The Temple of Haute Cuisine

16 Apr 2012: Before the Salzburg visit, we did a short hop to Lyon. Why? It’s all about Paul Bocuse, the master chef who made Lyon proud, who has inspired thousands of culinary students and aspiring chefs all over the world and who at the age of 86 (born in February 1926) is still at the helm of his eponymous restaurant after 50+ years. His restaurant at Collonges au Mont d’Or is the ‘temple’ of haute cuisine and no visit to Lyon would be complete without paying homage for any self-respecting gourmands. We arrived a little after 8 pm when it was still light, so that we could ‘admire’ the façade with its ‘kitsch’ (or ‘garish’/’immodest’) artwork. I wonder about the meaning of the artwork.

Monsieur Paul

The service from beginning to end of the experience chez Bocuse was impeccable. The attention to detail, the professionalism and efficiency was all extremely impressive. All 4 of us decided that we would go for the ultimate experience and that we would all take the Menu Grande Tradition Classique. The menu read like this:



Foie Gras pan-fried in verjus



Truffle Soup VGE

 


Sole with noodles in cream sauce

 


Chicken with morel and truffle in cream sauce

 Before the meal, we were given a very intensely flavoured rich pea soup with a dollop of truffle cream as amuse-bouche. This was really delicious and set the tone for the rest of the rich dishes. We all agreed that the foie gras was beautifully cooked and paired very well with verjus. Having had my fill of foie gras, I felt compelled to remove the foie gras bits from the piping hot truffle soup VGE (I had already carefully removed the buttery puff pastry from the soup so that there would be no contamination), but perhaps a little too late, as some of the foie gras had already dissolved into the rich savoury consommé, with the liquid fat visibly floating atop. A couple more spoonfuls of this cholesterol-challenging soup sent an alarming bell to my system that my constitution could not cope further. So there I paused. The next course was even more challenging – fillet of sole with noodles in a rich baked cream sauce. The fish tasted fresh but it was almost smothered by the intensely rich cream sauce which I found rather off-putting. Nor did I understand the rationale for the noodles. I took a couple of bites before giving up on this as well, thinking that having deprived myself of at least one and a half course, I would be in better shape to tackle the chicken cooked in bladder, with creamy truffle sauce. Well, the chicken arrived and was served. I did my best but admitted again to defeat at the third mouthful. Charles and I both looked admiringly at our neighbours’ simply roasted chicken, served with simple salad. The succession of insanely rich dishes had left me in hysterics, as I had then realized how the traditional menu was built on cream, cream and more cream – ‘Death by Cream’. When the pre-dessert of chocolate cream arrived, I could do no more than stare at it. Then we had cheese, dessert and petits fours. None of us could manage more than a few strawberries and raspberries.



Menu Grande Tradition Classique chez Bocuse

 It is incredible how cream featured so heavily in these traditional classics, and which gave French cuisine this bad-boy image of something heavy. I wonder how people in those days coped with it all – they must have had the constitution of an ox!

For wines, we started with a bottle of 2000 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, followed by a 2000 Bouchard Chevalier Montrachet La Cabotte and a 2005 Clos des Lambrays. The 2000 Chevalier Montrachet La Cabotte was a lot more advanced in its evolution than expected but it was not oxidized, despite its bright golden appearance. A gorgeous wine with complexities of nougat and honey, with ripe fruit of lemon, melon, apricot and fig, liquorice and spicy notes. It had sufficiently acidity to balance its richness, giving it a rather harmonious presentation. It did match rather nicely with the truffle soup. It was so more-ish that we finished it rather quickly and we sought out a 2005 Leflaive Puligy-Montrachet Clavoillon in half bottle to accompany the fish dish. Unfortunately, it was heavily pre-moxed. The sommelier brought a second and it succumbed to the same fate. It was a little annoying that only after 2 half bottles had been pronounced ‘out of condition’ that the sommelier admitted to having lots of problem with this wine in half bottles. Could he have been a little more honest upfront, instead of trying his luck, that we might just accept the pre-moxed bottle? He then brought us a few glasses of the white Santenay on the wine list. The 2005 Clos des Lambrays was rather delightful to drink now. It boasted ripe red fruit, cherry and redcurrant, with earthy and Asian spice undertones. The firm tannin had mellowed quite a bit, still chewy, but much refined, and the acidity was rather nice. Finishes rather long. It was a great value Grand Cru, and it’s actually drinking well now and will continue to develop in the next 10 – 15 years.

I could not at all participate in the sharing of the bottle of Coteaux du Layon, having been saturated with rich food and sauces. So I opted for a glass of champagne to refresh the palate!

Richard said that he felt he had unfinished business at Bocuse and that a return visit to try the ‘other’ dishes was almost necessary. I equally feel the same, that we haven’t done justice to the restaurant’s high quality culinary skills. On reflection, perhaps we should have chosen more wisely - we should have gone for more modern creations from the menu..…. In any case, we have the photos to testify having paid homage to Monsieur Paul, at least once!



Bouchon in Lyon: Le Merciere



Salade Lyonnaise

 As for Lyon itself, it’s a most charming city with Roman origins, previously known as Lugdunum, evidenced by the relics of Gallo-Roman amphitheatre. Two main rivers La Saône and Le Rhône give definition to the City’s commercial infrastructure and social landscape, lending a romantic air to the City’s general being. Particularly worth visiting are the Musée des Beaux Arts, which would need to be selectively explored, based on the richness of its collections, the St. Jean Cathedral, the much smaller but prettier, Gothic-style Eglise St Nizier, which Jean-Luc described to us as having lacy towers, and the Gallo-Roman amphitheatre. I also made a quick visit of Les Halles de Lyon-Paul Bocuse but was rather disappointed to find that it was rather small and a touch too ‘civilised’ without the hustle and bustle of a serious market, such as La Boqueria in Barcelona which I visited last year. For the ‘bouchon’ experience, of course, one needed to visit Rue Mercière. We took the advice of Jean-Luc, whose maternal side had Lyonnaise connections, and headed for Le Mercière. I had the Salade Lyonnaise and Richard had a most delicious whole roasted sea bream. Of course, not to be missed, a most appropriate ending to the meal: the famous bistro staple of pear tart!!!