march-2013

family, and there are some real
characters among the owners.
We serve a lot of offal; if you’re
not used to that, quenelles are a
good dish to try. Here, we serve
them with a sauce of tiny green
crabs, which are cooked alive:
you have to crush them. It’s a
bit disgusting, I suppose, but
that’s cooking for you! Each
place has little things they do
differently; when I started here,
the owner took me to one side
and showed me their recipes.
Gras-double à la lyonnaise is a
local speciality: tripe, cut in thin
slices and cooked with white
FLY TO lyon three times daily. brusselsairlines.com
Café des Fédérations chef
Denis Buisson (left), with
owner Yves Rivoiron
wine, onions, garlic and parsley,
finished with a dash of raspberry
or balsamic vinegar. Tablier
de sapeur is similar, but cut
into squares and breaded.
Personally, I really like tête
de veau (calf’s head), though
it takes a long time to prepare
and cook. You have to simmer
it softly for hours, keeping it
just below boiling point – and
if you don’t wait for it to cool
properly, it can explode. Me,
I like to eat everything; I am
Lyonnais, after all.
8-10 rue Major Martin, +33
(0)4 7828 2600, lesfedeslyon.com
Laura Vildi, co-owner of
le bouchon des filles
Isabelle [Comerro] and I
opened Le Bouchon des Filles
in 2007. Before that, we’d
both worked at the Café des
Fédérations for years – though
we were there at different
times, and only met later.
We both felt that if Lyonnais
cuisine was going to survive, it
needed to be updated and made
a bit lighter. The idea was to
appeal to younger people, and
to women: even in the days
of the mères lyonnaisses, the
bouchons attracted a very male
clientele. At the same time,
we’ve tried to keep the spirit
and culture alive: the closeness
of the tables, which encourages
people to chat, and the convivial
atmosphere. The prices are
affordable, but you eat a proper
meal: an entrée of three salads,
a main, cheese and dessert.
Our dishes often have a twist.
There’s a smoked herring and
warm potato salad that’s very
well known here; our version is
to make a herring rillette, with
Isabelle Comerro, left, and Laura
Vildi of Le Bouchon des Filles
LYON
carrot and a little coriander. If
we serve tripe, we might cook it
Spanish-style, with chorizo and
peppers. We’re known for our
boudin aux pommes (black
pudding with apples), which has
been on the menu since the
start; we serve it in a filo parcel,
with an aromatic herb salad.
People here can be quite
conservative. If anyone calls up
and asks if we have tablier du
sapeur or tête de veau, I explain
that while our menu is based
on Lyonnais ingredients and
cuisine, it’s not completely
traditional. Even so, some
people would never eat here,
because they’re looking for a
“vrai bouchon”: that’s too bad.
Was it difficult to choose a
name for the bouchon? Not
at all. We wanted the name to
reflect the personality of the
place: we’re two girls, and this
is our bouchon. Here, we can
do things our way.
20 Rue Sergent Blandan,
+33 (0)4 7830 4044
xxxx 2012 31