Everytime I've been to France, I usually end up with some sort of a stomach problem. I think I've finally pin-pointed it to eating fish. One of the meals we had while in Lyon this summer was at La Tour Rose and I had fish. And the next day, I had stomach problems.
I don't know what it is about the fish in France. Maybe there's not enough mercury in the fish there, I really don't know. Oh, the fish we had at La Tour Rose was very good, served with some vegetables with a cream sauce. But each time I've had fish in France, the next day it's "Outta my way! I gotta go!"
Once again, one of the major problems in traveling with a large group is that you usually don't get many - if any - choices for dinner. It's usually a pre-determined menu that is offered for large groups. This time it was either a choice of chicken or a sea bass filet. Chicken just didn't sound good to me, so I went with the fish. While the fish was very tasty, it was a bad choice.
La Tour Rose is a combination hotel and restaurant in the old section of Lyon just over the Rhone River conveniently located on Rue Boeuf, or "Beef Street" (see map). It has a wonderful bar area on the street level next to the check in desk for the hotel. The restaurant is on the second floor and features a wonderful outdoor terrace. Our group, due to its size, was seated in the restaurant and not outside. Too bad as it was a beautiful evening in Lyon.
The restaurant/hotel is housed in a building that was used in the 16th and 17th centuries as a textile manufacturing facility. This is a picture of the tower where silk was made at the top and allowed to flow to the bottom. I took this picture during my walkabout in the old city of Lyon in 2006. This tower is where La Tour Rose (The Red Tower) gets its name from. Little did I know that in a little over two years I'd be back here eating at the restaurant.
Actually, the area in which La Tour Rose is located is populated with a number of great little cafes and restaurants. As I've said before, Lyon is the gastronomic capital of France and Europe. There are just hundreds of great little restaurants all over the city. It's very difficult to find poor food in Lyon.
While the food at La Tour Rose was wonderful, the next afternoon I made a note to never have fish again when I go to France. For me, it's better to go hungry than have to endure the stomach problems again and again from eating fish in France.
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