Paul Bocuse again, 24th May

On Sunday evening, we revisited L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges. This time we had a better idea of what to expect. Rather delightfully, they put us at the same table we'd been at before. I immediately felt at home.

This time, we were having the serious Grande Tradition menu, which we'd seen most people having on the Friday night. A sign of the attention to detail in this place is that instead of the guacamole etc. amuse-gueule which we'd been given on Friday, and which most people were getting this evening, we were presented with this little lobster delicacy instead. It was wonderful. Some have apparently questioned why the lobster comes from Maine, but G told me that American lobster is sweeter and that certainly seemed to be the case here. It was one of the highlights of the meal.

Next up was this duck foie gras, which came with a particularly delicious crisp on top. They ought to sell these in packets and I could start an import business.

To drink, with the first few courses we had this Meursault 1er cru Les Boucheres from Deux Montille, the brother/sister operation consisting of Alix and Etienne de Montille. We thought this was maybe a premier cru we hadn't had before, but consulting my trusty spreadsheet just now I see we did have one from the 2000 vintage but with a strangely-unspecified producer, six years ago, which received a 7. This one was from a much better vintage and was very enjoyable.

The next course was this truffle soup with a pastry lid. It seemed to be the same pastry as the sea bass the other night, which pleased us. This time I was determined not to eat it all (and we'd resisted bread rolls at the start) in order to save space for later.

The soup was very fine, almost like a consommé with small chunks of beef and big pieces of truffle. I thought it would go very well with some Sercial.

Then it was the fish course, this sole on a bed of noodles in the most amazing cheesy sauce. I absolutely loved this, it was my favourite thing out of everything we ate. Again, the fish was cooked how we like it - not semi-raw - and that sauce! Once again, the only challenge was to leave some on the plate. But I didn't want to end up completely stuffed like I was on the Friday, so discretion prevailed.

A Beaujolais sorbet acted as a palate-cleanser halfway through.

On to the red wine - G picked this Chambolle-Musigny 1er cru les Feusselottes 2007 from the Meo-Camuzet negotiant operation. We're both fans of the Feusselottes from Domaine Felettig and this had a distinct similarity, being very elegant and mature. The sommelier told us it was their penultimate bottle.

As there was a little pause at this point, I entertained myself taking a photo of this thing on the sideboard in the corner. I thought maybe it was a duck press like the one at Otto's, but G thought it was more likely to be a citrus press. If anyone actually knows what it is, I'd be very interested.

Finally, our main course arrived. Check it out! It was a chicken cooked in a pig's bladder, which is the sort of thing I can never tell my mother about. The American couple across the room had also been quite horrified by the concept until the waiter told them "you don't actually eat the bladder". I'm guessing that the balloon-like nature of it means that the moisture stays inside.

This was what we actually got to eat. Note large quantities of morels. It was as good a piece of chicken as you could hope to eat in your life. We idly wondered what they did with all the leftover legs and bits and pieces - you can come back for a second serving, but I doubt whether many people do. We assume the staff meals here must be pretty enjoyable.

On to the cheese course. I was delighted by this Roquefort guillotine. Every establishment worth its salt should surely have one of these! That reminds me - on several occasions the hurdy-gurdy in the room next door swang into action and played a jaunty little tune. We think it may have been some sort of Happy Mother's Day song, as although Mother's Day was the following weekend, some parties seemed to be celebrating it early.

G managed these cheeses. I just went for Comte and Roquefort on this occasion. If I'm brutally honest, the cheese at L'Auberge was a slight disappointment. I've had better elsewhere. But it's a small complaint coming after all those amazing courses.

As a pre-dessert we were given this little chocolate mousse. When I saw them coming out, I thought "that's what I want for pudding" and then we all got one anyway! It was the Platonic ideal of chocolate mousse, and the perfect size. For pudding I did in fact manage another of those red fruits in Beaujolais numbers that I'd had on Friday. Then I was done.

So, the verdict on this restaurant... it's a truly special, surreal experience. I've never been anywhere quite like it. They do what they do, they've been doing it for years, and they do it very well. If chicken served in a pig's bladder isn't your kind of thing, don't go there. I certainly got the impression that for at least one couple, it wasn't their kind of thing - they sat there being grumpy all evening. Also, it's not the sort of place where you're going to find fashionable food, or lots of vegetables. But who cares when there is the most amazing pastry, properly-cooked fish and divine cheese sauce?

Paul Bocuse himself is now 89 and no longer cooks here himself nor was he doing the rounds saying Bon Appetit to everyone. In some ways I prefer it like that, as I'm there for the food, not the cult of personality. But this restaurant is a monument to a particular style of cooking, and it doesn't depend on the great man being in the kitchen. They have a lot of talented people, and I understand that many of the staff have been there a long time. The place runs like a well-oiled machine. Sometimes it's easy to take consistent excellence for granted.

G and I were discussing it the other night and he made a remark about how the food wasn't as good as Taillevent which I could not allow to pass. The food at Taillevent was very good (the spelt risotto being the highlight, weirdly) but looking back on it a year later, for me the highlight of Taillevent was getting to drink some Coche-Dury Meursault. It's hard to say what was the highlight of L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges as so much of it was amazing, particularly the fish, the pastry, and the sauces. And the lobster. And the chocolate mousse. And that crisp thing. Our second visit was even more fun than the first and I can't wait to go back.

