New York – The Urban Garden Cook

Before coming to Lyon I knew very little about the 3rd largest city in France (after Paris and Marseilles). other than people calling it a “foodie paradise”. But what I didn’t realise was quite how beautiful a city it is and how it is dominated by the two rivers that flow through the centre – the Saone and the Rhone.

The two rivers intersect the city and create an almost island that the is known as the ‘presqu’ile’. In Summer in particular, this makes the place seem open. Apart from the food, there are silk shops, small alley ways and lots of beautiful buildings to stare at.

But the main attraction is really the food. And the first place to visit has to be the Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse. It is about a 20 minute walk from the centre and is in an impressive glass surrounded modern building in the 6th district. Outside is a mural to the man himself – Paul Bocuse

Paul Bocuse is considered the godfather of nouvelle cuisine and has been cooking for residents and visitors here for last 70 odd years. His influence is felt all over Lyon, France, and the world. The great Culinary Institute of America recently announced that they would change the name of their “Escoffier” Restaurant to the “Bocuse” Restaurant, after a year-long renovation to recognise what a contribution to culinary history Bocuse has made. Many of his ex students are now grand chefs in their own right and they include Eugénie Brazier and Eckart Witzigmann. All are known for their nouvelle cuisine, the use of seasonal ingredients and a less heavy, but distinctly French style of cooking.

The food hall that is named after M.Bocuse is a feast for the eyes. The first thing that you see on entering is rows upon rows of saucissons and various hams and meats.

And then rows of cheeses, cakes and every delicacies that you can think of.

But one of the best things about the Halles is the fact that there are loads of places where you can eat. It is an excellent place to go for lunch and there are countless small bars and restaurants where you can try out the great produce that you have been looking at. We ate at AOC, a superb wine bar that serves simple dishes and excels at plates of charcuterie with chunky artisanal bread. The big revelation of the meal however was, believe it or not, the butter. Our host called it “the finest butter in the world” and he wasn’t exaggerating. It was from St Malo and made by Jean Yves Bordier. Deliciously salty and creamy at the same time, it really complimented the pate de campagne and Bourgogne AOC white wine we drank with the meal. If you ever see M. Bordier’s butter on the menu, it is worth checking it out.

The other great market to visit is the Marche Saint Antoine which is an open air market by the river. It is a long and varied market, full of interesting cheeses, fish and meats and a great place to stock up on provisions if you are self catering or just in search for something for a picnic lunch. I saw lots of “bio” signs on the various stalls and it certainly had a feel of a Californian farmers market but with a definite French twist.

After the markets you have to try the restaurants and the wine bars. In fact the long weekend we spent in Lyon was not long enough at all and we kept on saying we have to come back. The best meal we had was at Imouto – which means little sister. It is an amazing fusion of Japanese and French cuisine in a beautiful ‘zen-like’ environment. The waiters were extremely friendly and spoke English. We both ordered the same starter with pickled cauliflowers on a bed of tahini paste. I know it sounds strange but it really worked. It was then followed by the freshest tuna steak which was dotted with edible flowers. This was delicious and we then finished with poached apricots, again dotted with edible flowers but also broken pieces of meringue and small scoops of ice-cream and pistachios.

Like Paris, Lyon was a delight to the eyes and to the belly! It offers lots of cultural hotspots too – like the Musee des Beaux Arts, which features the work of the great impressionists among others, and the new Museum of Mankind in the newly developed area of La Confluence, where the rivers meet. You could have a great long weekend here, whatever the season, and we felt that we only really scratched the service in our two day stay.

Continue reading Lyon – Foodie Paradise

We found some amazing new wine bars on this trip. We particularly like natural wine or wine with few addictives and lucky for us there are several wine bars that have sprung up that serve natural wine.

The outstanding one was Ten Bells. 247 Broome Street. The wine is natural and the certainly the white wine I drank by the glass (sauvignon boutanche) had that wet paper smell to it, that at first makes you think it is oxidised, but actually it is just slightly botrytised and developed. This makes it an ideal wine to drink with the fresh charcuterie and small fried patatas bravos they serve. We drank and ate at the bar. Would highly recommend seeking this place out if you are in the Lower East Side. We also went to Cocotte, 110 Thompson betw Prince and Spring. Which is a lovely basement wine bar serving small bites. We sat at the small zinc bar and had wines by the glass. Although we didn’t eat there, we will next time as the small dishes all looked really lovely. This has a French flavour to both the wine list and menu.

Lupa was our next stop along Thompson Street. We went here for Sunday lunch. What a treat it was. It seemed like a local hang out and there were lots of families eating there. To start we shared crostinis topped with warm cannellini beans, tuna and pigs jowls. Personally I would have probably have had either the tuna or the pigs jowls but not both. But it was delicious and I certainly was left wanting more…. the main course of pasta well actually gnocchi with fennel, tomatoes and saugage was really good and went excellently with the red wine that Dave ordered. I sipped wine from his glass, was so immersed in our conversation and having a good stare at all the other dinners that I didn’t make a note of what the wine was. But given the type of wine Dave likes to order I would have imagined it was a Sicilian red wine. Whatever it was, it went excellently with the food.

But the real knock place was Black Tree on Orchard Street (they also have a branch in Brooklyn). This is a Slow Food Approved restaurant. I can see why. It was a long dark room, filled up by a long bar. We sat at the bar, but unusually the bar stools where really comfortable and had backs to them, which made sitting there a pleasure. We both had the same thing, which was the “PumKing” Artichoke dip (I am definitely going to try and make this at home), the ingredients were pureed pumpkin mixed with ricotta and thhen a soft egg baked on top sprinkled with pesto made with the artichoke, sour cream, bacon crumbs, nutmeg, chilli flakes and cheddar. It was a real riot of flavours and textures and worked so well with the lovely sour dough bread.

I realise I wandered away from the title of the piece about wine bars in NYC but the excuse is all these places serve really good wine by the glass too. Some other mentions for wine bars are 8th St Wine Cellar which is on 8th Street very close to Washington Square, practically next door is the equally excellent Amelie wine bar, both serve great wines by the glass and also small plates.

Tag: New York

Lyon – Foodie Paradise

Christmas in New York – part 3 drinks and dinner