One of the institutions in Lyon is Brasserie Georges which has been serving traditional Lyonnaise food & brewing its own beer since 1836. The founder is Alsatian, a region that has passed between French & Germany hands over history, so understandably the food & beer fondly reminds us of Germany.

One of the brilliant things about the hotel we are staying in is that it is within walking distance to Brasserie Georges!

This has to be the biggest single-hall restaurant I’ve been too. It’s a vast art deco room & bar. Though they do have private air-conditioned rooms for group bookings too. The waiters are dressed in spiffy tailored suits and bowties. The thick tablecloths are impeccably starched & pressed.

We went at 5pm on the Sunday after the Festival of lights and miraculously there was no line and plenty of tables. Maybe it’s because people have gone home or so many of them already ate here during the weekend. If you go at peak times there is usually a long line.

How lucky were we to be seated immediately? This place is family friendly and also dog friendly. The Chef even came out just to say hi to our little fluffer.

The bread is so delicious.

TD got the CONFLUENCE MENU which includes a starter – Berry Green Lentil Salad with Chives and Sherry Vinegar – a main dish & dessert for only 23.50 €. Not bad considering the sizes of the dishes.

They gave us wet towels & I’m happy to say that it’s biodegradable. Most wet towels are made of plastic so I avoid them.

We decided to be adventurous & order escargot (snails) and it was surprisingly delicious. Reminded us of seafood with lots of garlic. It took us a while to get the hang of the escargot tongs to hold the snail and then use a snail fork to fish it out. What a fun first experience!

The food smelled so good, I’m sure DiploDog was salivating. TD was giving him small pieces of bread to tide him over till he can get our left overs.

We ordered Bone Marrow with Crunchy Guérande Salt and Toasted Bread. It’s meant to be spread on the toasted bread like butter and then topped with salt. Unfortunately, it did not have that delicious smokey roasted taste that we loved in Margarita Fores’ PEPATO & Grace Park.

My order was the best IMO: Skewer of Prawns & Scallops with Lentils and Garlic Cream. Normally I would try to order from the menu of the day or any other menu to get the best value for money, but this was just too tempting for a seafood lover like me. Being from a seaside province in the Philippines, I really enjoy fresh seafood whenever I can have it. This was a treat.

TD’s main was the Salmon with Dill with Mousseline Cream on a bed of Sauerkraut which is a specialty of Brasserie Georges. He shared it with DiploBaby who loves salmon. The salmon was perfectly cooked. We loved Sauerkraut when we lived in Berlin so we were happy to eat it again. It’s their specialty so they have 4 types of Sauerkraut. DiploBaby had his Salmon with a side of French fries.

The dessert that came with TD’s CONFLUENCE MENU is the Floating Island with Pink Pralines from St Genix, Vanilla Custard. I can’t describe how delicious it was but it was a highlight of our meal!

DiploBaby’s favorite dessert when we are in a restaurant is always a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

We were driving home after such a generous meal so TD & I had espresso macchiato (a dash of milk) and it came with Valrhona chocolate. YUM.

The serving of the French Fries was so big that DiploBaby couldn’t finish it so we asked for a container to take it home. Look at DiploDog eyeing fries LOL!

The price is not bad compared to Switzerland and I would say even compared to the same quality in Makati. When eating out in Europe we usually try to order what we like on the menu of the day because it’s always a better deal.

THE VERDICT

I enjoyed our visit to Brasserie George, but I think it made a big difference that it was off-peak so the waitstaff were not too rushed. They would really take the time with us and everything was cooked perfectly.

It’s a special place where people like to celebrate their birthdays. And each time they deliver a birthday cake with a little firework topper, they turn down the lights and play the birthday song on an old musical instrument. Everyone claps! It’s so much fun!

My only recommendation is that if you eat here, don’t be like us and put it off to the last day or meal coz it’s very rich. So if you have a sensitive stomach, you would not want to be traveling so full. Another reason for my recommendation is this place is really for drinking: they have their own craft beers, or I see tables sharing a bottle of vodka with their raw oysters. It’s good if you can walk over to your hotel after and sleep it off haha.

It’s really a place for celebration and treating yourself to a rich meal. Time it so you can really enjoy it.