Bouchon des Filles, 23rd May

After a lazy afternoon, it was time to head out again. We made our way north to the Place Fernand Rey, a little square where earlier we had located an interesting-looking wine shop. This was Le Vins des Vivants, and it also had a wine bar. In fact the bloke who was running it, who seemed to be by himself, was very busy dealing with the tables outside, giving us time to have a mooch round. They specialise in "natural" wines and I spotted Jerome Balmet's Beaujolais on the shelves.

We decided to have an aperitif outside ourselves. G had a glass of white Burgundy and I had a glass of something from Alsace, both around the 5-6 euro mark. Each of us liked the other's more, and we ended up swapping over. A clarinet / euphonium-playing duo added to the atmosphere - we came across them later in other places too, so I think they must be a fixture of Lyon. Let's just say a little goes a long way.

Then it was on to our destination for the evening, Bouchon des Filles. When G called them to book, he was offered a choice of 7.00 or 9.30 and had gone for the former. It seems that they now do two sittings a night which no doubt enables them to keep the price down. It's a fairly small place, maybe 30-35 covers, and everyone else was arriving at the same time, including some family groups who seemed to be locals. The table next to us remained empty and I was hoping they might not turn up, but then they did, about 20 minutes late, and turned out to be English. Argh! Our table was so close to theirs that it was impossible not to listen in, and hear him trying to persuade her that Lyon food is nice, really.

The wine list was charmingly hand-written and fairly short. We went for this Moulin-a-Vent Cuvee Lucile-Maud from Domaine du Granit which was admirable and went very well with our meal.

This was the starter - a mustardy lentil salad, some marinated beef, and a bowl of mashed potatoes with smoked fish. All quite rustic but very tasty.

For the main course, I had a chicken liver thing with mushrooms and a tomato sauce. I'd taken the flash off my camera so as not to be annoying, so the photo didn't come out very well. This was very good, but I had some menu envy as G had gone for...

...this black pudding and apple croustillade.

Next up was a cheese course and we both went for Saint-Marcellin. This was served in a fairly small quantity but was in excellent condition.

There was pudding. , and I had this "Trilogie de praline", which I enjoyed. The pink-coloured praline seems to be a local speciality as I saw some in the window of a chocolate shop the following day. G had an iced Chartreuse souffle which he described as moderate.

As the name suggests, the team at Bouchon des Filles is all-female and I gather that they wanted to do something slightly lighter than a traditional bouchon. We didn't visit any traditional bouchons, so I can't make a direct comparison, but the food served here was very good, the portions generous but not overwhelming, and at 25 euros it's seriously good value. It wasn't rowdy but everyone except the girl sitting next to us seemed to be having a good time. I'm glad I went, but generally I'd rather pay a bit more and go somewhere where the tables aren't packed in quite so closely.

Afterwards, we walked back to the hotel and spent the rest of the evening watching the kitsch-fest that is the Eurovision Song Contest. I can think of worse ways to spend a Saturday evening.