My favorite foodie addresses in Lyon: from street food to Michelin-star restaurant

From street food to Michelin-star restaurant, discover my favorite foodie addresses in Lyon to help you enhance your trip in the City of Lights.

Great name for a great place! A Traboule is a narrow passage that crosses a block, courtyards of buildings (a regional word from Lyon). And this is exactly how you can describe this new restaurant launched in 2020 by two chefs Tabata et Ludovic Mey from the restaurant ”Les Apothicaires” 1 * Michelin, Lyon 6. It is a new concept described as a Gourmet Food Tour. In fact, you have 12 counters with a selection of delicious, filling and affordable food just for you! The cuisine evolves along with the seasons and their imagination but is always made using fresh, local ingredients that are all prepared on-site. I went to eat on different occasions and each time it was Yummy!!! Also located in the heart of the legendary Tour Rose, which was raised to gastronomic heights by chef Philippe Chavent in the 1990s, Food Traboule will breathe new life into this Lyon institution. So not only you will enjoy the food but also being able to eat in this historical building is a must-see.

Food Traboule, who are they?

• Le Comptoir des Apothicaires
• Ludo’s Pizza
• Le Bistrot du Potager
• Substrat – La Panifacture
• La Meunière : Officiel
• Butcherbrother
• Lyon’s GastroPub
• Misto Lyon
• Lobs Lyon
• MSB – Mon Salade Bar
• La Baraque à Sucre
• Le Bistrot du Sucré

A “bouchon” is a typical restaurant where you can eat Lyon specialties, including the “tablier du sapeur”, “quenelles”, Lyonnaise salad and “cervelle de canut”. Everything is generally served very copiously and washed down with a glass of Beaujolais or Côtes-du-Rhône. Two labels were created to select the best qualities bouchons from the others. Among all those “bouchon”, I will recommend Le Bistrot d’Abel located in the heart of Lyon. Its a classic and warm bistro decor and its atmosphere faithful to the house spirit have already won over many gourmets! And then, when it comes to Lyon cuisine, we know exactly what it is!

Here, we do not mess with the quality and flavor is at the rendezvous, with all the great classics: Lyonnaise salad, quenelle, frog legs, andouillette gratin, creamed chicken … and seasonal dishes. Everything is homemade and well done! Go and judge for yourselves …

Little extra: enjoy the terrace in fine weather, for a gourmet break in the city center!

Whether you prefer quenelles, cheeses, macaroons, seafood … You can find everything at “Les Halles de Lyon”. And everything is good and of high quality, above all, giving pride of place to the finest regional products: it is not for nothing that the “Meilleur Ouvrier de France” are legion there.

More than a market, it is also a place to eat where you can enjoy yourself at any time, starting early in the morning with the traditional “Lyon mâchon”. Here excellence is open to the general public and offers you all year round in the heart of Lyon a real journey to the land of cuisine and good food. I recommend stopping for some cheeses at the Mons counter, saucisson, and other cold meats at Sibilia. Great “Pralines tart” at Jocteur and French pastries at Sébastien Bouillet’s corner. Most of those corners have seats in the area, so just enjoy!

In the heart of the Grand Hôtel Dieu, a historical monument of Lyon renovated in 2018, the Grand Hôtel-Dieu continues its metamorphosis! After school, it is the turn of the Grand Réfectoire, the former canteen of the sisters of the hospices, to transform into a “bistronomic” restaurant. In the kitchen, a team led by the Michelin-starred chef Marcel Ravin, straight from the Blue Bay in Monaco, works a cuisine combining terroir and exoticism. When you enter into the main room, you will be impressed by the high ceiling and the renovation includes white stones, vaults and stained glass. Comfortable leather benches and modern furniture match the large, more classic woodwork that adorns the walls. Sobriety shines with elegance and refinement in this Grand Réfectoire where engraved glasses sit alongside embroidered napkins and carefully chosen crockery on the tables.

The first time I went into this restaurant, I was shocked by the renovation and the large room where you could still imagine the Sisters in the very old time. The sitting area reflects the Brasserie atmosphere, so do not go there for a romantic meal. The tables are really close and it is quite noisy. But the food is excellent: French traditional dishes with a touch of exoticism.

For my 40th birthday, it was a great surprise as I was invited to celebrate it in this beautiful and historic restaurant! When you first arrive, a friendly valet welcomes you at the entrance of the restaurant. Then you are shocked by the decoration of the several rooms: a mix of modern furniture and 1930 style of the ceiling molding and stained glass of the windows. The newly renovated bar is amazing with colorful tiles…It felt really cozy.

From the appetizers to the dessert, I was delighted by the food at La Mère Brazier.

Let’s go back to the history of this place!

On April 19, 1921, Eugénie Brazier created her restaurant, a typical Lyon “bouchon” in the capital with 12,000 francs. Located at number 12 rue Royale, in the 1st arrondissement of Lyon, very close to the Rhône river, it is called “Mère Brazier”. Her beginnings in the kitchen were difficult but, thanks to word of mouth and to the praise of the great food critic Curnonsky and the Club des Cent, her table quickly became the most popular in Lyon.

From 1928, she took a chalet without gas or electricity, at the Col de la Luère, seventeen kilometers west of Lyon, where her clients (initially friends of a car manufacturer of course, whose master driver was none other than her lover, these people all had a car at the time) the press opened a second restaurant, which she did in 1929. It became the annex to her restaurant Lyonnais on weekends and on the return of sunny days. In 1941, she had the chalet razed to build a stone restaurant.

In 1932, she was awarded two stars in the Michelin Guide for her two restaurants at Col de la Luère and at 12, rue Royale de Lyon and in 1933, three stars for both restaurants!

In 1946, 20-year-old Paul Bocuse who was back in Lyon as a demobilized hero of the Second World War, continued his apprenticeship with Eugénie Brazier at the Col de la Luère.
In Lyon, she is an icon: The mayor, Édouard Herriot greeted the one who had “done more than [him] for the fame of the city”. In the 1st arrondissement of Lyon, a stone’s throw from its “bouchon”, the street was renamed after its name in 2003. It was taken over in 2008 by chef Mathieu Viannay (best “ouvrier de France” in 2004).

I hope this article whetted your appetite and made you want to try these restaurants in our great city of Lyon!

If you are interested in discovering aperitifs from some of our French regions, please check out my last article: Let’s take a gourmet tour of the forgotten french aperitifs