Paul Bocuse Restaurant Gastronomique - Lyon, France Foodie (Not Recommended)

hello everyone this is Tony welcome back to Trophy food experiences today I'm doing a review of our dinner I had at Paul bakus gastronomic restaurant located near Lyon so it's actually not in Lyon it's the address is 40 Beach pier 69660 cologne or Mont or door it's about 30 to 40 minutes uh drive away from the center of Leon and it is an iconic restaurant Paul bakus came from Lyon and has trained virtually every top French chef out there he passed away I think five years ago and previously that they had the record for the longest streak for the longest tenure as a three-star Michelin restaurant once he passed away Unfortunately they lost their star so now they are a two-star Michelin restaurant so you have to book probably eight to ten months in advance for a seat here so I was very excited about getting a reservation um approach to building and you can see it's very iconic it's um just uh something to behold so it's it's a really special occasion you um can dress up but I saw some people are casual not casual like flip-flops and jeans but you know business casual uh you I didn't not everyone had a suit on so um you know it's it is a little bit formal more formal than like a regular restaurant but uh it wasn't uh by the too formal couple of videos here you see the courtyard before you get into the restaurant some um kind of paintings artwork with Paul bakus and then you see a window into the window with the chefs working away at the front of the entrance you see these names I'm not sure who they are I think they are probably it didn't look like really famous chefs to me but I think probably they're just Award winners that have come from the Balboa Goose Academy but I didn't recognize any of the names get into the entrance and you're greeted right away with a view of the restaurant it is formal in terms of its service standard it's one of the complaints that I have you'll see it across when I get through my review is that they're not a lot of flexibility you kind of go by their schedule and again if you're this is a treat and it's a one uh it's a lifetime experience I think you'll enjoy it we were seated at the top floor there was two floors I think the main floor is a bit larger this is a smaller floor had about eight tables this was a large table at the end of the room for a larger group and again very classic design this is our view from our table they only have one seating of the restaurant we had the first available time which is 8 P.M I guess they eat a little bit later there and you see some ornate decorations it is um yeah one of these once in a lifetime experiences there's a lot of Pomp and Circumstance there's a lot of um you know pageantry to everything so in for that purpose I mean if you are actually not that much of a foodie and you don't do this all the time I think it's really well worth it it is a Splurge as you'll see when we get to the cost of things but you know it's a real experience this is a shot I took as I left the restaurant at night so the kitchen was winding down but you can see all the beautiful pans it looks and span all the bells and whistles um it's like a show so really treat it like a show if you're paying money for a you know a show that would be the right mindset quick video uh with a view from our table and then we'll move into the menu it's kind of a huge like 11 by 20 menu it's a huge menu but it's only two pages but the porter was really nice and he gave us a copy of the menu and like everything else in the restaurant is magnanimous it's um huge it's over the top um so that was kind of a nice touch this is the plate they put in front of you before the meal service and they take it away once they have the meal starts again a more pageantry it's treated like a show and for people that don't do this all the time it is a magnificent experience um it's like going to a Broadway show or to go to a high-end concert it's treated like that and um you know you'll be wild by everything and all the formality but we'll talk about the food also now let's talk about the menu so you can order a la carte or else you can actually order a price fix menus they have three different choices all the way up to 330 euro per person we chose the cheapest one which is 220 euro per person um but what have you found weird was that even though they only have one seating that I felt very rushed in the beginning of this so as an example we've got these bushes in front of us I was I hadn't even looked at the wine list at this point so they plopped down the wine list book which is large but decent I mean I've seen better and then five minutes there they ask you Monsieur what module would you like without a lot of discussion and care and so I actually wanted more than one wine and that also confused them quite a bit too so it was really rushed so rushed I actually didn't have a chance to really listen to what the person was selling to me this came and you know you see even the second most Bouche I actually don't know what it was either because it was just so rushed it was one after another and I'd still not gotten even I think I'm not even not chosen my way or not gotten my wine or it was just very weird I was so rushed and we almost had to purposely slow down how fast we ate just to slow down the pace of things so this is the second and most Bush that they give you I think it's a little consummate with some cream in it but again I was like so kind of flustered with the whole situation with the wines and I don't think they expect people to order more than one wine so that was kind of unusual so again this goes back to flexibility in terms of I think if you do things exactly the way they do it and the timing that they have then you're fine but that's more 80s and 90s style of service nowadays people have a lot more choice and there's more flexibility and people eat more much more often in terms of high-end restaurants so it's not like a once in a lifetime occasion anymore it's kind of like once in a while so this is the first course which is the foie gras confit with a butter croissant and the Sichuan Noir butter um so both of these items were very good so the croissant was nice and buttery as it should be flaky and stuff like that the foie gras was rich and very intense flavor but I actually didn't think it paired very well because it's almost like they were trying to show off the two things but they actually didn't just put them together because they're both great I actually thought the the regular bread they brought to the table matched the foie gras a lot better so um and sorry to complain but I mean the croissant was really oily so I guess maybe it's supposed to be buttery but it was really really oily and dense so um you know it was a good dish this is the main course which we shared you do have a choice of other things you know choice of two things for the set menu so this is their bar Savage with sauce Sharon so a fish baked in um kind of filo pastry and then there's also Cornell inside of this too so it's a really again it's a show it's served table side and you'll see in the next video it's really that's part of what you're paying for the show of it so here is a video showing them I'm serving it table side um really it's really amazing it's quite a nice part of the whole process when you go there again there's so many bells and whistles there's so much pageantry