It was a town house with a yard in the surroundings of Lyon, it looked interesting by the first look. When we reached the door though, I had the first surprise. The door opened a short black man with a red suit, like the ones that the monkeys wore in the carnivals. I was surprised and I was looking at him for the most time without knowing what to do. When I found my senses I saw a picture in the wall of Paul Bocuse with his hands crossed and looking at us. I didn’t understand at the time the messages that the chef implied. The doorman accompanied us to the dining hall where the waiter set us at the table. After I talked a little bit with my wife I started observing the environment of the restaurant. I took the second surprise. He had split the staff that had to do with the public into first waiters that had to serve and explain the dishes, they were tall and blonde, into second waiters that that had to collect the dishes and were sorter and dark and the entertainer who was the sorter one and black. I didn’t like the “racism” of Bocuse. However his dishes were excellent.
Their taste came mostly from the sauces he used that I believe was his trump card that gave a “push” to the country’s cuisine and made it worldwide and a creator of the nouvelle cuisine
We ordered the menu “Grand tradition classique” that included cutlets made of foie gras cooked in “verjus” and corrugated potato, soup with black truffle, filet of sole, gratinated vine shoots Beaujolais chicken baked in calf bladder with morcheles, variety of cheese and sweets. I liked the chicken mostly because of its sauce that came with it and not because it was cooked in a bladder, thing that didn’t offer anything except awe. I also enjoyed the soup for its taste that the fact that it was hot and you had to wait outshone it a bit. His dishes generally were tasty though his desserts did not excite me. He served me a baba au rum in syrup with a lot of rum that ligose. I won’t judge further more because I don’t remember much since a lot of time has passed but I think that I felt like it wasn’t worth a third star and the restaurant had because of its contribution to French cuisine.
