Chez Mounier

Lyon is famous for being the gastronomy capital of France, so this weekend we ate at a traditional Lyonnais restaurant (a bouchon).  Lyonnais food isn’t what you think of when you think French food - no crêpes, steak, or delicious sauces.  Food in Lyon mostly means food that Americans would normally never eat like brains, different kinds of fish, liver etc.  But the fact that it’s so unique makes everything quite the delicacy.

We decided on the restaurant Chez Mounier and it was an adventure.

Nathan's main course (fish in crayfish sauce) - My appetizer (herring salad)

Appetizer: I had herring salad drizzled in some sort of fish dressing and Nate had an egg soufflé with real sausages in it (Real as in pig intestines! He didn’t eat the intestine part though, just the inside.)  I was feeling pretty reluctant about my herring salad when Nate pointed one of his sausages at me and said, “Don’t be such a wimp Cassandra just eat it!”  So I ate it, and surprisingly it wasn’t bad at all.

Main course: I had a quenelle de brochet (pictured below) which is some sort of dumpling in crayfish sauce.  Nate had 2 different kinds of fish in the same crayfish sauce.  Mine was so good!  I didn’t try Nate’s because I was sick of fish, but he said it was good.

Quenelle de brochet

Cheese course: I had fromage frais which is like bitter yogurt that you add sugar to (so good), and Nathan had some camembert-like cheese that was very strong.  The lady at the bouchon loved Nathan.  She wouldn’t let him have his dessert course until he finished his cheese.  She said, “Il faut être punis!” (You must be punished!)  He charmed her with his French skills.

Dessert: Definitely more normal.  I had an apple tart and Nate had the best chocolate cake both of us had EVER tasted.  It was a bitter dark chocolate cake with sweet crème anglaise sauce drizzled on it.

Surprisingly, we really enjoyed it!  Nate is more adventurous with seafood than I am because of his Seattle roots but we would definitely do it again.  My parents are coming to visit this weekend so I’m sure there will be more strange food to come!