18 Apr 2011

I am just putting the finishing touches to my trip of a lifetime!

In June I'm going to Lyon in France with my good friend and business partner Adrian Cooling. Lyon is often described as “the stomach” of France, famed for it’s Les Halles market, it’s bistros, brasseries and bouchons, an all round foodies paradise, amazing charcuterie, as pretty as Paris but without the tourists!

The chef of the century, Paul Bocuse, has his empire in Lyon, often thought of as the founder of modern French cuisine and without doubt the greatest chef of his era. Paul Bocuse will have had the ultimate accolade of three Michelin stars for fifty years within the next couple of years and, at eighty five, he still oversees his restaurant, amazing! Myself and Adrian are booked in for dinner, we shall be sampling his signature dishes and hopefully meet the great man? Fingers crossed! 

We are also booked in to the gastronomic temple of the Troisgros family in Roanne, about 100 miles east of Lyon. La Maison Troisgros is regarded as possibly the finest restaurant in the world, holder of three Michelin stars for over 40 years, now third generation, they also have an amazing wine list, 2,000 bins and 40,000 wines in stock, a great hotel, it has been a real dream of mine to go to Bocuse, Troisgros and Lyon since I started cooking over 25 years ago, I’m so excited, I can hardly wait!

Lyon is all about grand fine dining, it is all about different forms of eating from simple market stalls, the classics, the grand masters and the up and coming young Turks. I think it will be a real trip of adventure and discovery. When we decided to go to Lyon I needed to make sure that we discovered all aspects so I contacted a friend of mine, a Lyon native, the mega chef from New York, Daniel Baloud. Daniel has many restaurants and bars all around the world plus one of the finest in New York which has three Michelin stars. Daniel kindly gave me a list of his favorites which I will share with you, I'm sure he won't mind !?

For myself and Adrian this is a great opportunity to learn and experience the diversity, soul and the food of Lyon and bring something back to the most important part of our businesses - our staff and our customers.

Bon appetite 
Smithy  

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