They say it's the kitchen of France; for hungry people like us, that reason to visit this artistic city, was on point.
But before we start eating, let us first take a walk at this humungous city, renowned for being home to a number of big universities and a hub for banking and finance. Blah 😉
One would, without a doubt easily get overwhelmed walking around La Croix-Rousse, a hillside neighborhood, with countless alleys along old buildings and murals, shops and restaurants.
Let us take you to another hilly destination at La Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière, where a vast of impressive intricacies awaited us. This cathedral emanates a much captivating aura of peace, we had to stay for quite a while after lighting some candles. The very detailed ceiling art work with amazing symmetrical design and gold-brushed querubins took my breath away. The marble made exterior was also something notable.
Okay now, we deserved some pampering after spending good five hours walking around the city. Let's start at one of the famous food markets, the Les Halles de Lyon where we devoured a plate of oysters and prawns. The pink(rose) praline pastries, which Lyon is also famous for, was a bit too sweet for us, but we bought a big one anyway, and took it with us for the rest of the road trip. Incase we needed some sugar shots.
One last thing we wanted to share was our experience dining at the fancy Restaurant Paul Bocuse. Paul Bocuse was a legendary and prominent chef with numerous contributions to French gastronomy. Being in Lyon, and my birthday was in 2 days, we tricked ourselves into spending a fortune to dine at his restaurant. The moment we reached the restaurant premises, we understood why it was so expensive, lol.
We were greeted by a porter (a proper one) and opened the door for us. When we entered, we could see the entire kitchen and the chefs at work, through a huge glass window.
We were then ushered to our seats while we waited for the drink menu. The course was decided at reservation, so they were already preparing our dishes beforehand. The servers looked far more sophisticated than us, it was a bit intimidating. Actually, I had never been so cautious to eat, haha. It felt like the way I chewed my food was being judged. (But of course it was just my anxiety).
All the food were delicious, but also swimming in butter. The seabass baked in pastry smelled so good. The cheese selection was insane, I have never eaten brie as creamy as what I had that night.
When they served the desserts, we were told to choose two cakes each. We could not. It was gluttony. We politely told them we were too full and they kindly offered us take-away desserts and chocolates. Wow. Well, we paid for them anyway.
I had stomach upset that night, did some yoga pose to alleviate my indigestion. Maybe my tummy was just not used to rich people's food, 😅. We love food so much. But I think that was overkill. Don't get me wrong; the food and service were awesome. Until now I am still contemplating if it was all worth it, and whenever I would start thinking we wasted money, I would tell myself it was my birthday celebration anyway. Such a lavish experience is okay, once in a while. (Really?). xoxo