Daniel & Denise Saint Jean - Bouchon Lyonnais — Restaurant in Lyon

I ate at the Daniel et Denise Créqui restaurant approaching ten years ago, when friends living in Lyon took me there. It was one of their 'locals' and it must have been Joseph Viola's early days as I believe Créqui only opened in 2004. I remembered the meal so lovingly that upon my planned return to Lyon I determined to try his new outlet in Saint-Jean.

I had booked a table a month in advance and it seems just as well that I did, as I believe every seat in the three dining areas was taken by 7:30pm. There seem to be two settings -- 7pm and 9:30pm -- and while I don't personally like this rigid kind of structure, I am sure I would adopt the same strategy if I was successful enough to warrant it.

And Daniel et Denise DOES warrant it!

The idea is a simple one: take the classic regional dishes and produce them to the best of your ability, with the freshest and most carefully sourced ingredients, and with your own personal input to the structure and flavours of the food. This is what Viola has done at Daniel et Denise, and it works -- for me at least -- brilliantly.

Success brings the crowds, the foodie tourists (like us), and the two seatings for dinner; so the tables are packed in tight, and the clientele hails from across the globe -- although there were many French customers too. But it all seems to work, as the main reason for being here is the food and wine, and the convivial conversation that naturally occurs when being fed so well.

For the record, we chose L’Escalope de foie gras de canard chaude poêlée and Omelette du curé avec queues d’écrevisses for entrees, followed by La Volaille de Bresse and La Cervelle de veau. The brains were the weakest dish, but everything is relative, and the food sparkled. I must add that my dessert choice of Les Petits pots au chocolat et madeleines tièdes au miel was possibly the finest chocolate dessert I have ever had....I just didn't want it to end. And my partner's L’Île flottante aux pralines was pretty outstanding, too. Unfortunately, I forgot to note the wine we selected, but I know it was a white with sufficient body and fruit to handle the flavourful food we ate.

The service staff have been chosen carefully and trained exceptionally well. They know all about the various dishes, and understand wine. Despite the challenge of serving a fully seated restaurant sitting, they managed to always be available when needed, and to maintain a balance between professionalism and friendliness.

Reviews of Daniel et Denise and its food are mixed, as is always the case with serious restaurants. But in my view, it deserves greater recognition. I have eaten at a number of Michelin starred restaurants that produce a much more mundane experience.

A sublime evening. Great memories. We...

Short Review: Lovely bouchon experience without feeling like you're a tourist who's just a number.

Longer version: Over the years bouchons in Lyon have become more of a put on "bouchon experience" that panders to touristic expectations of the experience. In the process food quality in general has gone down and prices have gone up while service has gone to the dumps.

Daniel & Denise is a put on experience, but it's unapologetic about it. This is a great meal in the style of a bouchon, but they're not pretending to be one. This place offers bouchon food in a larger place. It looks like 3 bouchons stuck together for size. You're still placed on tables where you rub elbows with the table next to you, but the service is delightful and the food is excellent.

We had the €33 menu du saison, which was perfectly balanced Lyonnaise affaire - the best way to finish off 8 days in France.

We started with a cold pea soup with a poached egg inside it for the missus and a delicious terrine for me. Both were excellently prepared and served quite quickly.

We moved on to the mains swiftly, and we were both delighted with our choices. Mine was an excellent boudin (the Lyonnaise-style tripe sausage). I've had a few over the years, but this was outstanding. It burst with flavour and was served in a wine and mustard sauce that really complemented it. My fiancée had a Pike and Prawn quenelle - not much of a looker, to be honest, but she swears it tasted delicious. We were served excellent potatoes and what seemed to be a gratin of pasta to go with them.

All in all it was a rich and hearty dinner which we washed down with a couple of pots of Macon Villages white, and followed them with Colonel's sorbet - a couple of boules of lemon sorbet that's doused in French vodka.

Our only little complaint was that the AC was not coping with the hot summer night, so if you're going in Summer just make sure to wear the lightest...

The food: The main dish, beef, was completely blunt and tasteless. The desert equally tasteless and also burned on the edges. Since I was hungry I ate the beef and potato anyway so therefore I paid and would've paid even if they had offered to compensate me for this terrible experience. But they didn't even have the decency to offer that. When he, the boss, according to one of the waiters asked that one of us had complained I told him the truth. But he shamelessly charged me the full price for all. My purpose for the honesty was to help them realise their coocking mistakes as I had good experience from this city in my previous visits many years ago. But I doubt he got it.

The sraff: young and untrained. One took the order, the others came with the food. They didn't even know who had ordered what. Below average service.

For a restaurant that boosts so much about having received so many rewards, it's horrible. Complete waist of money and time. I wish I just had gone to bed hungry that evening. It ruined my experience of Lyon.

Advice to all: don't go there.

It's a pity that politely forwarded honest feedback is taken as "insulting remarks". The food was bland and I was not the only one thinking that. I was just the only one who cared enough to let you know. As for other remarks in the written feedback, it is just...