Thus is my first visit yo a Michelin Star restaurant since the spring of 2019 so it has been a while. My visit to Mere Brazier was for lunch.
Mere Brazier has four menus for lunch service. The first is an a la carte menu. The second is a set lunch tasting menu. The third being the Eugenie Brazier menu and the last was a full tasting menu. I opted for the Eugenie Brazier menu.
As I was dining solo I decided on having glasses of wine instead of the wine pairing or a bottle. My first glass was a blanc de blanc Champagne from Girard Bonnet. My second glass was a Condrieu from Yves Cuilleron. This wine was quite young but possessed some wonderful flavors without being to heavy or oily as many viognier can get. My third and final glass for the lunch was a glass of Chorey les Beaune from Tollot-Beaut. This wine was absurdly fresh and was drinking like it was just bottled showing wonderful cherry and strawberry notes.
The service is quite traditional. One of the more interesting things for me is that the atmosphere was quite a bit more relaxed than I was originally expecting.
The opener was a chicken Pate en crout with cherries. This is a traditional dish from when Eugenie Brazier was running the show.
To follow up the Pâté en Croûte we had some bread. Thrre was a country bread made from rye and a white bread. Both were served with a butter from Brittany and oil from Provence.
Shirtly after the breads arrival we have the amuse bouche. This dish is a mackeral with coconut milk, avocado, radish and beans with a chili oil. The Mackerel was absolutely lovely. I was informed that the sauce and flavors were inspired by flavors from Peru.
Following the amuse bouche we have the first course. I opted for the spider and brown crab with caviar. A solution lovely. On my first taste I simply smiled . The slight briny and salt notes of the caviar with the soft and rich crab was spectacular. And the sauce it was served in just helped those flavors shine.
My second dish was the artichoke and Fois Gras. It has been an absurd amount of time since I had Fois and it didnt dissappint. The fois by itself has such a ridiculously good flavor. There was also an almond and pistachio crust to the fois which helped bring some texture. The artichoke was no joke either with fried artichoke pieces for texture as well. Absolutely spectacular.
Thr third dish I opted for was a crispy pike mouse with Brittany blue lobster in a Nantua sauce. Normally this dish would have crayfish but there was not delivery that morning so they opted for lobster. The lobster nantua sauce is spectacular. Like a lobster bisque but even more concentrated. Toasty, nutty flavors. There was a jelly that I couldn't place the flavor of but was quite interesting. When I asked they said it was a Vin Jaune jelly. Lovely combination of textures and punchy flavors.
Dish four was an interesting one. I settled on the milk fed lamb with stuffed tripe. Incredibly soft lamb. I dont think I have ever had lamb that soft. The stuffed tripe was the best experience I have had with tripe (which isn't saying much). Crispy and I believe filled with a lamb sausage. The Vera pepper in the sauce stood out quite well against the rest of the course although it didnt play too well with my pinot noir choice.
Before we got to dessert the staff brought out a palate cleanser. It was an olive oil biscuit with raspberry, passion fruit parfait and some royal icing. That passion fruit ice cream was something else. Such a strong fruity flavor that leaves you wanting more. Add in some mint and some raspberry is other worldly. I could just eat that and be a happy camper. Light and full of flavor. Extremely fresh raspberries.
Dessert was a bit of a doozy. I decided I wanted to stay seasonal and went with the vanilla and rhubarb souffle. I didnt realize all that would come out with that choice. There was the souffle which was quite light and packed with flavor. That is the lightest souffle I have ever had. Beautiful vanilla bean flavor. Nice tartness from the rhubarb. It was just cooked through and held its shape when eating it. But there was so much more that came with it.
There was a second plate that came out with some poached rhubarb and a rhubarb coulis. That one was quite tart and was a welcome wake up from the sweetness of the souffle. The rhubarb with the cream was a delightful combo. Cut the tartness quite nicely.
Also brought to the table was an almond pastry with rhubarb parfait. Another way to showcase some lovely rhubarb. At this point I was feeling the sheer volume of food I had eaten by that point.
Lastly there was some smaller bites. Of which there were two varieties. The first was a rhubarb, white chocolate and olive oil biscuit. The second was hazelnuts and blackberry sesame. I feared that after all the other desserts that I would be struggling to the end but I was surprised how light almost all of the desserts were. Black sesame though is absolutely spectacular as well but bit as fresh and light as the rhubarb.
To wrap things uo there was a little coffee service with some Madeleine, caramels, and nougat. A wonderful way to wrap up the afternoon.
Next time i find myself in Lyon I will have to stop by again.
by Vista_Fanboy