You ate what?! A fearless foodie’s foray into the bouchons of Lyon

Andrew picks up his beer and leans back against the red banquette seating at Le Romarin, a tiny bistro-bar in the heart of Lyon.

Over the next 48 hours, we’re planning to eat our way across this famously gastronomic city, but something is worrying him.

“I’m looking forward to the wine,” he says. “I’m looking forward to the cheese. I’m just not sure about the innards.”

Most people would see his point. Not me. I love offal.

Many of the top meals I’ve eaten have revolved around these unglamorous cuts, from haggis in Scotland to pigs’ organ soup in Singapore.

I’ve eaten roasted pigs’ trotters in Paris, tripe sandwiches in Florence and steak and kidney pudding all over England. The best of all was in Buenos Aires, at a restaurant called La Cabrera, where I gobbled fat little blood puddings, tender grilled sweetbreads and kidneys cooked with garlic and parsley.

If anywhere can beat that, though, it’s Lyon. France’s second city is known for the dizzying variety of offal dishes served in its bouchons, its atmospheric answers to the Parisian bistros. So when I discovered that Andrew, his wife, Charlie, and their two kids were off to Lyon to learn French at the start of this year, I cajoled him into letting me visit.

I arrive on a cold Monday afternoon in mid-February. My first stop is at one of the city’s finest bouchons, Daniel et Denise on Rue de Créqui, but I’m not eating. I’ve arranged to meet Joseph Viola, the 52-year-old owner and head chef. Resplendent in his whites — which bear the tricolour collar of a Meilleur Ouvrier de France, an award that recognizes France’s best craftspeople — he is the president of Les Bouchons Lyonnais, an organization set up in 2012 to protect these historic eating places.

What makes a typical bouchon? “Many things! A relaxed ambience, quality regional ingredients, simple Lyonnaise cuisine, and down-to-Earth decor,” Viola says.

There are about 70 bouchons in Lyon, he adds, but only 24 are accredited by Les Bouchons Lyonnais. Many of the most famous bouchon dishes are made with offal (les abats in French).

“Here at Daniel et Denise we have tête de veau [veal’s head], foie de veau [calf ’s liver], rognons [kidneys], gras double [tripe], but it’s not all offal,” he says. “The quenelles de brochet [a mousse-cake made with pike] is prob-

A view across the Rhône in Lyon, taken from Pont Lafayette, of the Quai du General Sarrail. Lyon has two major rivers, the Rhône and the Saone; the latter flows into the former. A stall sells offal and horse meat at the market in Place Jean Mace,...

A plate and napkin at Café des Fédérations, one of Lyon’s most celebrated bouchons, on Rue Major Martin.

WILL HAWKES FOR THE WASHINGTON POST