Quenelle de brochet with sauce Nantua (Lyon)

🇫🇷Lyon, France

The Quenelle Pilgrimage

A pillowy pike dumpling that puffs up in the oven and arrives swimming in a rich crayfish sauce. Lyon calls itself the capital of French food, and this is its trump card.

Photo: Wikipedia

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Why this dish?

A quenelle de brochet is a feat of lightness: pike, choux paste, butter and egg beaten into a mousse, shaped into a rugby-ball dumpling and poached, then baked so it soufflés up soft and trembling. The classic Lyonnais version is drowned in sauce Nantua, a vivid crayfish-and-cream sauce. It's delicate and decadent at once - the signature of the bouchon.

Lyon is widely called the gastronomic capital of France, and the bouchon - a small, convivial, traditionally pork-heavy tavern - is its soul. A quenelle here is a different thing from the vacuum-packed supermarket version most of France knows. Eaten in a checked-tablecloth bouchon with a pot of Beaujolais, it's the reason serious eaters fly to Lyon for lunch.

Our Picks

Daniel et Denise

Address: 156 Rue de Créqui, Lyon (and other locations)
What to order: The quenelle de brochet sauce Nantua; if you're hungry, start with a Lyonnais salad and end with a praline tart.
Book ahead: Yes - bouchons are small and popular; book ahead.
Pro tip: Order a 'pot' of Beaujolais or Côtes du Rhône - the bouchon serving measure - to do it properly.

Café Comptoir Abel

25 Rue Guynemer, Lyon

One of Lyon's oldest bouchons, all dark wood and history - classic, unhurried, deeply Lyonnais.

What to order: Quenelle if it's on, or the volaille (chicken) in cream.

Good to know

A bouchon is the specific Lyonnais tavern style - look for the 'Bouchon Lyonnais' certification for the real thing. Lunch is the smart move: cheaper menus, same kitchen. Lyon sits between two rivers; the old town (Vieux Lyon) and its traboule passageways are worth an afternoon.

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