It is said that Lyon has more restaurants per capita than any other city in France. Spend a few days in Lyon and you will have to agree. There are restaurants for most budgets and for many tastes, especially at lunch (dejeuner). Sandwiches and salads are affordable at some restaurants and at cafés, salons de thé, and sandwich shops. Or for a quick lunch, visit a boulangerie for a pre-made sandwich-to-go on a crispy baguette.

Our favorite dejeuner is to take advantage of multi-course, dejeuner menus offered midday, at prices ranging from 11 to just under 20 euros.  The dejeuner menu is usually substantially less than the evening menus or, more typically, the à la carte dinners. We prefer restaurants and cafés with small menus that change daily and feature seasonal, fresh ingredients. Complete the meal with a carafe of very drinkable and inexpensive Rhône wine, served by the pot and demi-pot, and a café (small coffee) served after dessert.

A three-course lunch menu consists of an entré (first course) plât (main course) and dessert. A two-course, cheaper formule offers a choice of entré and plât or a plât and dessert. Good to know: le menu and le formule are fixed-price offerings of courses usually displayed on a blackboard that is changed daily.  La carte is the list of dishes that waiter hands to you, and à la carte, like in English refers to individually priced items on the menu (la carte).  La carte is also the word for map, which makes sense in a restaurant setting.

To research Lyon restaurants, read the menus posted at the resto’s door, visit the Lyon section of the Qype website, which has some English-language, user reviews and lots of listings, and try using Le Petit Paumé, an annual (French language) publication and website with funny and useful reviews of restaurants organized by neighborhood, price, and cuisine.  Surprisingly, many restaurants do not have websites, but just google the name to pull up phone numbers for reservations.

Dejeuner in Lyon Part II

All Lyon Restos we’ve experienced