Hello! Thanks for your loyalty. I’m in the 6th arrondissement of Lyon
with chef, Olivier Belval.
Hi, Olivier. - Hi, Odile.
Olivier has his own bistro.
My food is friendly, bistro cuisine, a little that of an innkeeper,
which is a bit like me.
LYON TOQUE BLANCHE CHEF
On the front of your restaurant, it says, "Market cuisine."
That's because we have just the one menu which changes every week,
and, unlike all the other chefs,
or sadly, all the other restaurateurs,
I go to the market twice a week.
Some restaurants have cooks who don’t cook,
but only heat the food up.
At any rate, none of the chefs invited on Goûtez-Voir do that.
And today, that's Olivier Belval.
Will you show us your restaurant? Let’s go!
HAVE A TASTE! PRESENTED BY ODILE MATTEI
Hello, Damien! - Hello!
Damien, my collaborator for the past four years.
A loyal collaborator and the brains of the outfit.
Ok, so Brains, what kind of clientele do you get here?
From 7 to 77 years of age.
Epicureans who like to eat.
Lunch and dinner? - Yes.
Lunchtimes are more about business but we get all kinds in the evening.
HEAD WAITER
Good for you!
Do you like art? Are you a collector? I can see paintings, sculptures...
Paintings, sculptures, miniature stoves, Michelin Guides...
It's a nice passion which takes up a bit of time but gives me pleasure.
We'll talk about all that on Goûtez-Voir. - With pleasure.
What was this place before? - It was a Lyon meeting place
where politicians, cops and gangsters met up to spend time together.
Wow! It's a bit different today, isn’t it?
Well, they might be there!
Not for the same things, though!
I suggest we hear about this episode's favorite place.
Jean-François Mesplède will tell us about Mon Bistrot à Moi.
Olivier Belval is a nice guy. I’ve known him for about 20 years.
COLUMNIST LYON RESTAURANT GUIDE
He’s truly generous
and, although his restaurant is called Mon Bistrot à Moi,
it's his bistro but it’s also his clients’ bistro.
The clients feel at home.
There is country terrine on the menu, leeks with vinaigrette,
and pork loin with St. George's mushrooms.
All the dishes make your mouth water.
Many chefs think that, when they're cooking,
they're in another world.
They're think they're creating works of art,
whereas I think of it as more short-lived.
He does his job well, with generous dishes,
dishes that sometimes evoke childhood
and, in these difficult and complicated times,
coming to this restaurant is almost like making friends with life again.
Is this your moment of pleasure and relaxation?
I relax at weekend. I come bargain-hunting, trying to find...
Guides!
Guides, miniature stoves, utensils and copper items.
ANTIQUE DEALER
How many exhibitors are there here? - 50 or so stalls.
Catherine, my dear, how are you? - Olivier!
How are you? - Super.
Roland's here too. - You’ve brought some fancy people!
Hello, Odile! - Hello.
Are you well? - Very well.
You know the best guy in Lyon. - Really?
Yes, if you're behind all this. He's the best.
Let’s go see the lovely Jeannine who finds miniature stoves for me.
Here's a fabulous little object.
Look, you can open it up and play house.
They’re kids’ toys.
You can put water in. They’re real little cast iron toys.
And that’s where you pretended to put the dish.
Look at that, it’s fantastic. It’s ceramic.
This one’s really beautiful.
It’s another era. - Come and see my Aladdin's cave!
Hello, Jeannine. - There are plenty things here.
Did you find any miniature stoves?
Look how beautiful this one is.
That one's shabby.
Well it’s like a toy from the 1930s or 1940s.
There’s one behind you too!
Look at that with the little pans and the little grater.
I'll bet many children played with it.
These little pans and utensils...
That's copper.
Elisabeth Germain, a painter of kitchens and stoves.
Is that how I can describe you?
Chefs and brigade leaders, too.
PAINTER
They are slices of Lyon life and, very naturally,
I also pushed open the bistro doors and entered the kitchens,
thinking that things happen there and that there are nice people around
who are working, but who are also artists.
