Sampling the best of Lyon’s cuisine

Lyon is a city where one breaths history at every step, a large, friendly city featuring a generous number of both deluxe restaurants and bistros. In other words, if you visit Lyon, it will charm your spirit as well as your stomach, as it unravels its architectural and gastronomical wonders before your very eyes.   

Enjoy without moderation
The best food in the world, that’s what you’ll find in Lyon; and what’s even better, even if you’ve got only a moderate bulge in your pocket, you can still keep abreast with fixed –price menus, these being quite reasonable, although, in the great restaurants, prices usually grow as the subtlety of the dishes “à la lyonnaise” increases. In this capital of French gastronomy, diversity and tradition go hand in hand when it comes to food, in addition to some exotic touches, always delicious. All along its history, the cuisine of Lyon has been an intriguing mixture of “bourgeois” culinary art and tradition, consecrated by the so-called “canuts” – workers in the ancient silk industry.


Vegetarian and organic dishes
Questing for simple, healthy, fresh and yet delicious food? If you’re strong on the vegetarian side, you’re a bit out of luck, as meat holds a privileged role in the preparation of local dishes. You should go and sample the specialties of restaurants such as Soline and Toutes les Couleurs: tea, organic bread, delicious combinations of tastes and colors, salads, vegetables and the famous Caribbean corn soup; all this and much more on the daily menu. The Jardin de Berthe welcomes you in a comfortable ambience and with a large offer of salads and ravioli at accessible prices. Are you a veggie but still want to taste the “friandises” of traditional local restaurants? You can choose between the “salade lyonnaise” (green salad with bacon and warm egg yolk), “boudin blanc” (a very light sausage), “quenelles” (cabbage pâté or cheese bread) or “cervelles de canuts” (white cheese with herbs and green onion).

The art of eating the traditional way
Sampling the traditional dishes of Lyon is a must-taste of a gastronomical city tour, especially because Lyon is famous for the way cooks prepare pork and beef “à la lyonnaise”. The most appreciated dishes among tourists are the “saucissons”, the “andouillettes” (beef usually cooked with mustard), the famous “quenelles” (in fact, these are the proud banners of local cuisine, and it’s just a roll of meat or fish with flour and eggs) and the “tatin” pie, a famous desert (a sort of caramel-coated apple pie). Soft cheese with herbs, “bugnes beignets”, fried pork fat, double fat tripe, salted ham with lentils, “quenelles” (a mixture of butter, semolina and fish), blood sausage, French fries and much more if you’re still hungry! The Rue des Marronniers, near the Place Bellecour, features a dozen or so of such nice restaurants where traditional dishes are the daily fare. Deluxe restaurants, cafés, bistros, brasseries and modern bars, Lyon’s got them all, but the peculiar charm of this city comes from the so-called “bouchons”; these are small restaurants, usually found on the narrow streets of the city, welcoming locals and tourists alike with traditional specialties served in a familiar and cozy manner. Well assorted to the menu, the wine is served in a “pot lyonnais”, which is a bit smaller than a bottle. Most “bouchons” offer Beaujolais, a light red wine with a fruity flavor, suitable for quick consumption; the Beaujolais Nouveau will revive you with its strong aromas of bananas and pears. Take care, though! Many restaurants call themselves “bouchons” without offering traditional dishes. History proves that the cuisine of Lyon has become so unique since the beginning of the century, when the famous Mères brothers combined the discrete and friendly atmosphere of inns with the gastronomical opulence of restaurants.

Lyon is a city bathing in aromatic scents of truffles, Lyonnais potatoes, “cervelles de canuts”, a cuisine celebrating pork in a huge variety of dishes. Simplicity, conviviality, a relaxed atmosphere, spices and aromas for every taste, refinement and originality, all these welcome you in restaurants such as the Croix Rousse, Comptoir du Vin, Plato et Veracruz.

Along the centuries, the cuisine of Lyon has been a constant companion of local life, a background of tasty delights which make this city the gastronomical capital of France and, maybe, the world. All thanks to the careful preservation of tradition and the constant improvement of an ever more cosmopolite culinary gamut.