BLACKBOOK TRAVELLER’S BLACKBOOK TRAVELLER’S NOTEBOOK Crimson-hued cool at Georges Blanc’s new Le Centre By Georges with private entrances, copious in-room breakfasts, jacuzzis, and unbeatable panoramas from the garden terraces. restaurant check Carnivores can rejoice now that celebrated Lyonnais chef Georges Blanc has opened his cosy, scarlet-walled bistro, Le Centre by Georges (georgesblanc.com), which features barbecued Black Angus Picanha and tender Chateaubriand steaks alongside divine caramel salted butter éclairs for dessert. At the tip of the peninsula of the trendy industrial Confluence district is Les Salins (les-salins.fr), a sprawling modern brasserie with a wine bar, bakery and huge openplan kitchen, serving up everything from risotto to pike dumplings with lobster sauce. A crash course in local vintages can be had at the lively Brazier Wine Bar (lamerebrazier.fr), next door to Mathieu Viannay’s Michelin-starred restaurant, where guests nibble on homemade pork pâté and foie gras as they sample a dizzying array of grands crus. ART BEAT Opened last year on the former docks of the Saône, La Sucrière (lasucriere-lyon. com) is a 1930s sugar warehouse turned wildly successful cavernous space for cutting-edge art shows and events. And no one should leave Lyon without a peek at the stunning Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon (mac-lyon.com), designed by Renzo Piano. SHOP TALK Set in a charming narrow passageway, the Village des Créateurs (villagedescreateurs.com) is a treasure trove of one-off creations by young designers, with a sophisticated selection of jewellery, multibrand streetwear and hip baby clothes. EXPERT ADVICE THE ESSENTIAL WEEKEND BY DANIEL BOULUD With restaurants including Daniel, Bar Boulud and Maison Boulud speckled across the globe – from New York to Beijing, by way of Miami, London and Singapore, among other hot spots – the Lyonnaise chef has never forgotten his home. He shared a few of his favourite haunts with Departures . Whenever I’m in Lyon for the weekend, I go to La Mère Brazier (lamerebrazier. fr), headed by the wonderful chef Mathieu Viannay. They serve a fabulous pâté en croûte with foie gras, cut in thick slices from a big terrine. For the main dish, I love their poularde en vessie (a fattened chicken cooked in a pig’s bladder), and for dessert, I have a mille feuille pastry. My Saturday morning ritual is a visit to Les Halles, ( halledelyon.free.fr), Lyon’s great covered food market, where most of the vendors are in their third generation there. The best cheese is at Fromagerie Richard Renée et Renée ( +33 4 78 62 30 78); for charcuterie, I like Sibilia ( charcuterie-sibilia.com), and for fish, Pupier ( +33 4 78 62 37 26). Afterwards, I always stop at one of the market’s oyster bars for an aperitif. Artisanally produced cheese from Fromagerie Richard Renée et Renée Sunday lunch is always a grandiose four-hour meal at Paul Bocuse’s Auberge du Pont de Collonges (bocuse.fr). For an aperitif, I order a communard, a Paul Bocuse’s legendary truffle soup mix of Beaujolais and Cassis which I first had there at age 15. I begin with the truffle soup VGE – a dish created for the French President in 1975 – followed by the red mullet dressed in crusty potato scales, which was the inspiration for my paupiette of sea bass that I created 25 years ago, along with a Mâcon- Milly-Lamartine from Dominique Lafon. Then comes the truffled Bresse chicken cooked in pig’s bladder paired with a Clusel-Roch Côte Rôtie, followed, of course, by cheese. For dessert, I love the île flottante, a recipe of Paul Bocuse’s grandmother! CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: © LE CENTRE BY GEORGES, ANJE JAGER (ILLUSTRATION), MAURICE ROUGEMONT/GAMMA/LAIF, MARKUS KIRCHGESSNER/LAIF 34 departures-international.com CONTACT PLATINUM CARD SERVICE FOR BOOKINGS
BLACKBOOK high adventure THREE WAYS INTO ANTARCTICA There are places in this world where guides are optional, where it’s possible to get by with careful planning, maps and research. Antarctica is not among them. The White Continent requires careful preparation, long lead times, teams of experts and modes of transportation that exist nowhere else. The journey has become easier (see “…by air”), but this is still the ends of the earth. Whether it’s a cruise liner stocked with guides and scientists or an ice camp, it takes a village and then some to properly experience this place. Most travel to Antarctica takes place during the Austral summer, which DAVID DE VLEESCHAUWER Cierva Cove: one of many Zodiac excursions that make up Antarctica XXI’s itinerary departures-international.com 35
