Outstanding atmosphere and a few taste surprises: Restaurant Les Loges (25. March 2017)
If you want to dine in a Michelin starred restaurant in Lyon, you have to book a couple of weeks in advance. For most of the options, I didn’t stand a chance of getting a table. Luckily, I managed to get one at the Restaurant Les Loges. And it started quite exquisite after the bar visit with a tower of butter – something I have not experienced before.
The freshly rolled butter from the ‘butter tower’ was smooth and rich and fit perfectly with the different breads they offered.
The first amuse bouche was a “reduction of asparagus with truffle” which was fine to start but not yet at the level I would have expected.
France is apparently an amuse bouche country, so we got a second amuse bouche with “pâté from poultry, pear and ginger with pepper from Madagascar” which was better than the first amuse bouche but still nothing great.
Meanwhile, the third amuse bouche – yes, another one – was definitely better. The “pike perch served on green peas and morels” was simple yet intense and the consistency of the pike perch was absolutely perfect.
The first course of the “Les Loges Tasting Menu” (EUR 135.00) was a “Mediterranean wild shrimps, green cream and Timut berries”. The shrimp were smooth and perfect in their consistency and the combination with the different flavours on the plate really made for a great dish.
However, the “lobster bisque” which was served with the shrimp was rather standard, respectively didn’t add any value to the dish as a whole. The connection between the two plates – despite being served together – was missing.
The second course of the menu was my personal favourite – the “Char lakefish, confit with cocoa bean, fresh herbs coulis” was outstanding. The fish was smooth and basically dissembled when you touched it with your fork. The beet root on top with its slight acidity and the crunchy effect was the perfect combination of flavours and textures!
In terms of how a dish is served, the “duck foie gras, slices and root vegetables in an orange” was outstanding. The foie gras was stuffed in an empty orange, closed again with bread dough, and then slowly cooked so the foie gras was tender like none I have ever eaten before. There was a slight bitterness to it which was not entirely to my gusto but the show effect kind of compensates for that.
In my personal opinion, the main course was the weakest one – the “traditionally bred pigeon, crunchy bread with mushrooms, spicy fruit”. We were asked in the beginning how we wanted the pigeon and went for ‘medium’ but the pigeon came ‘medium rare’ nevertheless. Secondly, the dish itself was just somewhat disappointing. However, the crunchy bread stuffed with mushrooms and spicy fruit was delicious. They’d rather do a large tarte of that than the pigeon itself.
Although I usually don’t like “potato mash” that much, this one was incredibly smooth and aromatic – all buttered up! Like you wish perfect potato mash to be.
I think my ‘favourite course’ of the evening just got incredibly hard competition when the “selection of cheeses on a trolley” was rolled in. The sight of it already put me in a state of happiness. So many cheeses – so many different ones – so incredibly tasty ones!
I went for seven different cheeses with jam and it was pure joy! The intensity of the cheeses went slightly up and the creamy cheese (bottom right corner) was the peak of intensity. Definitely interesting, somehow delicious!
Before the actual dessert, a small pre-dessert was served, the “asparagus sorbet, hazelnut and meringue” and while the asparagus sorbet by itself was already interesting, the combination with the crumbles of the meringue and the hazelnut cream was just mouth-watering!
The last course was the “grands crus chocolate from “Maison Bonnat”, chuao and ceylan, flavours from the undergrowth”. The plate itself was good but had – for my personal gusto – too intense small dots of chocolate!
Again, there was a “side dish” to the dish which was “vanilla with chocolates”. While one of my friends loved it so he ate three of them, I personally was not a big fan of it as the chocolate was way too intense!
Last but not least, some “gourmandises” were served to round up the evening. Overall, they do have a couple of great dishes like the asparagus sorbet, the char, or the cheese trolley. Others on the other hand were rather disappointing. What bothered me a bit was the fact that they do not offer a ‘wine pairing’ which I would usually expect of a restaurant in that category. So we went for our own choice of wines.
We went for a glass of “Verre VDF Mustango” (EUR 15.00) to start which was lovely but then again I consider EUR 15.00 for a glass of white to start quite expensive. For the menu itself we started with a bottle of “Fief Vendeens Poire” (EUR 90.00) which was decent but lacked length.
The second bottle then was a “Côtes Roussillon” (EUR 60.00) which was recommended to us by the sommelier asking for a more intense wine with more length. Frankly, maybe we have been unclear or couldn’t articulate ourselves properly – however, this was not the wine we wanted. Way to dull.
When done with the dinner, we decided to go for a cigar (EUR 20.00) in their fumoir and asked for a dessert wine to pair. We got a “Deguste VDN Nectar” (EUR 9.00) which was not only decent in price but was also quite delicious. A red dessert wine which wasn’t overwhelmingly sweet! Loved it!
Otherwise, the service was near to flawless – sometimes the plates were served from the wrong side or the plates were taken from the wrong side and one had to be a bit patient with regards to refilling up your wine or water glass (1l Badoit, EUR 8.00) but else, they were incredibly friendly, professional and supportive. As good service should be! For me, it was not the performance of 1 Michelin star but it is definitely a place I can recommend you to visit when you are in Lyon!
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Contact Details:
Restaurant Les Loges
Cour des Loges
6 rue du Boeuf
69005 Lyon (F)
Tel.: +33 4 72 77 44 44
E-Mail: contact@courdesloges.com
Homepage: http://www.courdesloges.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. 