so that part of it is really um great it's really Grand I really enjoyed that there's lots of places to take pictures and instagramable moments and videos so this is you know really quite nice and you'll see it goes through for maybe a minute or two so it's a whole Pomp and Circumstance which is really adds to the experience as to the food the fish was good but did I have in my travels in France better fish dishes yes I did and so um you know it was not bad it was good it wasn't spectacular I would say but again you have to I guess this account for the whole setting the Ambiance the history you're paying for that when you're going to Paul bukus and again I think it's a throwback restaurant this in the 80s or 90s would have been a top-end restaurant but restaurants have evolved they've the service standards the better the quality of the food quality is better and whereas I think Paul bakus kind of does the same recipes and also gives the same type of service they like that I guess rigidity but the world changes and so in my opinion you do have to change a bit with that also and it's no longer that as impressive because there are restaurants that are getting better and better and whereas you're staying at the same standard that you were 30 years ago so this is what it looks like on the plate again beautiful plating fish was done nicely good dish definitely Michelin star dish would it be a three-star Michelin restaurant dish I don't think so um it's not the most memorable fish dish I've ever had probably wouldn't even be in the top 10 so it was good it was a good dish but um not memorable not somewhere where I would say wow I've got to come back to have this dish again this is one of the wines I had it's the domain Rion 2016 um Shambo music D Premier crew from the charm of Vineyard that I really enjoy about 300 Euro a bottle I didn't think that was overly expensive given this high-end Restaurant They're gonna have to have their markup but I didn't think it was ridiculous they were very confused when I ordered a white wine and then I ordered two burgundy wines which I wanted to taste side by side so I think that really confused them they were kind of almost wanted to finish the first bottle before opening the second bottle so again that goes to the rigidity of service so anyways it was good wine and you know the Somali seemed a little bit um inexperienced not much to say but could be that language was a barrier maybe her language she did say her language her English she was uncomfortable in English so maybe that was part of it but it didn't really seem that she had a lot to say about the wines and um to me with a like a two-star three-star Michelin restaurant you should have probably a pretty high-end sommeliac who can really enhance the experience with their description of the wines this is the cheese course and it's tremendous again a lot of pageantry and I got to try a lot of different cheeses so they have a blue cheese and they have some bread and you'll see from the next photo again a much more bigger selection of cheeses I also had a half bottle of Aman Rousseau Sherry shabbaton and again that confused them when I ordered two bottles and then said I wanted to drink them side by side I don't think they kind of understood but I wanted um the cheese cart again very impressive on the bottom you have the harder cheeses on the top you have the goat or the softer cheeses there were some Normandy cheeses you could try as many as you wanted so it was really that was to me a really great course again pop and services but that's not really cooking quite frankly there's no cooking involved here but you know they have a great selection of cheeses which is wonderful then they had their dessert cart which is again very very impressive you'll see they put it in front of you and both with the cheese and the dessert card they put in front of you for five minutes so that you can kind of salivate over it really great design you'll see there's five types here there's a pistachio cake a lemon tart a strawberry chocolate and then a meal fill so this is a short video showing that selection and a couple more pictures because it's so magnificent again very um for pleasing to the eye for taking pictures it looks spectacular and so um that part of it is like First Rate um definitely they do it better than I think anyone else that I've seen but the dessert cart doesn't stop there they still have another part of it which they've got a cream cake with which they put praline on top and beyond that region is famous for these um pink praline so they put that on top and again magnificent presentation you can choose as many desserts as you like so we chose five between two people and again everything was good but um have I had better meal for all before yeah have I had a bit of lemon tar pistachio chocolate cake yeah so um that's the problem here that um there was not one dish that I thought in terms of The Taste profile was wow that is exceptional um that really wowed me the presentation wowed me the whole Pomp and Circumstance wowed me so I think from an experienced perspective I think it's a great experience but from a my personal opinion in terms of a food experience it's okay it's not bad food of course but it's is it kind of wow in terms of the food itself to me it isn't this is the dish that I was talking about the cake with some um praline on also some dried proteins on top again the presentation is magnificent taste is okay it's um it's uh it's good but you know it's it's should be good at a two-star Michelin restaurant so um I thought the food was decent and wasn't outstanding or did not exceed my expectations which are probably quite high already so here is the last they send you some petite fours that's done most by most restaurants these days so in summary uh all in all if you are not a foodie in fact I would say for sure go because it's treated it's like a show it's a it's worth it if you have the means go and do this it's gonna cost you um you know without wine minimum uh almost 500 euros for a couple so it's going to be expensive but it's like a treat it like a show an apartment certain it's a Once in a Lifetime experience you'll love it as a foodie the only reason I'm not recommending it because this is a Food Channel honestly from my perspective again I'm not a chef I'm not a person a Critic it's just my own personal opinion it's the quality is probably of a one-star Michelin restaurant um so I don't think they'll lose their second star because that would be too controversial and it's iconic institution you don't want to downgrade them any more than a second star but I would be very surprised if they got back their third star the food quality and the service quality is not of that level probably not even of a second to start level but um you know they're iconic and they continue to roll on and provide the same service they probably provide it in the 80s so again it's a good restaurant don't get me wrong but I cannot recommend just because for the price you could probably have two or three meals at a one star two star Michelin restaurant for the same price in Milan and neon has tons of great restaurants hope you enjoyed this video until next time happy eating

Channel: Trophy Food Experiences

Views: 7,656

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Id: EpWKzza5Tgk

Length: 17min 37sec (1057 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 03 2023