Did you the kitchens a fascinating world?
Yes, extraordinary things happen.
There are artists in them, but also,
military discipline reins. It’s crazy.
During service, at peak time, nobody talks anymore.
Orders are given out
and you can no longer catch anyone's eye.
They completely avoid you and, when it's all over,
they become human again and come back down to earth.
TÊTE D'OR MARKET, LYON 6TH ARROINDISSEMENT
A lima bean grower!
Look here. We have small carrots.
Did they grow in sand or soil?
These are the first to come out of our fields
which are silty and sandy and very good.
I also have small, white turnips.
You really need the right soil for these.
He even found some wild asparagus
which is impossible to find nowadays.
There is some mustard and red chard here too
and garden cress. Lots of good things.
This is a specialty. - It tastes of mustard.
Well, it is mustard.
My hands tell you everything.
Show me your hands, come on.
They tell you everything.
I shake hands at work.
Definitely with men, but not so much with women.
That's how you sense the level of enthusiasm.
So?
I really felt it!
Does that smell good? - Great.
Moroccan specialties.
Oh, there he is!
How are you? - Very well.
Well, it's a pleasure!
Pleased to meet you. - Me too. Are you OK?
Yes, we’re just back from the market.
We must be going, we’re shopping.
Bye. - See you soon.
Aren't you coming in? - No, thank you.
We’ll be back for tea and a pastry. - OK.
Bye. Thank you.
Hello, how are you, Olivier? - Great.
You’ve a lot of friends around here.
It’s a wonderful neighborhood. It's so friendly.
There's not too much animosity, we try to help each other.
You work together. - We're partners and friends.
Hello Max! How are you? - How about you?
Fine.
Ah, my Florence Perrier! How are you? - Hello, Olivier!
He says that to all the girls!
It's so nice of you to come and see me.
Yes, he’s the lady's chef.
Hello, Odile!
Did you both go to the market? - Yes, the outdoor one.
We got the food for lunch. We're ready!
Maybe you should get going?
Don’t worry, we’ve got everything we need to spoil them.
So, Philippe is a friend as well as your butcher?
His emphasis is on the product and quality, in all simplicity.
So, which products?
Fatty chicken livers.
The color is much lighter.
BUTCHER LYON 3RD ARRONDISSEMENT
For our cake, there’s nothing better and you can’t always find them.
We’re lucky to find them today.
Is it because he’s your friend? - Well, indirectly maybe.
Are we having any? - We are. 2 lbs, please.
Are traditional butchers dying out?
It’s difficult.
There's a high demand and too few...
Too few young trained butchers? - Exactly.
The job doesn’t attract many people. - Why?
It has a lot of pressure in relation to our life today
and it's not really in tune with the youth of today.
There’s room for everyone.
See you. - Thank you, Philippe.
Goodbye.
Olivier, which recipe are you planning to show us?
I'm going to make a dish from Lyon,
a chicken liver cake with a crayfish bisque,
wild asparagus and field mushrooms.
What do we need to make it? - We need chicken livers,
béchamel sauce made with butter, flour, milk and cream
and eggs, sandwich loaf, a bit of garlic and some flat leaf parsley.
We'll make a crayfish bisque to go with it,
using crayfish, garlic, basil,
carrots, onion, celery, garlic white wine and tomato paste.
So the first step is the bisque? - Yes.
We have to gut the crayfish
because their intestines taste bitter.
So, we do the same with all the crayfish.
I’m adding the herbs
and browning it.
Odile, pass me the little creatures.
Are they still alive? - Still alive and beautiful.
Get them nicely browned.
Next, we add some white wine
to cover them,
There you go, Odile.
Water and
tarragon
and you can put the tomato paste in.
This will make a fine bisque.
Now, we'll let it simmer for an hour.
Let’s move the bisque so that we can prepare the béchamel.
A really basic one.
Let's start with...
The butter.
Let it melt without browning
and then add the same amount of flour as butter.
Then I add...
Some milk? - Exactly.
And I add some cream.
Our béchamel is ready.
Why haven't you seasoned it?
