Lyon Food Posters

Chloe and I went to Lyon today to spend a lot of money at Au Vieux Campeur, look for ECC81 tubes for my new amplifier and most importanty: go to Caro de Lyon in celebration of my first photo show and selling my first print. After buying a new rope and shoes, we started walking towards the presqu'isle. Along the way, we saw that the Prefecture (local governmental installation) seemed to be wreathed in pictures of delicious things!

Upon closer examination, we discovered that there was a large "installation" celebrating Lyons status as the culinary capital of France. Chloe and I wandered around, mesmerized by the beautiful color photos. Not surprisingly, since it was so close to dinner time, we noticed many other people stumbling along in dream like stupors, hypnotized by the deliciousness. I'm pretty sure we looked at every single one, and I took pictures of most of them. Here they are (all images are clickable to see the larger version with more legible text)




















We rested our feet in a small park near the prefecture, surveyed our au-Vieux-Campeur booty, including chloes
"P-mates"(for when we are on multi pitch alpine routes, I HOPE)
,
then set off towards Le Caro de Lyon. Along the way we saw a boat which had been converted into a garden


and then we commenced with the eating. We both got the Menu de degustation (is it any wonder after looking at the prefecture photos?!). Although we both ordered the menu (76 euro), they gave us different plates for everything except the olive soup and the dessert (you can choose the dessert).

Soupe d'olives vertes, salade de pain et tomates au basilic, langoustines roties.
Fantastic. We had this at our last meal. The cool olive soup goes perfectly with the grilled crayfish.


Terrine de pigeon roti aux figues et amandes torrefiees, feuilles demaches aux poires et celeri
Roasted squab with figs and grilled almonds, pears and celery mache salad. Very nice, but pigeon?


Croustillant de fois gras au pain d'epices, calisson d'aubergines, saveurs pistache et melon
Crispy foie gras with 5 spices bread and eggplant caviar calisson from Aix en Provence flavoured pistachio and melon.
This was fantastic. The top was a delicate creme brulee


Tartare de thon rouge en croustillant de tofu, framboisine de tomate en effeuillee de salade japonaise
Tuna tartar, crispy to-fu, tomatoes rasberries coulis with japanese herbs salad
Excellent again... but not what I would call a Japanese flavor at all.


I'm not sure what this was exactly, but it was the only dish that really fell flat on its face: It tasted like a bad imitation of "asian" cooking.


Sandre du Rhone, chutney de betterave et coeur de sucrine, fricassee d'escargots aux noisettes, creme de laitue
Pan pike perch and snails fricassee, chutney of beet and lettuce cream.
I'm not sure that this description is of the dish below, but it was almost perfect. The fish was just a tiny tiny bit too oily, but was still wonderful


Turbot en filet, mariniere d'asperges blanches au parfum du Bearn, emulsion a l'ail des ours
Filet of turbot, white asperagus, cold Bearnaise and honey garlic emulsion.
Perfect.


Carre d'agneau roti aux mangues, fenouil braise et mijote de tomates, salade de jeunes pousses d'epinard
Rack of lamb with mangos braised fennels and tomatoes, baby spinach salad
This was another welcome re-run from the Springtime menu that we had last time.


Lobe de foie gras poele, figue farcie et pomme ecrasee au gingembre, sirop de fruits a la cardamone
Pan foie gras, stuffed figs and crushed potatoes with ginger, sirop of red fruits flavoured with cardamon.
If I hadn't had the other foie gras plate I think I would have enjoyed this more. But it was still very tasty. The stuffed fig was pretty interesting and complemented the foie grassyness well.


next, St. Marcellin and Fromage Blanc (no need to take pictures of these!)

And finally,
Fondant de chocolat "Ivoire", marmelade d'agrumes et son sorbet
Melting white chocolate cake with citrus fruits marmelade and sorbet
no words for this one.. too good.