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Cheese counters that seem to go on forever, patisseries with macarons in all the colours under the sun, and huge stalls teeming with fish, lobsters and oysters make the Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse market, in Lyon, France, a paradise for gourmets.
The popular market pays tribute to Paul Bocuse, or the “pope of gastronomy”, who hails from the region and died in 2018.
Bocuse, who was born north of Lyon in Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or, led Lyon to the top of the culinary world.
“Bocuse is an inspiration and role model for all those chefs who love their profession,” says David Delsart, head chef of the one-Michelin-star Les Terrasses de Lyon restaurant.

Delsart serves dishes in the tradition of his grand role model in the Villa Florentine hotel high above Lyon’s Old Town.
Bocuse, the pioneer of nouvelle cuisine, has shaped modern gourmet cuisine like few others with lighter fish and meat dishes, less opulent sauces, intense flavours, and smaller portions. These enabled him to serve up to 12-course menus, offering gourmets unrivalled variety.
Bocuse was a magician in the kitchen and a gifted self-promoter and businessman. Chefs in his Lyonnais kitchen quickly became stars and part of a global gourmet empire over which Bocuse reigned supreme. From 1965 to 2019, the Restaurant Paul Bocuse held the Michelin Guide’s highest rating of three stars without interruption, before dropping to two stars in 2020, two years after the chef’s death.
Lyon, which touts itself as the world capital of gastronomy, draws on Bocuse’s fame, and the Paul Bocuse Institute (now Institut Lyfe) has trained the young elites of catering since 1990.
For ambitious young chefs, winning the “Bocuse d’Or” competition, which is held every two years as part of the Sirha trade fair in Lyon, is like winning an Olympic gold medal.

Tourists come closest to the cooking legend in Lyon’s Cité Internationale de la Gastronomie centre and especially in the Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse, which both celebrate fresh, local produce.
At the latter, delicacies can be sampled at almost every market stall. Steaks sizzle at butcher’s stalls, while sausage and cheese vendors carry platters of Saint-Marcellin cheese and air-dried Rosette de Lyon salami. Trays of fresh oysters are all the rage at fishmongers such as Chez Léon. Dozens of open wines from the Rhône region are on sale everywhere.
Bocuse loved to shop in the market in honour of the “Mères Lyonnaise”. The “mothers” ran simple inns, some of which later morphed into fine restaurants.
Their portraits in the market also feature Eugénie Brazier, with whom Bocuse trained. Brazier was the first chef whose restaurants were awarded a total of six Michelin stars: two with three each.

Despite the present absence of three-star restaurants in Lyon, there are 14 with one star and five with two, including Restaurant Paul Bocuse. There, the menu features Bocuse classics such as whole sea bass in batter with choron sauce for no less than a hefty €220 (about US$240).
The fare in the countless bouchons, or small traditional inns, such as the Bouchon les Lyonnais in Lyon’s Old Town, is cheaper. There, the menu includes local specialities such as Salade Lyonnaise, poached eggs, pike dumplings with lobster sauce, and chicken in vinegar in the style of the Mères Lyonnaise.
From Lyon’s Fourvière hill, on a clear day you can see across the entire city to the snow-capped Mont Blanc on the horizon.
The labyrinth of narrow streets in the Old Town around the cathedral is where 1,500 chefs paid their last respects to Bocuse – though he lives on in this area and far beyond.


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Food and Drinks

How legendary French chef Paul Bocuse’s legacy lives on in Lyon

French chef Paul Bocuse stands in his kitchen at Restaurant Paul Bocuse, in Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or, France, during a culinary workshop on November 9, 2012. Photo: AFP

A worker sells gourmet food at the Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse, in Lyon, France. Photo: Shutterstock

The Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse was built in 1971. Photo: Shutterstock

Traditional French cheese for sale at the Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse. Photo: Shutterstock

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Risone pasta at Venedia Grancaffe. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Ugolini says Bombana is “one of the most charming people” he has ever met, and that he has never seen his boss angry. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Stewed baby octopus at Venedia Grancaffe. Ugolini says he likes “more rustic food” of the sort he learned to cook from his grandmother and mother. Photo: Jonathan Wong

What is the Cold Food Festival, celebrated before Ching Ming in memory of a loyal subject?

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A woman sweeps a tomb during Ching Ming at Babaoshan Cemetery in Beijing. Photo: AFP

People visit the tombs of deceased relatives during Ching Ming at Babaoshan Cemetery. The Ching Ming Festival is a public holiday in Greater China. Photo: AFP

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Tofu is cut into pieces at Kung Wo Beancurd Factory. Photo: Kylie Knott

Tofu pudding, or dou fu faa, is one of the most popular dishes at Kung Wo Beancurd Factory. Photo: Kylie Knott

A stone grinder crushes presoaked soybeans into soy milk that is then boiled in copper pots at 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit) and stirred continuously to create a velvety texture. Photo: Kylie Knott

Soy products for sale at Kung Wo Beancurd Factory. Photo: Kylie Knott

Venchi employee Kinki (right) holds a cone of tofu pudding and mango gelato. Photo: Kylie Knott

Ming Court executive chef Li Yuet-faat holds a bowl of bird’s nest and tofu panna cotta from his Soy Symphony menu. Photo: Kylie Knott 

Local lobster, tofu, minced pork and chilli from Li’s Soy Symphony menu. Photo: Ming Court

Kanto sea cucumber, minced pork, salted fish and bean curd from Li’s Soy Symphony menu. Photo: Ming Court

Renee So and her father So Sung-lim at Kung Wo Beancurd Factory in 2015. Photo: Courtesy of Renee So

Deep-fried tofu puffs are made fresh on site at Kung Wo Beancurd Factory. Photo: Kylie Knott

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Bowls of wonton noodles at Mak Man Kee Noodle Shop in Jordan. Photo: Edmond So

Wonton making at Mak’s Noodle in Central. The wonton skins and noodles are made in its own factory. Photo: Edward Wong

Mak Man Kee began life as a nameless stall in the mid-1940s. Photo: Edmond So

Wong Kit-ling, owner of Shek Kee Wonton Noodles, makes the shop’s wontons fresh every week. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Genuine Lamma Hilton Fishing Village Restaurant’s second-generation owner makes wafer wontons in her mother’s memory. Photo: Genuine Lamma Hilton Fishing Village Restaurant

The wafer wontons must be consumed as soon as they are served. Photo: Genuine Lamma Hilton Fishing Village Restaurant

Lifestyle

Food & Drink

The late ‘pope of gastronomy’, whose Restaurant Paul Bocuse held three Michelin stars for 55 years, can still be felt throughout Lyon


The late ‘pope of gastronomy’, whose Restaurant Paul Bocuse held three Michelin stars for 55 years, can still be felt throughout Lyon.


France

Fame and celebrity