We’ll do that later. - OK.
Next...
What’s that? - Small cubes of bread.
We'll add some chopped parsley.
So, the béchamel sauce
is the base and we put it aside.
We’re going to put our chicken livers in here,
with half a garlic clove
and three eggs. - Our three eggs.
I add it all to the béchamel sauce.
This is our grandma's liver cake recipe.
Let's fill the cases.
Thanks, Odile.
We fill the little ramekins
and then cook them in a 100°C bain-marie for 30 to 45 minutes.
Now we'll salvage a few crayfish tails.
We have a few bits of crayfish flesh.
Next we'll take...
...our crayfish and cooking liquid
and put them through a strainer
and we'll press it all down.
Go on, Odile.
Great.
Is there still some flesh on some of them?
Some still have flesh on them. All the taste is in the heads.
We've saved
the cooking liquid which we'll reduce down
and we'll add crème fraîche to it.
It smells good, doesn’t it, Odile? It's pure joy.
As we said earlier,
we can sleep well at night knowing we'll make people happy.
The cake is cooking.
The bisque is ready, so we'll prepare the garnish.
This morning, I found some small wild asparagus at the market.
For greens, always use salted boiling water and never put the lid on.
Leave it for 3 minutes.
Look, the asparagus has kept its color
and we’re going to cool it in ice water.
And, in the hot butter? - I'm adding the mushrooms.
I'm just browning them.
Add a little wild asparagus.
Go ahead.
Look, it’s like in the fields: some grass and the mushrooms underneath.
The restaurant is a bistro
and I think a bistro needs to stay
quite simple.
We need to get back to real cuisine
with real produce, because that's the main thing.
THE RECIPE CAN BE FOUND ON france3.Fr IN THE GOÛTEZ-VOIR SECTION
It's just like my grandma’s liver cake. - That makes me happy.
Here's to Mon Bistrot à Moi. Thanks, Odile.
ALCOHOL ABUSE IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH CONSUME WITH MODERATION
Well Jean-Marc, we’ve known each other for years now
and this is one of your cheese suppliers,
but, most importantly, a friend.
A very close friend. - Exactly. For over 20 years now.
We work together at the restaurant.
and we serve the cheese either hot or on a cheeseboard.
Did you make the Cervelle de Canut with... - With Jean-Marc’s cheese.
His cottage cheese is rather dry
and it has more consistency than cheeses from elsewhere.
You say, "He made it," but you know that he doesn't make this cheese.
Yes, we all know but he doesn’t want anyone to know!
That’s not the story. His wife, Christine, makes them
and she really doesn’t want anyone talking about her.
She's too shy, yet she works really hard.
But everyone knows it. - Exactly.
How big is your flock? - We have around 200 sheep
distributed between three families
and 3 lambing periods so we can produce all year.
CHEESEMAKER
Do they have all this space around your property?
Yes, there are roughly 20 hectares around the buildings
and the sheep can go out to graze.
Today is a lovely day and they can come and go as they please.
So, how do you sell all this cheese? At markets?
Restaurant owners, cheese mongers
like Mrs. XXX buy it.
and we sell it on the farm every weekend.
Do you also breed poultry? - We have farm poultry
and our private clients come and buy the poultry here.
What do you think of the chef’s cuisine? - Olivier is my culinary icon.
When I need to cook something, I ask Olivier.
What about his dog, is he a canine icon?
Not at all.
The day he went to the dog show,
I told him he'd be wiser to break a leg! - That is very true!
But he is adorable! - And we love him.
He was here earlier...
Oh, here he is again. Everything is fine.
How about some sustenance before we go back to Lyon?
With great pleasure.
I’d like to taste this one here. What is it?
The Berger plat is rennet curd.
Here we have Petit Séverin which is a lactic curd.
And this is Crottin with the fresh variety here
and the refined one there.
This is sheep's milk Tomme which is also a rennet curd
but refined for three months.
And this is Cervelle de Canut which we make using our cottage cheese.
It's a Lyon specialty made with chopped fresh herbs.
