The bouchon
⭐ A bouchon is the Lyonnais tavern: small, crowded, checked tablecloths, and a menu of the city's own dishes. The tradition goes back to the nineteenth century, when the cooks of the city's bourgeois households — the mères lyonnaises — left service and opened restaurants of their own.
⚠️ The word is used by many places aimed at visitors. The ones worth finding serve the dishes below and are full of people from Lyon.
What to eat
Quenelles — light dumplings of pike, usually in a crayfish sauce. Saucisson brioché, sausage baked in brioche. Salade lyonnaise, with bacon and a soft egg. Tablier de sapeur, breaded tripe. Cervelle de canut — "silk weaver's brains" — a fresh cheese beaten with herbs.
And to finish, the pink tarte aux pralines, made with sugared almonds dyed red.
Where the ingredients come from
Lyonnais cooking sits at a crossroads: poultry from the Bresse, beef from the Charolais, game from the Dombes, fish from the Savoy lakes, and wine from Burgundy, the Beaujolais and the Rhône. See all of it in one place at Les Halles Paul Bocuse.
How meals run
⚠️ Lunch and dinner are served at fixed times, and the popular bouchons fill fast. Book the ones you care about — see Booking Ahead.
