Guy Lassausaie, located 13 miles from Lyon, is a large modern building with a good sized parking lot across the street. It seemed to have been built in a circular design with various size dining rooms off the center circular hallway surrounding the kitchen. A large comfortable waiting area holds small tables, deep chairs and wood floor whereas the dining rooms have large widely spaced tables on carpet. No music is in the background, tables are set with white clothes and napkins, some display cases and art decorate the rooms. Noise level is non existent and yet your conversation feels private. It is well lit with a combination of ceiling lights and wall fixtures. One large table is in the center of the room for service and ours was decorated with beautiful large red flowers. Our room had two mantels but no fireplaces underneath. The windows to the outside were covered with shades. Service was good and the greeters even came out to the car with umbrellas as it was raining. The menu offered 4 tastings as well as an a la carte section. We chose the Discovery Menu which was a surprise tasting of 5 seasonal courses chosen by the chef, not necessarily on the menu. Pacing was a little slow and the portions size was variable. They have a 2 Star rating with Michelin.
The amuse bouche was in three bowls – calamari and grapefruit with a squid ink crisp, foie gras and mango and chestnut mousse. All were tasty but mildly flavored. The different textures and colors made a nice assortment to spark your appetite.
Bread service was an assortment from which I chose a baguette. It had a good crisp crust and the interior was not of all white flour but I don’t know what gave it the slight color. Regardless it was quite fresh with a good chew to the inside.
An eggshell held a rich broth filled with chunks of mushroom. It was delicious. On the side was a thin crisp covered with greens and herbs. The greens were the lesser part but the crisp added a perfect texture to the egg’s contents. It was quite good and left a fine aftertaste.
Spider crab was surrounded with an “American” emulsion. There was a lot of crab in the thick, but not at all pasty, sauce. There was some avocado cream on the bottom that blended in nicely as did some bits of sugar peas, bits of angel hair pasta and fava beans. It was a very nice melding of flavors, not so much textures, with a good taste.
Scallops cooked in brown butter were with pumpkin puree with cardamome and cuttlefish ink juice. The perfectly cooked scallops were divided by a rectangle of cheese souffle and sitting on a flavorful swirl of pumpkin puree. The squid ink was turned into crisp pieces that brought texture to the meal.
Fillet of red mullet was Demi-Deuil with citrus (stuffed), alongside barigoule Jerusalem artichoke (braised with onions, garlic and carrots in broth of wine and water) and truffle juice. The perfectly cooked fish had a nice crisp skin flavored with chunks of citrus. Black quinoa was in the heavily reduced sauce and gave a little pop to the texture and tangy taste. It was very nice and quite tasty.
A citrus agrume (“sour fruit”) ice cream was a transition course. It was a fruit ice cream that was very smooth and not too tart or sweet but very refreshing.
Roasted loin of lamb was served with a spicy shoulder cromesquis (minced meat in a croquette), season’s vegetables and Malabar pepper juice. The vegetables included morrels, snow peas and fava beans. A roasted garlic was alongside the meat. The rare lamb was tender and had good flavor that was enhance by a terrific sauce. Even though the vegetables were repetitive they were well seasoned and tasty. The fried ball of well done meat was good.
The cheese course was your selections from a cheese cart. They came with a roll of walnut bread. I particularly liked the Swiss cheese that was shaved into a flowery piece. Otherwise I enjoyed some local hard cheeses and and a soft one.
An array of sweets came after you selected your choice of dessert. It included a custard and orange cream that was cool and tasty. A praline tart was made with crushed local candy favorites and very sweet, a Paris brest was rich and heavy, the Madeleine was a lemon cake variety and an almond butter that was a large crisp piece filled with almond bits. It was really crisp, sweet and almondy.
For a main dessert we tried Pineapple carpaccio with star anis, which was thin slices of pineapple under coconut cake, and topped with mango ice cream, more fruit and a delicious butter cookie. The generous portion of pineapple and the mango ice cream were bursting with flavor. The rich crisp cookie was a great contrast. This was a terrific combination of ingredients and flavors.
Black Forest Cake was a special that evening and laid out in long rectangles of chocolate, cake, cream and cherry jam topped with dollops of chocolate and seasoned cherries. Alongside was a scoop of cherry ice cream. The cherries were quite good but otherwise the pineapple dessert was the better of the two.
