has a promising culinary reputation. Reputed to be the gastronomic heart of France, friends and natives had talked it up and I was worried it may not live up to my increasing expectations.
I quickly secured a reservation at 2* Le Bec, the reviews are exceptional and it looks exciting, but much to my misfortune, they had water damage on the day I was to dine ,and were closed. 3 restaurant La Mere Brazier was also high on my list, but sadly (for me) they were closed for summer holidays. Paul Bocuse was mentioned but I had already decided to save that for my next trip, the prices are lofty, and the reviews mixed. I’ll visit another time with another food obsessive.
So, what to do? In truth, I was always more excited about the Lyonnaise Bouchons, peculiar to Lyon and serving traditional Lyonnaise cuisine. Bouchons were always going to be the heart of the trip and there was a few I wanted to try out.
The highlight of these was a recommendation from a Lyonnaise friend, Le Garet. We popped in on our first night, to discover that they were full so we made a reservation for lunch on our last day. Lesson No 1 – book your bouchons before you leave, the good ones are always booked up. There was one I really wanted to try but it’s so popular with locals that I hadn’t a hope without an advance reservation.
On our return for lunch, just two hours before we were due at the train station to board our train back to London via Lille on the Eurostar, we were greeted with smiles and charm and on seating were presented with pork crackling. A large bowl of caper berries and a jar of cornichons were delivered shortly after. We were going to get on.
Le Garet is enchanting, warm red walls with walls packed with pictures and photographs and French eccentricities. It’s impossible not to be seduced. It’s a joyous place, the diners are enjoying their food and company, and the staff are smiling and friendly.
The wine list is presented in a copybook, specials are writted on a mirror with marker and the menu otherwise, was one I had become very familiar with in other bouchons: Pieds de Veau (calves feet), Cervelles (brains), Rillettes d’Oie (goose rillettes), Grenouilles (frog legs), Tete de Veau (head cheese), Bavette, Saucisson, Foie de Veau (calves liver). A meaty offaly paradise, not for the faint hearted but for those who love flavour and rich food.
By now, I had visited many an eatery and following a visit to the market wanted colour and flavour. I needed something to repair my meat saturated soul and nurture me. I opted for lighter but still traditional dishes, starting with a glorious Tomates Steak et Ornue, Pistou et Parol Blanc – a fantastic tomato salad with large slices of tomato steak, slices from a smaller tomato, both drizzled with pistou and with cured ham on the side, predominantly fat, like lardo, with a little pink meat. A large basket of very good bread was served on the side.
Kat had the Rillettes d’Oie, which she had spotted the diners at the next table eating. We had assumed that they had a healthy portion for two but were gobsmacked when a whole Staub terrine full of Rillettes arrived for Kat alone. My salad was enormous also.
Main courses were Grenouilles Fraiche en Persillade (Fresh Frogs Legs with Persillade) for Kat and for me, a traditional Lyonnaise dish of Quenelle de Brochet a la Lyonnaise – a large set pike mousseline in a seafood broth. The frog legs were as perfect a representation of that dish could be, fiddly but tender and spiked with persillade, I had order envy. My quenelle de brochet was gorgeous, very light and spring served in a light marseillaise-style seafood broth with creamed spinach with nutmeg on the side. A perfect lunch dish.
As is common at the end of a Bouchon meal, we each ordered a demi St Marcelin, a soft small cows milk cheese, perfectly round and like unleashing children from the school gates, the cheese blurted out then oozed from the rind once I put my knife through it. Swoooon.
We accompanied our meal with a Pot (46cl) of White Burgundy (St Veran Bourgogne Blanc), a bargain at €11. The vibe was friendly with perfect friendly service, and nearby tables were chatty too, we seemed to be the only tourists there that lunchtime.
A special mention for the bathrooms, odd I know, but they were great. Decked out like a ladies boudoir, bloomers and old brassieres were hanging out of the drawers and over the lamps. The walls were decked with pictures as the floor below.
The meal came to approx €35 each, including extra service as it was very good and we had such a lovely time. I had an extra glass of wine and we had coffees too.
I would go back to Lyon just to eat here, it was a perfect two hours. I spied the bavette on the next table, it looked divine, and I am – almost – desperate to try it. Lyon is only 5 hours from London on the Eurostar. I think I can figure out an excuse to do it. Wait! I’ve got one: Le Garet.
Argh!!!! I so want to go to Lyon. I was in summer school in (fairly) nearby Besancon a few years ago and had to chose between a weekend in Lyon or Strasbourg. The Pink Cathedral won but Oh your post made me salivate.
I love your blog.
Do go Martha! It’s wonderful.
What a fantastic Lyonais lunch. The photos have my mouth watering. An amazing city. Bet you can’t wait to go back. I certainly can’t.
I can’t wait, and I will soon! Thanks. :)
My sister lives in Lyon at the moment. When I used to go there a few years ago, Le vieux Lyon was a great bouchon.
Nice post and great pictures!
Will check that out next time! Thanks :)
What astonishing value. Happy you found Lyon on good terms! Seems like fate you ended here too…
It was, Douglas! I was so happy to end up here. It wasn’t Le Bec, but it was wonderful.
Beautiful posts on Lyon Niamh sounds like you had a fabulous time. I am a little confused about your trip though as it seemed from Twitter that you were on the Eurostar explorer train but you don’t seem to mention this and I’m not sure how the train works. Is it a normal train that people can catch that includes a hotel package or was it a special trip that you recieved that was complimentary and doesn’t normally run? If it does normally run would be quite cool to go on a “mystery destination” train, assuming hotel etc included.
Hi Cara! Sorry about the confusion! I thought I covered that in the first post. There’s a link and more info there.
It’s a normal train not a mystery trip or a one off or anything like that. They call it an explorer ticket (there is a link in the first post) as you explore outside of the eurostar region (that’s my guess re the naming anyway).
This year Eurostar started doing combined trips of Eurostar & TGV to Lyon, Aix-en-Provence, Marseilles & Avignon. One payment, one ticket, that kinda thing.
I am hoping to go back and visit the other destinations soon. I love France and adre train travel so it works well for me. It’s a pretty reasonable price if you book early enough, Lyon is £109 return. I almost booked it for October at the weekend, but will hold off till next year I think :)
It all looks fantastic, as I’m sure it was!
Was your train a freebie, a la the trip to Lille last year, or did you pay for some/all of it?
Hey Chris.
It really was, and I am not finished yet.
The train was free but all the restaurants and eateries I chose and paid for myself. It wasn’t an organised trip, there were no other bloggers, and there was certainly no itinerary or guiding or anything like that. It seems to be a sensitive issue! I was asked yesterday on twiiter too.
To clarify: just a normal couple of days away with a friend, not PR led or orchestrated in the content of the trip. Eurostar asked me if I wanted to go to a destination, I asked for Lyon as I’ve always wanted to go there, they said yes, and I planned it.
Hope that’s clear!
Hi,
I am from Lyon, though lived half my life in London. Love your post. Sometimes on the tables they have a small blackboard in the shape of a bottle to write the specials on. If you ever wanted one of mine as a give away you are more than welcome -hand made-