Where to eat and drink in Lyon, France

I thought I was a foodie when I moved to Lyon 5 years ago, but since then, France ’s gastronomic capital has turned me into someone food obsessed. Every social occasion pivots around what we’re going to eat. A simple picnic by the banks of the Rhône means carefully selecting brillat savarin, arômes de Lyon (a goats cheese covered in dried grape skins) and gaperon (a garlicky sphere from the Auvergne) from my favorite fromagerie (cheese shop), and then pairing it with pimped breads and pastries. Add in cacio e pepe swirls, pâté en croûte and a bottle of Beaujolais and you’ve got yourself a feast. If the restaurants weren’t also so varied and delicious, perhaps I’d never go out for dinner at all. As it is, I test new restaurants each week, but the options evolve continuously, so I never truly feel on top of it. 

Lyon’s culinary scene has been legendary for decades, if not centuries. The first chef ever to get six Michelin stars, Eugénie Brazier, had her two restaurants here, and her protegée, Paul Bocuse, went on to get three Michelin stars, to be named “chef of the century” by Gault&Millau, and to open a world-famous cooking school. 

Bouchons and bakeries, fusion cuisine and fine dining, my city has it all.

1. Grab cacio e pepe swirls from Boulangerie les Artistes

This corner bakery has all the classics – pains au chocolat, croissants and brioche – but that’s not why I come here. I come for the cacio e pepe swirls. They look like carbonara-filled cinnamon rolls, and they’re studded with whole peppercorns, which adds crunch to the flaky pastry as you bite into it. It’s takeaway only, but the River Rhône is only a 5-minute walk away, with benches at Berge Karen Blixen. It’s a prime people-watching spot, with tourists embarking on bateaux-mouches (river-cruise boats).

2. Picnic on pâté en croûte from BRU 

BRU has the kind of display that makes you want to press your nose to the glass counter and drool. It does one thing only: pâté en croûte, but with infinite variations, and there are pâté en croûte specials each week, meaning you can come here again and again and try different fillings each time. The “Lyonnais”, one of BRU’s more typical recipes, is as pretty as a patchwork quilt, filled with pork, chicken and chicken liver. Unlike any traditional bistrot, this place offers vegetarian pâté en croûte. Just the thought of the goats cheese, wild garlic, radish, wasabi and peanut pâté en croûte, stuffed neatly into four pastry walls, makes my mouth water. 

Save room for dessert, if flan-croûte is on the menu when you go (exactly what it says on the tin, a custardy flan encased in pastry), you’ve hit the jackpot. It’s also takeaway only, so I eat mine on the newly revamped banks of the River Saône, a 2-minute walk away. You might get the impression that we spend a lot of time picnicking by the river in Lyon, and you’d be correct – after all, we have two of them.

3. Dine on poulet au vinaigre at Chez Hugon

If Lyon’s culinary scene is synonymous with one thing, it’s bouchons, traditional, meat-heavy restaurants that typically serve up plenty of offal. Historically, most were headed up by women, known as the Mères Lyonnaises, but now, women-run bouchons are few and far between. Not only is Chez Hugon run by two women, but out of the dozen or so bouchons I’ve tried, it’s the best. The dish to go for is poulet au vinaigre, an entire chicken leg served in a huge cast iron pan the size of a Le Creusot casserole, in a decadent sauce made from white wine, cream, garlic, tomatoes, onion and vinegar. It’s massive, but I guarantee you’ll still lick the pan clean. 

4. Experience the future of Lyon’s cuisine, with vegan cervelle de canut at Trèfle 

It’s a common misconception that Lyon is all about meat, and until a year or two ago, I could count the number of vegetarian restaurants on one hand. Recently, the quantity and the quality have boomed, but there’s one that’s on everyone’s lips: Trèfle, a gastronomic restaurant serving multicourse set menus, all vegan. It still manages to incorporate Lyonnais specialties though, like cervelle de canut, a cream cheese infused with shallots and chives. Here, it’s made from almonds and cashew nuts instead of cheese, and let me tell you, I prefer this version. It also does little panisse (fried chickpea flour) medallions topped with tapenade and olives, and they’re heavenly. 

5. Share a plate of tempura vine leaves at Ayla 

There’s one restaurant in Lyon that’s remained my firm favorite for years, which, since Lyon’s culinary scene ages in an accelerated speed like dog years, is saying something. The Franco-Lebanese restaurant, Ayla, serves sharing dishes, but there’s none of that fancy, London small plates stuff – these are generous in size. The menu changes all the time, but luckily for me, the crisp tempura vine leaves, set on a bed of silky smooth labneh, are so popular that they’re always on the menu. I take everyone who visits me here, and not one has been disappointed.

6. Quaff natural wines from Odessa Comptoir

Lyon is riddled with wine bars: after all, there’s plenty of choice locally, with an abundance of vineyards just north in Beaujolais and south in the Rhône Valley. You can always get good wine, but Odessa Comptoir stands out for the atmosphere. It’s warm, it’s slightly chaotic, it’s noisy, and there are heaps of natural wines from small-scale, local winemakers. The food is much more varied than most French wine bars, with a tapas selection of hummus, focaccia and patatas bravas to mix up classic cheese and charcuterie boards. Better still, it’s in Lyon’s coolest and most colorful quartier, Les Pentes, which means that if all the wine makes you want to make a night of it, there’s an abundance of choice.