Its doors opened when Van Gogh hadn’t yet started painting, the internal combustion engine was in its infancy and Lyon was still in its golden age of silk. A different era, then. In other words, this place has seen a lot of pike quenelles and bribes. And yet, over 150 years later, this Lyonnais institution, like Brasserie Georges, continues to cook its apron and andouillette every day of the week. You’ve got it? Le Café des Fédérations!
The story of a bouchon like no other
Its earliest days date back to the fall of the Second Empire, the exile of Napoleon III and the proclamation of the Third Republic. In those days, no public meetings were allowed, so workers organized clandestine meetings called Fédérations. At the same time, Lyon was booming. Silk represented ¾ of its activity, with no fewer than 400 companies and as many mouths to feed. Noon, evening and, of course, mornings were filled with the famous mâchons of the Canuts, who broke bread at dawn. The Café des Fédérations experienced a turbulent first half of the 20th century, with two World Wars, the Occupation and then the change in mentalities in the 50s, but it continued to serve.
Since then, “le café des fédés” has seen a lot of people come and go, starting with Monsieur Paul, who regularly came here to enjoy the conviviality of a real Lyonnais “bouchon” that he was particularly fond of. “Lyon is a city that makes you hungry”, he once said. Perhaps this was the idea he had in mind when he entered this place, which exudes Lyon’s culture.
And what about today?
“Tout est bon dans le bouchon” (everything’s good in a cork) seems to be the anti-aging serum at Café des Fédérations, or at least its mantra. The menu focuses on the “all stars” of local gastronomy: oeufs en meurette, brioche hot sausage, tablier de sapeur, quenelle de brochet, tête de veau, not forgetting the famous tarte aux pralines, the house classic. In fact, all the local specialties are on offer. It’s simple, it’s hearty and it’s convivial, but above all it’s good: so visitors flock there and the Lyonnais keep coming back.
As you enter, the glass front window reads: “A house founded here a long time ago”. It takes a lot of bottle to thumb one’s nose at posterity like that!