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Chez M’man is located very near the Place Bellecour on the rue des Maronniers. You will know that you are on the right track because the street has one little bouchon (petit restaurant) after another. Everyone is doing just what you are doing. Reading one prix fixe menu after another and trying to decide what suits their taste on this particular evening. When everything looks good it a difficult challenge.
Nose-to-tail dining, as colorful as it sounds, in Lyon it means devouring the entire animal the way they’ve been doing it for centuries. And arguably, the best place to sample this type of cuisine is at one of the city’s many “bouchons,” small restaurants serving simple, hearty dishes with ingredient lists that can sound like an anatomy lesson. Typical foods includeandouille (grilled chitterlings sausage), tripe (pig or cow’s stomach), or boudin noir (blood sausage). Other more recognizable dishes include, chicken liver salad, cerverlas, (raw pork sausages), quenelles (flour, egg and cream dumplings), or Cervelle de canut, (which means “brains of the silk-weaver” and consists of cream cheese mixed with garlic and chives.) Some of the contemporary bouchons serve more upscale French cuisine, such as fois gras and truffles, but for many Lyonnais, true bouchons such as this one, they strive to only offer foods that are distinctly unpretentious. With that in mind off I went in search of traditional bouchon cooking. And did I ever find it!
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Chez M’man is a hub of activity and it gets even busier as the evening progresses. The super friendly waiter ushered me to a table facing a huge chalkboard on the wall listing all the menu items. How convenient. He then took my order scribbling it down on a piece of butcher paper then promptly stuck it under my paper table cloth. It’s clearly an art form and a style that I was unaware of. With a sense of duty and honor he quickly reappears with a bread basket and my bottle of Beaujolais. What a life saver! Within seconds the cork was out and the wine presented for tasting. I do love good service. I must note that they do have an interesting concept of interior decoration which consists of stoves (yes, that’s right) hanging upside down from the ceiling. If you have a good life insurance there’s nothing to be worried about.
I carefully perused the menu. I could go with a Salade Lyonnaise or or Salad Savoyarde or chicken liver salad or perhaps a cold ratatouille. I took aim and started with l’assiette de M’man which arrived in a round dish with thick slices of cured pork Lyonnaise sausage cooked in a goose liver based soufflé also known as a gâteau de foies. I will admit that by the time I finished this “light” dish, one or two pieces of bread with creamy butter and not too surprisingly, half a bottle of Beaujolais, I could have stopped there. Those of you who have read my blog will know that once I start, I am not one to shy away from a gastronomical challenge. Non, cela n’ai pas permi – at least in my book. Onward I went into the belly of the beast. I did not have far to think about. The challenge was right before my eyes: Boudin Noir a la Lyonnaise – a specialty of Lyonnaise cooking. It might as well have been screaming my name. I polished off the remains of the bottle and quickly ordered a half-bottle of Beaujolais. I am a man of limits after all.
I did have long to wait. My waiter reappeared tableside and with a flourish placed the plate before me. I looked at my plate, blinked then looked again only to realize I recognized absolutely nothing! What foolish thing had I done? I asked my waiter for a cheat sheet on my chosen dish. Politely he pointed that I would be eating Andouillets which is a coarse-grained sausage made with pork, intestines, pepper, wine, onions and other seasonings. The breaded piece to the right of the sausage, Monsieur, was none other than Gratin de tripe a l’ancienneor a piece of breaded tripe which is the lining of the cow. And last but not least, the piece de resistance, the very boudin noir or blood sausage. If it’s good enough for the French Foreign Legion to sing about, damn it all it’s good enough for me! All three were different and all surprisingly tasty. The tripe was a bit chewy shall we say but tasty. This was a quintessentially Lyonnais dish, so I really had no other choice.
To close out the evening, I had the Saint Marcellin which is a soft cow’s milk cheese and quite delicious.
By the way, don’t expect to pull out your AmEx card and presume it will be graciously accepted. No way. The AmEx card, it seems, is less and less welcome around Europe. Asia, it’s a different story as they kill to get your business and the card. Better off with using a Visa or the Carte Bleue Visa. I’m just saying. That’s all.
Related:
Saucisson Lyonnais au Beaujolais
Poulet Vieux Lyon or Chicken Old Lyon Style
Chez Rose’s Chicken Fricasse