It's been a while since I've posted delicious food pictures, so I thought I'd do so today. Since I've been in Lyon, I've had most every nationality of food except traditional French cuisine! It seems silly to say that. I guess I have had traditional "Fast French Food," but if you were to ask most Francais, they would scoff at the Sandwich-Fromage-Beurre. Yes the cheese + butter sandwiches have their own French feeling to them, but it's not really the traditional cuisine I have been missing. Instead of local food, I have been everywhere else imaginable. I had Kebab the first day I was here. The next, Chinese. Since then, I've had "Mexican food", Thai, Vietnamese, and even American. Mostly, I cook myself stir fry and eggs, or ravioli. I have cereal for breakfast, and Costa Rican coffee. So where's the traditional French food in this gastronomic capital of France? It's at the Bouchon. In Lyon, the bouchon is where you go to get the typical Lyonnais food. In fact, I'll just quote Wikipedia:
"A bouchon is a type of restaurant found in Lyon, France, that serves traditional Lyonnaise cuisine, such as sausages, duck pâté or roast pork. Compared to other forms of French cooking such as nouvelle cuisine, the dishes are quite fatty, and heavily oriented around meat. There are around 20 officially certified traditional bouchons, but a larger number of establishments describing themselves using the term.
Typically, the emphasis in a bouchon is not on haute cuisine, but rather, a convivial atmosphere and a personal relationship with the owner."
Last week, one of the girls in my program organised a dinner for those of us interested in this experience typique. We had a wonderful time. The food, I must admit, was less wonderful for my palette. It was indeed heavy on the meat, heavy on the fat, and heavy on the butter (surprise, surprise). I will post some pictures and explanations. Either way, we had a great time trying out the different local specialties, and despite some of the "bizarre food" options, would fully recommend a bouchon to a visitor of Lyon.
A basket of Gratons, little balls of battered lard -- a tasty alternative to say, chips.
My dinner, a puff-pastry filled with a doughy-fishy substance. And that little shrimpy-guy.
Boar cheek with wine sauce and potatoes.
A table of delights!
The requisite post-dinner cheese platter. Oh, la France!
The strange and unexpected hidden wine cellar below the Bouchon.
Fountain at Hotel de Ville, icicles still dripping from the ice and snow we got a few weeks ago.
Ack! Scary devil horse fountain!
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