Lyon: A Bouchon Lunch at Cafe des Federations
How lovely to visit Lyon again for the Bocuse D’Or last week. It’s such a warm city, charming and obsessed with food. I am definitely the last and so I always feel at home there. My trip last August was brief, and there was one bouchon I neglected to hit, Café des Federations. I didn’t miss it this time.
I was there on a grey Thursday. I wandered by the Saone and meandered up the narrow streets, suitcase in tow. My French isn’t great, but it’s enough to get me by, and stumblingly, I secured a table for one for lunch.
I love solo lunches, I can’t think of anything nicer than lovely food, intimate ecelctic surroundings, some delicious wine and a great book, whilst cosy in a corner with the occasional bit of people watching between chapters. It’s fairly uncommon here in London, not so in France.
At the banquette ahead of me were two other solo female diners, one young Japanese lady, in town also for the Bocuse D’Or, and a wonderful elderly French lady, dolled up to the nines with perfect make up and hair and a big fur coat for company.
At Les Café des Federations, you are not given a menu. Shortly after sitting down, you are presented with a selection of nibbles, this time charcuterie lyonnaise, two types of sliced sausage with cornichons; another dressed meat (which I think was tongue) and caviar de la croix rousse, a gorgeous and incredibly moreish peasant caviar, a puy lentil dish in a tart cream dressing.
Once these were finished, I was asked which dish I wanted from a list recited by the waiter. All the Lyonnaise bouchon classics were on here: Tete de Veau (calf’s head), Andouillette (Lyonnaise sausage made from the er… business end of the bowel, otherwise known as chitterlings), Quenelles en Brochette (lovely light fish mousse type thing shaped into a quenelle in a light fish soup), Boudin Noir (black pudding) and the one I chose, Poulet au Vinaigre (Chicken in Vinegar). I also chose a spritely house white to wash it down with.
My French chicken was seductive with rich dark meat, crispy skin with a sliver of fat underneath, and the tart cream vinegar sauce was delicious. Served with rice, it was great comfort food and a lovely lunch. Although I did have an enormous pang of regret when a couple nearby got the boudin noir, and the gateaux de foie looked superb also.
St Marcelin cheese was offered, which I love, but I instead chose the Pear in Red Wine, which was served cold and was perfectly light and fresh and aromatic with cinnamon and nutmeg. It was really refreshing, and felt healthy and light (for a dessert!).
The food was charming and the bouchon lovely. It was an indulgent and soothing couple of hours and came in at €23 or so. I did prefer the overall experience and the food at Le Garet, but Cafe des Feds (as they call it) is worth a visit too. We need a few bouchons in London, I think, although they just wouldn’t be the same here, would they?
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I love solo dining in france:) An interesting menu… I’ve tried Breton Andouillette a few times but still haven’t managed to acquire a taste for it… maybe next time!
It’s not for everyone, Pip! Lots of other choices :)
I love the look of those nibbles…that’s my kind of meal!
It was lovely Su-Lin!
You know I like solo dining at times. Looks lovely, my kind of place. Lyons you lucky lady, have yet to get there. Nice Pics ; )
Lyon is lovely, you must go! Solo dining great too :)
AH! Home… For another experience in Lyon i recommend the Brasserie Georges, it is an unbelievable piece of lyonnaise landmark inside to start with.
I was blessed to have spent a childhood filled with local dishes made from scratch by both my grandmothers… the real treats? those you will not find in restaurants but in homes, like Crique Lyonnaise’, or even ‘Fromage de tete’ which has virtually disappeared from restaurants menus in Lyon.
I usually stick to my sweets and baked savories at the market i do in hampstead but am looking forward to have people discovering lyonnaise cuisine.
Oh and by the way, i see Gratin dauphinois is popular right now but no one does it well! Mine had at least 15 layers and it is nirvana. Those who wish to try it should contact me thru my blog!
Lyon is full of great restaurants, and the suburbs have some extraordinary gems too.
A good friend of mine is from Lyon and he recommends Brasserie George too! Next time. Care to share your Dauphonoise recipe? :) Or fromage de tete!
Brasserie Georges is this huge dinning hall that’s been there for more than a century, the service is impeccable, and i mean it is just that, everything is absolutely per-fect!
As for the gratin Dauphinois… well ok!
First of all, i am shocked at what passes for recipes for Gratin Dauphinois on TV. Less is more, i do not want to to see things like thyme going into it, or chicken stock… so unecessary.
For the ingredients, you will need to buy some reasonably sized potatoes, preferably those that you’d wash yourself, as fresh as possible. Peel them. Then comes the cutting, make sure they are as thin as possible 1-2 mm thin each. Get a loaf pan, french style if possible, which is the one with straight angles, like that: http://www.canstockphoto.com/canstockphoto-0660952.jpg
no large or wide dish please, Gratin dauphinois must be tall if possible, it’s not a potato spread!
Butter the bottom a little, then lay down a couple of potato layers, then pour on top an egg-cream-milk mixture (sorry no measurements here but for about 200ml of cream, add one eggs and a bit of milk, should have the consistency of slightly more watery appearance of single cream) in which you add a bit of salt and pepper and freshly grated nutmeg (about half a teaspoon).
This should come to as high as the potato layers are. Srinkle a frew chopped slivers (thin once again, and not crushed but SLIVERED) of garlic, and a tiny sprinkling of gruyere cheese(like a teaspoon), the strongest that can be found.
Repeat process until you come up to about a centimeter of the top of the pan.
To finish, sprinkle a generous bit of grated gruyere, the creamy mixture should just about come to the top of the last potatoes. Add about 4 half spoons of butter on top of it all. Make sure all the potatoes are carefully stacked up, because one should be able to cut the Gratin like a cake when it’s finished and it should stay upright.
Bake at 180 for about an hour or hour and a half, until the top is really brown and really crispy: this is essential. Now, for the trick: this was only step one. What will give this an outstanding flavour is an overnight stay in the fridge, the flavours will develop.
Sounds like a lot of work for a Dauphinois but that’s how we do it back home! The following day, warm it up in the oven again until the butter bubbles up to the top, making sure it is hot throughout, cut and serve as a side, it should cut like a cake!
I am making one soon and will document it on my blog.
I see you liked the andouille, I give you an exclusive, that you won’t find in restaurants, called ‘Andouille a la beaujolaise’ – This one is simple though, and a total joy to cook in the summertime;
Stack two aluminium foil containers, put an andouille in it, scater a few chopped shallots in there too, season with pepper (salt maybe on the table, andouille can be salty already), and pour enough white or red wine on top of it to submerge the andouillette.
Wrapp very tightly many times over with aluminium foil sheet, and bury into hot coal.
Serve with a side of steamed potatoes. Heaven!
Having read your blog posts previously in August, I’m even more tempted to go to Lyon for a day or 2.
Oh, do! It’s so lovely and really easy to get to by eurostar too. So many lovely places and it’s *charming*.
Chicken in vinegar sounds flippin brilliant. That’s one for the have to cook list isn’t it.
I cooked it last night! And it was fab. Will cook it again, and blog :)
Lovely the quiet romance of this post Niamh. Simple peaceful enjoyment of delicious carefully prepared food w/ great ingredients. What more could a girl want for. Great pix too!
Hi Niamh, I’m new to your blog. I found it when I googled restaurants in Lyon. I will be there in a couple of weeks. Hoping to try Federations and Le Garet. Love your descriptions and photos!
I was pretty intrigued with the solo dining on my last trip to Paris. I never really took note of it before, but this time I noticed how many people seemed to enjoy it. When I go back in a few months I want to try it myself.