France: Brasserie des Ecoles

We learned two things about Lyon within our first hour there.  1)  It's really picturesque.  2)  THERE ARE TOO MANY DAMN STAIRS.

We almost died dragging our luggage (and ourselves) to our AirBnb flat.  T even managed to step on dog poop on our way there.  Luckily, there was an elevator in the building (unlike in Paris where we had to climb six flights of stairs every time we went in and out).  Our host sent his friend to meet us with the keys.  He gave us a few food recommendations and also told us about a gypsy music festival going on that night.

Curious, we braved another gazillion stairs to get to what seemed like the top of the city.  It was worth it.  The view was breathtaking and the music was so much fun.  Since it was rather nippy outside, we ducked into Brasserie des Ecoles for dinner:

The decor was quite artsy:

Our server was super friendly.  She was very patient and immediately switched to English when she heard us struggling in French.

There were three prix fixe options.  You could get an appetizer in addition to a salad or a main for 15.25 € or get a main or a salad plus dessert for the same price.  If you wanted to go all out, you could get an appetizer and a salad or a main and a dessert for 18.30 €.

The four of us decided to order the three course option off the prix fixe menu.  Times two.  Our server was completely amenable to that.

She brought us a basket of bread to start:

For our first appetizer, we chose the mille-feuille de saumon fume au Saint Moret:

Basically smoked salmon in a little puff pastry sandwich.  Quite lovely.

For our second appetizer, we went with a petit salad Lyonnaise:

We figured we couldn't go to Lyon and not have a Lyonnaise salad.  It came with lardons (omigawd, pork fat!), croutons, tomato, poached egg, and other yummy stuff.  Not bad for a salad.

Then came the main dishes.  We're suckers for duck, so we had to order the confit de canard:

Crispy duck skin?  Wowzas.

Our second main was the saute de veau à la provencale (veal) with champignons persillers (mushrooms) and riz basmati (basmati rice):

So good with bread.

Then came dessert.  First, crème brûlée:

We originally ordered something else for our second dessert, but then we spotted another table getting a profiterole and with just once glance around the table, we all agreed to fork over the extra 0.50 € for one:

The pastry part was kind of tough, so we cleaned out the ice cream and the chocolate.

Overall, a fantastic welcome to Lyon.  Definitely much warmer than the one we received our first night in Paris.  Helloooooo Lyon!


Brasserie des Ecoles
27 Place de la Croix Rousse
69004 Lyon, France
04 78 28 12 55