Paul Bocuse, 22nd May

I think the key thing to bear in mind when visiting L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges is that the last time anything new happened here was in 1975. It's a complete timewarp, and some things that were perhaps acceptable back then still go on today, even though forty years later they might cause one to raise an eyebrow. For example, the taxi door was opened for me by a man dressed in traditional bellboy costume, who seemed to be of North African origin. There were at least two of these bellboy chaps, which I knew about already from perusing the interwebs, but in this day and age it does cause one to wince a little, especially as all the other staff seemed to be white.

However, soon our minds were on other things. Going through the little arch, this is the sight that greets you. Once inside, we were welcomed by about a hundred maitre d's and waiters ("Bon soir, madame" etc.etc.) and shown through a dining room and up a staircase to the first floor. The room we were in contained six well-spaced tables, a mixture of couples and foursomes. It was quite cosy, with paintings of the restaurant on the wall. Our table wasn't close to any of the others, so we didn't spend the evening listening to other people's conversation, and we had plenty of room. Also, we were facing each other, which I found more comfortable than the bus-stop seating arrangement at Taillevent.

On this occasion, we were having the Menu Classique which is the one for cheapskates, at a mere 160 euros. Almost everyone else seemed to be having the Menu Grande Tradition, which we had when we went back on the Sunday night, and which I'll write about in another post. Last year, when we went to Taillevent, I didn't take photos, but at Paul Bocuse everyone was merrily snapping away so it seemed acceptable.

First up was this very pretty amuse-gueule which consisted of a fishy thing, a sort of guacamole, and a gazpacho or possibly cream of tomato soup. They were all wonderful in their own way, like a Platonic ideal of each.

To drink, we started with this Pommery Cuvee Louise 2002 which provided good age and richness as a foil for what came next. We were impressed at how youthful it seemed, suggesting that the cellars here are very good. One of the main purposes of the trip had been to view the wine list, which isn't on the website, to see what goodies were on offer. It turned out to be substantial but we didn't find any undiscovered bargains lurking and there was no exciting bin end list. G thought that since it's such a big restaurant, and open twice a day every day of the year, they have to offer wine which they can get in quantity, although we speculated that maybe if you go often enough, you get to see the special secret list.

For our starter, vegetarians look away now - we both had a duck terrine with foie gras. This was served with a slice of sourdough and a slice of brioche. The sourdough worked especially well with the terrine, and we guzzled away happily.

With our main course, G ordered a half bottle of Puligny-Montrachet 2008 from Domaine Leflaive. We had a few words with the sommelier about Madame Leflaive who died a few weeks ago. She was a visionary wine-maker and I have particularly fond memories of her Bourgogne Blanc 2002. The Puligny was delicious, as good as you'd expect, and went very well with our next course.

Which was one G had been talking about for months beforehand, the loup en croûte feuilletée, sauce Choron. Sea bass in pastry, in other words. This came as a giant pastry fish and was then dished up. It all happened so fast, and I was too shy to stand up and get a good view, so I missed the chance to take a picture of the whole fish. However, you can see the scales and little fin that I ended up with! This was really excellent - the fish, which G noted with pleasure was properly cooked - none of this half-raw stuff here - the amazing buttery pastry, and the sauce, which is like a bearnaise with extra tomato. The only problem with it was that I for one ate too much which impeded progress later, but it was too delicious not to.

With our cheese, we had this half of Chateau de la Gardine Chateauneuf-du-Pape, in the spirit of trying to drink at least one local wine. As Chateauneuf goes, this was a good one, but I confess that the southern Rhone isn't my favourite, and I think G maybe liked it more than I did. It was a decent choice under the circumstances.

The cheese trolley arrived, but no Epoisses was in evidence - dommage! Saint-Marcellin is all the rage in Lyon, so I had some of that, some Comte, some Roquefort and something which looked the closest thing to Epoisses which we were told was "winemaker's cheese" whatever that is. It was enjoyably pungent.

A tray of petits fours appeared, but we were too full to make much of a go of them, as we were trying to save space for pudding. We'd heard that there was basically an unlimited pudding selection. I'm sure this is true, if you have the space and the inclination by this stage of the evening. I only managed two.

I'd thought this was summer fruits in jelly, but they turned out to be in Beaujolais instead, and I suspect that a hefty dose of sugar had been added. They were very good and something one might be able to make at home, if one had access to fruit of this quality.

 

Also, this creme brulee which was excellent.

Proceedings were interrupted by the sound of a hurdy-gurdy coming from the next room playing Happy Birthday to a lucky recipient. Again, I was glad I'd done my homework, so this was not entirely unexpected, but it was rather hilarious and charming.

To round off, we had coffee and a glass of Calvados, served in a generous portion. Indeed, this is not one of those places where, to quote my father, you need to stop off for a bag of chips on the way home. At the very least, the bread roll offered at the start should certainly be avoided, a lesson we implemented when we went back on Sunday.

We spent a few minutes outside looking at the tableaux of chefs through the ages, before getting a taxi back to our hotel. It had been quite an experience, and I was looking forward to going back!