InCuisine in Lyon

Hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend—R and I started our Easter holiday on Friday, heading south in search of sun, great food, and adventures. The sun was shining, we had breakfast packed, and I even brought my knitting in hopes of finishing my curly-whirly scarf before summer begins. Much to our dismay our adventure started a bit slow...first, the French state decided to start road maintenance two days before Friday and the start of the long Easter weekend (the French work Good Friday but have today Easter Monday off). As a result, minutes after getting onto the Autoroute, we were stuck in a traffic jam for more than an hour! Le bouchon (or traffic jam) was so bad that many people got out of the cars and were walking around on the autoroute! However after about an hour, traffic resumed and we were on our way.

As we drove from Ain through the different villages located in the different départements, I loved watching the scenery change as we passed from one valley into another valley. I especially loved driving through the Massif Central and the Rhone River valley, where the Côtes du Rhône wines are cultivated. Of all the cities and villages we visited, my favorites were Lyon and Le Puy-en-Velay.

Our first stop was in Lyon where we had an appointment for R's paperwork. After the rendez-vous, we stumbled upon InCuisine, a bookstore/cafe/atelier that hosts cooking classes for adults and children. Months ago I had mentally bookmarked it as a place we should visit on our next trip to Lyon, but every single time we ended up doing something else in Lyon. Fortuitously we were close by this time and happened to notice a sign outside the store advertising a light lunch, which is exactly what R and I were seeking that day.

After we ordered our lunch but before the food arrived, neither R nor I could resist looking through the store. The store is neat and colorful, with a bookstore in the front selling cookbooks, restaurant guidebooks, and novels (or romans) about food and cooking. Several tables and shelves displayed ingredients (such as essential oils, gel dyes, poppyseeds, sprinkles, edible flowers, neon green pistachio powder and more), pretty cake and macaron molds, cute cards relating to food and the cook. I was also really surprised to find packaging, labels, and molecular gastronomy kits and equipment. To the middle is the main dining area that opens to an "open" glass kitchen in the rear.

Lunch was a set menu for 11.50€ which consisted of a choice of an entrée, plat principal and dessert. I chose a petit pois soup with mint, beef meatballs with rice, and a blueberry muffin. Unfortunately the mango/passionfruit crumble was sold out). R selected leek/curry soup, zucchini and goat cheese "crumble" and then the blueberry muffin.

The soups were excellent. R's zucchini and goat cheese crumble was good, but a bit salty. My meatballs tasted good at first, but after savoring it some more I realized it was too sweet and someone had added too much cinnamon. I like a meaty meatball that is held together and this one just broke apart too easily. It was more soft than chewy.

Overall I liked the concept of InCuisine, and I really liked the Swedish woman who ran the front of the store. Having lived in France for twenty-something years, she has a great French accent and I couldn't tell at first she was Swedish. I asked if she had a good recommendation for a nice restaurant in Le Puy-en-Velay; she did not but encouraged me to look through several guides, including the 2011 Michelin Guide for good places to eat at. I hope to visit again soon and maybe take one of her spring classes.

InCuisine 
1 place Bellecour 69002 Lyon, France
Tél: 33 (0)4 72 41 18 00