Eat in Lyon

What to Eat in Lyon Today?

Search Lyon dishes by craving — cervelle de canut, le mâchon, quenelle de brochet and more.

6 dishes worth going out of your way for in Lyon, 2 of them vegetarian. Each one lists where to eat it, because the dish and the room that does it well are not the same question.

Leave room for Tarte aux pralines.

Le mâchon and Saucisson brioché are a breakfast thing here, and sell out by mid-morning.

Popular cravings


6 dishes

Cervelle de canut — vegetarian Lyon dish

Cervelle de canut

Veg

Fromage blanc beaten with chopped chives, parsley, shallot, garlic, salt, oil and vinegar until it is light, and eaten cold with bread or a boiled potato.

€6–10

Best around: Rue du Major Martin, Presqu'île and Rue Pizay, Presqu'île

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Le mâchon — non-vegetarian Lyon dish

Le mâchon

Non-veg

Not a dish but a meal: a plate of charcuterie — rosette, jésus, sometimes tripe or a quenelle — with bread and a pot of Beaujolais, eaten mid-morning, sitting down, in a bouchon.

€20–30

Best around: Rue Tramassac, Vieux Lyon

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Quenelle de brochet — non-vegetarian Lyon dish

Quenelle de brochet

Non-veg

Pike, egg and a flour-and-butter panade beaten to a paste, shaped into a long oval and poached — at which point it swells to several times its raw size — then baked in a crayfish sauce until the top browns.

€16–26

Best around: Rue Guynemer, Ainay — across the Saône from Vieux Lyon and Rue du Major Martin, Presqu'île

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Salade lyonnaise — non-vegetarian Lyon dish

Salade lyonnaise

Non-veg

Curly frisée dressed in a mustard vinaigrette, with bacon lardons, croutons fried in the same pan and a poached egg on top that you break so the yolk becomes half the dressing.

€10–16

Best around: Rue Guynemer, Ainay — across the Saône from Vieux Lyon and Rue du Major Martin, Presqu'île

View Salade lyonnaise
Saucisson brioché — non-vegetarian Lyon dishMild

Saucisson brioché

Non-veg

A whole cooking sausage — often pistachio-studded — poached, wrapped in brioche dough and baked, then cut into thick slices and served warm.

€5–12

Best around: Rue Guynemer, Ainay — across the Saône from Vieux Lyon and Cours Lafayette, Part-Dieu

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Tarte aux pralines — vegetarian Lyon dish

Tarte aux pralines

Veg

A pastry shell filled with pink pralines — almonds coated in cooked sugar dyed a deep pink — melted down with cream into a thick, sticky, brilliantly coloured filling.

€4–8 a slice

Best around: Rue du Major Martin, Presqu'île and Rue Tramassac, Vieux Lyon

View Tarte aux pralines