Lovely Lyon is about an hour down the road from us. It’s tempting to describe Lyon as a smaller, more manageable and walkable Paris. But if Paris is a romantic and flirty seductress, Lyon is a colorful character that you immediately want to get to know better. The main part of the city is a peninsula, so rivers surround you, and one bank is a dramatic and steep hill, topped by the ornate wedding cake that is Notre-Dame-de-Fourviere. The old buildings that line the banks of the Saône and the Rhône are a palette of fruity, glowing colors– soft peaches, pinks, and golden hues. And Lyon has a reputation that even Paris might envy: it is the gastronomic capital of France.
Not long ago I wrote a travel article on Lyon for France Magazine, so of course I was forced to go on a culinary pilgrimage to seek out the best restaurants. The way-hot restaurant du jour was a place with a quirky name, L’Ourson qui Boit (The Drinking Bear Cub). The chef, Akira Nhishigaki, is Japanese and the cuisine is Asian-French fusion. And the placed was booked for months—even this journalist couldn’t get a table.
So this time, returning for a bit of shopping, we planned ahead and managed to get in for lunch. L’Ourson qui Boit is an unassuming little place on a drab alley off one of the big, pretty places on the peninsula. The decor is nice but simple, as is the Japanese way (loved the opaque, tobacco-hued acrylic armchairs, with seats out of pure white sumptuous leather: yin and yang). The service is cheerful and efficient. The menu changes daily, with only two choices for each course.
Want to test your restaurant French? Here is what we ate. A translation is at the end of the post (by the way, I've copied the menu exactly as they posted it. So Readers, if you want another challenge—do you see mistakes in the French?):
–crème froid d'épinard au frommage ricotta avec saumon fumé et rillette du saumon
–suprême de pintade fumé, salade haricots vert au noix de cajou, vinagrette de mangue
–filet de cabillaud, purée de tomate au vinagre de framboise, crevettes ciselée, fleur de colza, courgettes et carottes concassés
–joue de porc confit, sauce de Gari (gingembre sucré salé) au Yuzu (cédrat), sauté de champignon et de chou frisés au lardons
-crème caramel au thé Earl Grey, soupe de fraises, glace chocolat blanc
The menu prices were quite astonishing: 14 euros for two courses, 17 for three. About the cost of lunch at your average Lyon brasserie, and this was complex, exciting food of the first order.
Of course I was alert for something that could be replicated at home, and I think one could get very close with that fish dish. What follows is my best guess!
RECIPE: Le Poisson comme L’Ourson qui Boit, ou Presque ( The Fish from L’Ourson qui Boit, or nearly)
Have some cooked shrimp, peeled and sliced, on hand. Make a simple, fresh tomato sauce (preferably using your best summer garden tomatoes). Bake or poach a morceau of a firm white fish. Meanwhile finely chop some carrots, sauté until nearly done then add finely chopped zuchinni and cook until both are done. Divide the tomato sauce among shallow bowls. Give it a splash of rasberry vinegar and drizzle with good olive oil. Add the fish. Top with the vegetables, then the shrimp. Sprinkle it all with thinly sliced toasted almonds. Now how could you go wrong with that!
MENU TRANSLATION:
–creamed spinich with ricotta cheese, smoked salmon, and salmon rillettes (salmon puréed into a spread or mousse)
–Smoked guinea hen, thin green beans with peanuts, mango vinegarette
–filet of cod, tomato purée with raspberry vinegar, sliced shrimp, rape flowers, finely diced zuchinni and carrots
pork cheek confit (preserved or marninated in fat), Gari sauce (sweet and salty ginger) with Yuzu (citrus), sautéed mushrooms, kale with chopped bacon
–Earl Grey tea crème caramel , fresh strawberry soup, white chocolate ice cream
PHOTO: Chamber of Commerce building in Lyon
In the COMMENTS: Everyone seemed to love Lin's guest post last week about her life in Valbonne, and some of you have traveled there. She even got invited to aperos at Lee and Maureen's house!
If you'd like to read my article on Lyon from France Magazine, you can find it here.
9 thoughts on “THE Hot Restaurant, in the Hottest Food Town”
Love love love Lyon……keep trying to tell people they need to do their extension trips there. This restaurant sounds great AND amazing prices. Lynn, the next time you are there, check out Aux Trois Maries, a restaurant in the old town…I blogged it http://www.maryjamesenprovence.blogspot.fr/search/label/Lyon
I have only passed through Lyon and every time I do, I look out the car windows longingly–one of these days I will find more time there–once I do, I now know where to eat! Here in Arles, the only meals you can get at those prices are the frozen dinners that are reheated in the microwave and served to unsuspecting visitors as “faits maison”!
How exciting! We’re flying into Lyon in Sept and will be there 3 days before heading to Provence. You have confirmed our decision to go in and put of this interesting city.
I’ll be in Lyon for only 1 night during my July trip. I can’t wait to eat there, but I’m a little worried because the group I’m traveling with is full of picky eaters! I’d love to try this restaurant but if it doesn’t work out, can you recommend any others? Maybe I should just read your article. Great post, Lynn. I’m getting so excited to get back to France (it’s been 4 years!).
The menu was easy to translate but hard to forget, as was the photo of the restaurant–all about the dining. Thanks, Lynn.
Oh, I love Lyon…one of my most favorite memories of all time is driving into the city in a rented deux chevau(x?) on our honeymoon trip through France in 1972 (!) and hitting Lyon to eat at Paul Bocuse, at that time the darling of the newly re-emergent cuisine. I will NEVER forget that meal, ever. We were the youngest and worst dressed people in the restaurant, but I was so enamoured of Bocuse that I told the waiter we had made a special trip just to eat at his restaurant, and he promptly brought Bocuse to our table, where HE in turn, invited us to tour the kitchen after closing!! I tell you, this remains a highlight of my life, he and the staff could not have been nicer and the food…well, meal of a lifetime, and so much of it came from his own gardens, which at the time at least, surrounded the restaurant…so what’s all the hoopla about locavore cooking…he was doing it 40 years ago, as, I suspect were so many French restaurateurs…I wish people would read a history book now and then. But I digress.
This fish dish sounds good enough to try, perhaps for Mother’s Day dinner, which mother (that’s me) invariably cooks. As always, a lovely, informative and delightful blog…I’m off to look up this chef. thanks!
The “or nearly,” fish looks amazing. It is at the top of the list to make when the tomato plants I had to bring into the house last night because of frost are ripe and ready in only 72 days. Just thinking about the flavor parade it promises is making me hungry. Meanwhile packing for departure for England and France is well underway. We fly away two weeks from today.
Lynn, I remember reading your article in France Magazine!
And today’s post was every bit as wonderful!
Your words paint a picture for us, and take us along for such a special (with a certainly extensive menu!)lunch.
Wow!!
THANK YOU!!
According to your information, this restaurant must be amazing and great for everyone. It also looks very nice. I will plan a trip to this restaurant very soon.