And lots of love. - And lots of love!
This is an innovation. It’s sheep's milk yoghurt
topped with Beaujolais jelly.
We've mixed the yoghurt with Beaujolais,
whereas usually we eat cheese with a barrel of red wine!
Let's try it.
Let’s get some sustenance before we hit the road.
We have an 11 mile drive.
And we’ll be meeting some very close friends.
It's delicious.
SCULPTURES BY MARCO GAZELLI
Olivier, right through this episode, we've seen how generous
and friendly you are and what's important to you is
the atmosphere that you create with people,
especially with your friends, and your friendships are very strong.
Cooking has brought me into contact with interesting and intelligent people
and, right in front of me, are two people who are invaluable to me
and who are quite like minded to me.
So, when you recognize yourself in someone else
it's very much about giving to receive.
Are you going to introduce us? - This is Olivier Paget
who, for me, is a brilliantly successful chef.
He started out in fine dining
and now he's more like a bistro chef
who makes a lot of exceptionally beautiful and complex dishes
with a great emphasis on wine.
And Grégoire Baratier from Le Jean Moulin
who is full of youth and energy.
He’s very young and I'm really happy to witness his success
because, as a young chef, he doubted himself a little
and now his doubts are disappearing.
If the student can surpass the master, it'll be a major success for us.
So, being Olivier’s friend?
It’s very easy to be his friend
because Olivier is a man who likes people
and funny and interesting experiences
and he always shares splendid things with us.
LYON TOQUE BLANCHE CHEF
Olivier was always asking us for information on things,
like these slates,
things that have now evolved.
So, they were your idea. - Yes, don't be shy about it!
So, you’re not competitors, you're friends.
We’re complementary. - That's exactly how they are.
How about the youngster,
who is growing up nicely?
So, being the friend of a 50 odd year old chef
with great experience... Is he your shoulder?
LYON TOQUE BLANCHE CHEF
Yes, he's my support, my shoulder
and a companion.
So, you’re all part of the Lyon Toque Blanche society.
Our fine Toque Blanche society
which is a club.
I think our strength is mutual respect
and, when you respect one another,
you get ahead.
Isn't quality also indispensable
if you are a Toque Blanche member?
What I like about Olivier and Grégoire here
is that they're chefs who still work in the kitchen, that's our strength.
We may not evolve in the same way other chefs do,
but we still enjoy being in front of our stove from morning to night.
It’s a great pleasure.
Is he a role model?
Yes, he's a role model and he's exemplary.
So, keep on growing! - Yes.
Thanks for your input.
Thank you for being here. And long may it continue.
Long may we continue together!
So, there are your friends and then, there’s the team you work with.
My team is really important to me.
If I didn’t have the support of Damien
who’s been with me for 12 years, I probably wouldn’t be where I am now
because Damien has always been there through the hard times
and through the good times that we now share at Mon Bistrot à Moi.
I think that a team is...
Is he the dishwasher? - No, we're the dishwashers.
What do you mean? - At 50, I still wash up every day.
Damien is the head waiter but he cleans the floor and toilets.
We are here to keep the restaurant going and make our clients happy.
That's why I thank my team, whether kitchen staff or dining room staff,
for understanding this, because, otherwise, we are nothing.
Thanks for being the way you are.
It’s nice meeting renowned chefs like you who still do the washing up.
That's just swell.
Thanks for the compliment.
It’s funny because lots of my customers are shocked by it.
Shocked?
Shocked in a good way.
I often do the washing up because it's the most thankless task
and I don’t want my staff doing it too often, so I do it.
Then they say: "Are you still doing the washing up?"
And I say: "Hold on..."
It's not a big place and we don’t have that much space.
Maybe one day we’ll be able to afford to employ a dishwasher
but I don't mind.
If it's OK with you, Olivier, with those words, I’d like to end
this episode of Goûtez-Voir dedicated to Mon Bistrot à Moi.
Thank you, Odile. Good luck with the program.
Bye, thanks for your loyalty. See you very soon.
Bye.
Subtitles: Babel Subtitling - babelSUB.be