Food travelers will find much of France’s top food in Lyon. After our initial 2012 visit, we spent a month eating some of the best Lyonnaise food in 2016 and have returned two more times.
During these four visits, we dined at some of the best Lyon restaurants and at casual eateries. We also frequented traiteurs (French take away stores), specialty coffee shops and bars.
These are our favorite places to eat and drink in Lyon.
Top Lyon Restaurants
Restaurants like PRaRial shine in dishes like this one that gave roasted cauliflower a starring role. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
Yes, you can eat at 18 Michelin starred restaurants in Lyon, and those are surely all special. But, for us, dining at smaller restaurants where young chefs are serving outstanding food at reasonable prices in an ultra-casual atmosphere is equally exciting.
Lyon is a city with a variety of restaurants that run the gamut from casual eateries to fine dining. These are our favorites:
Monsieur P
Our culinary journey at Monsieur P started with lovely foie gras ravioli prepared with hyssop. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
A chef we know once imparted that to become great in the kitchen, you have to work with and learn from the best chefs in the industry. Chef Florent Poularde is a rising star who’s done that. He’s worked for Alain Passard at Paris’ Arpege and Daniel Boulud in New York. He now brings those experiences to his own restaurant, Monsieur P, in Lyon.
We’d been wanting to dine at Monsieur P after hearing the buzz about the restaurant after it opened on Rue Royale Croix-Paquet in 2017. But then the pandemic halted the world and Poularde moved his restaurant to a new space in the more convenient heart of the Presqu’ile next to the Celestins Theater, just a four minute walk from Place Bellecour.
Finally, the stars aligned and we snagged a reservation at Monsieur P, albeit in its second location.
Chef Florent Poularde’s dish of sweetbreads over a bed of vegetables is influenced by his wealth of experiences cooking for chefs like Daniel Boulud and Alain Passard. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
In a modern food world where chefs continue to push toward the outer limits of gastronomy, Poularde’s food emanates classicism. We like that. His combination of prix-fixe and a la carte menus are an expression of the great food available in Lyon and the great cooking techniques he learned along the way.
Feeling fatigued after a busy travel day, we went the à la carte route. It was a good move. Wonderful ravioli stuffed with foie gras and hyssop, easily large enough for two weary TGV travelers to share, provided a good introduction to Poularde’s food.
We enjoyed Scottish salmon with carrot puree at Monsieur P in Lyon. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
For a French restaurant with lofty, formal (dare we stay Michelin star?) ambitions, it should be noted that Poularde’s cooking is earthy and soulful. During our meal, dishes like Lewis Island Scottish Salmon served over an earthy simple carrot puree warmed us from the chill of Lyon’s December air.
Poularde understands how to cook and serve sweetbreads. His offals were impeccably done and served over a bed of morels along with whole wedges and slices of root vegetables.
After eating in restaurants with missions to transform food, we found it refreshing to enjoy plates that celebrated the beauty of well cooked carrots, parsnips and turnips.
We didn’t have room for dessert but somehow managed to enjoy the restaurant’s silky flan anyway. | Image: ©2foodtrippers
Monsieur P’s great food is served in a space that’s simple and somewhat anticlimactic. But the restaurant’s service is top notch and its food is excellent.
We expect big things for Poularde, a Lyon chef worth watching.
Pro Tip
Plan ahead and book a weekday reservation. Monsieur P is closed on both Saturdays and Sundays as well as three weeks in August and the last week of the year.
Monsieur P is located at 8 Pl. des Célestins, 69002 Lyon, France.