Paul Bocuse (2*), Lyon, July 2024

Before going to the main dishes, I’ll start off by quickly saying that the amuse-bouches, bread and butter, pre-dessert palate cleanser, and after-dessert sweets were all only okay for me.

Quenelles of lobster and pikeperch: This was a phenomenal dish and a classic for a reason! It only goes to reason that Paul Bocuse would serve the best rendition of one of Lyon’s most famous dishes! You could taste the lobster and pikeperch flavors individually, with the caviar adding a wonderful salinity. The champagne sauce was incredible, being a wonderful blend of fish stock, champagne, and cream/butter. The sauce could have been reduced slightly more to make it a bit thicker and cook off some more of the alcohol, but overall, it was still great!

Sea bass stuffed in puff pastry shell: This is easily one of the best non-sushi/Japanese fish dishes I’ve ever had! I’ve actually made this recipe at home before, and I can’t believe how it’s possible their version tasted so much better! The puff pastry was beyond perfect, with superbly baked seabass. The choron sauce (along with the Bresse chicken’s sauce) was easily a top 10 sauce I’ve ever had and beat out practically everything I’ve had at “sauce-focused” restaurants like Plénitude or Ledoyen. The choron sauce was ridiculously creamy (in a good way), with beautiful light tomato notes with a little liquor. The garden vegetables, lightly poached with a light butter/foam sauce served on the side, were also wonderful.

Truffled Bresse chicken poached in a bladder: Wow! Just wow! I’ve had Bresse chicken before, but I still never knew it could taste this good! This was slightly better, I thought than the similar dish at Épicure and miles better than Jérôme Banctel’s famous chicken dish at Le Gabriel. The chicken was perfectly poached, and the skin somehow had a slight crispiness to it. As I alluded to before, the sauce with morels was beyond spectacular! The truffles in the chicken also complemented the sauce extremely well! The fresh vegetables served in a buttery cracker were also quite nice.

Desserts: An incredibly large and wonderful selection! I got almost every dessert they offered, and each one was fantastic! Every dessert had the perfect amount of sweetness and acidity, and the textures were lovely. As far as restaurants that serve multiple desserts in one course go, I’d easily put Paul Bocuse on the same level as Pierre Gagnaire and The French Laundry!

Conclusion: Overall, I’ll simply say this about Paul Bocuse; I view it very similarly to Le Bernardin. You’ll absolutely get a 3* experience out of this restaurant IF you know what you’re doing and only order à la carte. The new dishes that the kitchen have created and put on the tasting menu simply aren’t great, and as long as you stick with Bocuse’s classics, you’ll beyond love this place! I can’t wait to come back again in Winter to try the truffle soup, red mullet with potato scales, and hare! The service from the valet person in a costume who opens your car door, to the doorman, to the entire service team was spectacular! Their special edition centennial anniversary vintage champagne was also fantastic, and I bought a whole bottle that I drank throughout the night!