Le profil de Alderade sur Qype

A revolutionary breeze blows through the café 203 located on the rue du Garet near the opera and townhall. This very French bar/restaurant has a great spirit of camaraderie, it reveals a little wooden terrace and also offers the good old classics of a great aperitif and cheese, bread and a ham selection. This bar had already amazed me with its delicious and subtle ‘plat du jour’. It should also be mentioned these days for being one of the few places that stills allows smokers inside. There are big pictures of cigarettes on the wall, pamphlets on the glory of the liberty of smoking and signs informing non-smokers about the resistance of this little Lyonnaise bar that set the tone. The café 203 also takes its revenge on the law because for years it’s had the “tobacco-free café” next door. There’s a great dissident atmosphere, and a nostalgia for the years of smoking…it’s just a shame that it’s a little small.

The Barberousse is the perfect place for a quiet night out with friends. You can enjoy delicious shots for 2 euros each, and in the same way there are all the flavours in nature, there are all the flavours in their shots! The music is nice and varied and the décor makes you think of pirates of the Caribbean. You can pass a pleasant evening there as long as you don’t lose your coat because there’s no cloakroom, or risk coming on a private student’s night.

When you want to dance salsa and to drink good cocktails, you have to try the Mi Bario. This famous place of Lyon has been refurbished some years ago and now offers a restaurant/bar/dancing room. You have lessons for beginners and experienced dancers so you can learn latin dances basics. Everything could be perfect in the world of salsa but unfortunately the place gets so crowded it’s sometimes difficult to dance even in the week time. It frequently happens you can’t go in and they just let the regulars in and when you get in most of the people really know how to dance and the regulars only invite girls who can dance up to that level. I still think you should try it in the beginning of the evening for cocktails and dance lessons (especially if you already know how to dance).

Chez M’man is probably one of the best bouchons (traditional restaurants in Lyon) thanks to its good value for money and large selection of traditional dishes. For €10 you get a starter and any main course on the menu. Typical salads of Lyon, andouillettes, frogs, poultry pâté, quenelles and other hallmarks of traditional cuisine are available for our pleasure. It’s the ideal place when you want to eat typical food from Lyon and are on a budget. I really liked how warm and friendly the serving staff and the cashiers were.

We finally found a place where beginners and friends can go and dance in the latin way. Friends can go and be sure they’ll be invited for a dance and have fun. You have to cross the place and go upstairs. The atmosphere is relaxed, you can hear salsa reaggaeton or any latin music. You have to pay a small fee to get in but the good evening you’ll have definitely worth it. Unfortunately, cocktails are not what you would expect.

A well-known restaurant in Lyon, the Arrosoir is a recommended place to eat out with friends without having to pay through the nose. The Arrosoir offers a selection of salads, omelettes, briks and fricasses accompanied with the sauce of our choosing, all in a warm building located right in the town centre. Though the place may be a bit crammed on the weekend evenings, you will certainly come back to sample all the specialties the chefs have to offer. The only blackspot is that the dishes may be too small to satiate someone with a healthy appetite.

In the series of my critiques of places for salsa dancing in Lyon, I couldn’t pass by the Café Sevilla. This bar with Spanish decoration offers, as well as delicious Sangria and good tapas, dance classes for beginners and experienced dancers. The atmosphere is good although because of a the lack of dancers the class can turn into a class of solo choreography. The bar also offers karaoke evenings. On other evenings the music very often Latin can also go through more commercial and classic hits that are appreciated all the same. The café Sevilla has recently been redecorated and as I’ve not been back since I can’t say if they’ve solved their little space problem.

Finally a famous chocolate maker you’ll get used to. Voisin treats you with specialities of Lyon (coussins, quenelles) and chocolate quoits. It’s the perfect place if you’re looking for a simple gift anyone would enjoy. I also really like their range of tea and coffee and their professional advice. Considering the quality, it’s not very expensive and it’s easy to push the door and buy some sweets.

When you want to eat sushi it’s difficult to know where to turn. The Matsuri offers a good compromise between relatively correct sushi and a restaurant that’s quite fun with a conveyor belt that goes around the room and from which you can take what you want. Couples or groups of 3 are sat in a line facing the belt and can see the chefs make the sushi in front of them. Bigger groups can get a table. At the end you pile up the plates you’ve taken and the bill is made up according to the colour of the plates. Unfortunately the bill can be a bit steep in the end. I have often tested the take-away dishes that I recommend for sharing when in a group as the price is still a bit high.