A truly local Lyonnaise experience: Comptoir Chez Chabert – Le Petit Chabert (24. March 2017)

If you want to experience a true Lyonnaise food experience, then you should definitely visit one of these small restaurants which are very typical for Lyon. I went for the ‘Le Petit Chabert’ which is a tiny place where you’re seated at tiny tables with tiny chairs and tiny wine glasses. Everything is small and given there is like 40 seats on an area of maybe 25 square meters, there is just one waiter attending everybody. And believe me, I have barely ever seen a waiter running that much.

The concept is rather simple – there is one menu (EUR 27.00) where you get a lot of things plus you get to pick a rather standard dish, i.e. nothing fancy. The evening starts with some paté and meat but not the high quality stuff. Not bad though.

And then you basically get a huge selection of pots with different things inside and you get to take as much as you want from it. Frankly, an interesting concept but I get why this works – given, the quality of the food is good but the ingredients definitely belong to the low cost area. The first thing was somewhat an “intestines salad” – not really my favourite dish.

The “potato salad” on the other was simple and good …

… the “sardines salad with carrots” was quite fine too. You must like sardines though, else you won’t stand a chance to enjoy it.

The “beet root salad” had – of all the salads – probably the least ‘particular’ taste but it was comforting and tasty.

Next in line was a “tongue salad” which was quite lovely …

… and went very well with the “lentil salad”.

The last part of the starter round was a “cervelat salad” – the sauce was a bit too thin for my personal gusto but overall, definitely a rich and intense starter selection!

The choices for the main course were not really what I would usually eat but I had to pick something. So I decided to try something local and went for the “Andouillette à la lyonnaise” which is basically a pork sausage stuffed with the bad pieces of the pork meat. At first, when you know what you’re eating, it needs some persuasion of your mind to eat it – but after the first couple of bites, it was actually quite tasty.

Next in line was a selection of cheese – whereof two of the three were basically not tasting like much but were just somewhat creamy like a burrata but lacking a distinct flavour.

Last but not least, there was a variety of desserts starting with “flan” and “pickled fruit” – but I only managed to eat a piece of the flan given it was soooo much food already. What really doesn’t happen is that you walk out of the restaurant and feel like you haven’t been eating enough. So, I can definitely recommend it to you to try something like that – admittedly though, it is not something for the easily disturbed as the majority of the dishes are rather ‘border line’ compared to what you would usually eat in Switzerland.

While the concept is amazing and the small place is lovely, you definitely have not only to bring a non-sensitive stomach but you also have to make sure that you’re not starving of hunger as it takes a long time until you’re attended the first time and until you are done with eating – not so much because of the amount but because of the fact that one (!) waiter is responsible for everything. So obviously, he can’t attend all tables at the same time leading to longer waiting times for each iteration of “switching pots” between tables.

Given you’re willing to cope with waiting, trying new foods you would probably not eat at home, then I can definitely recommend you to try ‘Le Petit Chabert’ – an authentic Lyonnaise experience which is an incredible bargain. And the same is true for the beverages, i.e. 1l Badoit, EUR 4.50, a bottle of “AOC Saint Amour “Domaine Hamet-Spay”, 2015 (vigneron indépendent)” (EUR 29.00) or “AOC Hautes côtes de Nuits ‘Château de Villars Fontaine’ 2010” (EUR 49.00). Just make sure to book your table in advance as else you won’t stand a chance to get a table.

Rating:

Atmosphere:
Service:
Dishes:
Price-Performance Ratio:
Overall Rating:

Contact Details:

Comptoir Chez Chabert

13 / 14, quai Romain Rolland

69005 Lyon (F)

Tel. +33 4 78 42 99 65

Fax: +33 9 55 51 75 16

E-Mail: contact@chezchabert.com

Homepage: http://www.chezchabert.com

About the Author: Sven

I started the blog in October 2009, while living in Milan which I definitely consider to be one of the food capitals of the world. I was in touch with food since my early childhood (as my father is a former chef). Whenever I can, I travel the world to discover new places, to meet people but mostly to try local dishes and to find hidden gems! If you know a place worth going, please drop a line to: info@thediningexperience.org. Currently, I am a member of the following food-related associations: Chevalier @Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Zurich-Ville; Membre Gourmet Dégustateur @Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs [OMGD]; Gesellschafter @Goldener Fisch and Member @Slowfood Convivium Zurich City.