Lyon, France 7 - Le Nord & more
It was the last day of our Lyon/Dijon trip. Dinner at Restaurant Paul Bocuse would be wonderful, but I didn't bring a proper dress for a formal dining. We saved a dream dining experience at the three Michelin-starred restaurant in the future. Instead, we had a lovely lunch at Brasserie Le Nord, the first brasserie to be opened in the center of Lyon by the "Pope of French cuisine" in 1994.
Apéritif was green olives. Two kinds of bread were also served.
For starter, I chose Saucisson Chaud Pistache en Brioché, a big sausage with pistachio wrapped in a sweet rich brioche bread. It's one of typical starters at bouchons/restaurants in Lyon. Tasty! J's starter was Velouté de Champignons, cream of mushroom soup. It looked very nice, too.
My Plat was Filet d'Eglefin Cuit à l"Huile d'Olive Vierge (Haddock fillet cooked in olive oil), served with fondue de poireaux (leek fondue), pommes vapeur (boiled potatoes), sauce normande (Normandy Sauce, a classic white sauce for fish and seafood). The dish was excellent. It was definitely one of my favorites during the trip. J's Plat was Suprême de Pintade Fermière Rôti au Beurre (Butter-roasted guinea fowl breast/wing) served with purée de pommes de terre (mashed potato) and chou fleur en persillade (cauliflower with parsley). I believe he liked his dish very much.
The two dish course was fantastic. I don't remember why we didn't add a dessert there... We must have been so full and/or we wanted to spend more time for shopping. We started the day with a croissant and tea (coffee for J) at a cafe on La Croix-Rousse, and visited Les Halles again.
J picked some dried sausages and jars of pâté while I bought cookies and tasted a macron with sweet chestnut filling.
J's savory shopping was done in the market while my sweets shopping continued to the outside of the market.
Pralus is a high-end chocolate boutique of master chocolatier, François Pralus but also famous with Praluline, a brioche with pink pralines that François' father and pastry chef, Auguste Pralus invented in 1955. The sweet crunchy bites of pralines were made with Valencia almonds and Piedmont hazelnuts coated in rose sugar and then cracked, by the way. My top mission of the last day was to get a fresh Praluline. The inside of the shop with the sweet buns smelled wonderful. They sells Praluline in two sizes: large and small. J knew which I would like.
Chocolats Voisin, one of Lyon's major chocolate makers since 1897 was the next destination for shopping. Their Coussin de Lyon, a little pillow-shaped blue bonbon made with chocolate ganache, coated with a fine layer of marzipan, and enriched with a touch of curaçao (a liqueur flavored with the dried peel of the Laraha citrus fruit, grown on the Dutch island of Curaçao), was another Lyon's speciality that I wanted to add to my souvenir collection.
After all shopping were done, we enjoyed more walking in the city until the sky got dark.
What a fantastic and delicious trip! Thank you J so much! Where to next?!
