BAM! It’s the famous Paul Bocuse Restaurant in Collonges au Mont d’Or, aka, L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges. . .let’s check it out and see what’s what.
Paul Bocuse was the world-famous chef who put classical French cooking on the map in a big way back in the 1950s and 1960s. . .he received three Michelin stars for his namesake restaurant back in 1965, and the restaurant has held these three stars since then up to this very day–currently the longest-running three Michelin star restaurant on Earth…but maybe this will be coming to an end.
Chef Paul died earlier this year–January 2018–after a long life of wonderful cooking and big living, and now his restaurant continues on. All of the dishes served here are classics: chicken cooked in a pig’s bladder, vegetable soup with truffles–created for Charles de Gaulle, Sole a la Fernand Point, foie gras with passion sauce, granite of berries from Beaujolais, fine cheeses, desserts galore, and chocolates. . .we eat all of this stuff and wash it all down with a Montrachet-Chassagne. . .not bad, not bad at all.
I would say that anyone who cares about good food and drink should eat here once…but once only.
Sadly, during our visit we found the whole experience to be like a ride at Disneyland called “old French food served in a time warp.” The whole staff seemed to be playing the part of classic French waiters instead of actually being classic French waiters. . .there was a bit of tongue-in-cheek vibes popping up here and there as our lunch progressed. . .and this culminated in a young African guy dressed in a red doorman outfit turning an organ grinder to sing happy birthday to the occasional patron who was celebrating a birthday…hmmm, really?–in the 21st century, really?? Yes, really.
The worst part though was our “sommelier.” This guy tried to serve us a lesser wine than the one we ordered. We selected a 2014 Montrachet-Chassagne 1st Cru–a recommended bottle in the menu. . .he brought a 2013 Montrachet-Chassagne of no Cru. . .I looked at it. . .he started to open it, I was a bit confused trying to remember the actual bottle we ordered. . .I asked him to bring the menu to me–BOOM–you could tell he knew that he was busted. Then he pretended to not remember. . .blah-blah-blah. . .and we got our correct wine ONLY AFTER I caught him trying to bait-and-switch us. . .very old trick…and totally unexpected here in the temple of French cooking: Paul Bocuse. Hmmmm.
The food, again, is classical. . .so don’t expect tons of flavor, but do expect tons of buttery sauces…tasty, but not earth-shatteringly so. These dishes are like museum pieces. . .good to look at and sample one time. . .then you move on to current items that are more satisfying in other restaurants in and around Lyon. The master is gone. . .and the ship is a tad rudderless at the moment. . .at least for us it was.
So, eat here once, beware bored staff members playing games–potentially attempting a bait-and switch, pay your bill, and move on. . .the master himself certainly has moved on, and now it’s hard to tell how much longer they can keep this going with this kind of vibe…though P.T. Barnum would probably have something to say about this. Sante!
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It’s lovely out there.
MMM! We love Lyon, France. We especially love the preserved ancient Roman ruins up here on Fourviere Hill, the site of what the Romans called Lugdunum.
GlobeHug 