We stopped at Au Lion d’Or for lunch one day, and the place was packed, without a seat or empty table in sight. No problem. Arms waved, the staff huddled, waiters bustled about, and two spaces and chairs appeared at a table where we joined some Frenchmen, a couple from Denmark, and a Brit for lunch.
We’ve taken 31 European vacations, including driving about 32,000 miles around France. Since France has more than a lifetime’s worth of good places to eat, we make it a practice to try new places-with a few exceptions, like restaurants we liked so much that we want to go there again. Au Lion d’Or is one of just four restaurants in France that we re-visit (the nearby Rendez Voss de Chasse is another).
Au Lion d’Or is not a super elegant place nor is the food refined to the ultimate degree, but it only costs half to a third as much as the places that do have those things, so that makes it’s rustic and charming dining room, with perfectly prepared simple meals, a great place to eat.
The famed Michelin Guide has two restaurant rating systems, the well known stars and a secondary category of crossed silverware. Au Lion d’Or is a perfect example of an XX restaurant, although I think it merits a red XXXX.
There is no better way to dive into the culture of French dining than eating the smoked salmon appetizer at Au Lion d’Or. Au Lion d’Or occupies the place in French culture that Denny’s does in the U.S.A. A moment’s reflection upon starting dinner with Denny’s dreary iceberg lettuce salad or Au Lion d’Or’s perfect plate of thin-sliced salmon, onion, lemon, and capers is a lifelong lesson of why the French know how to eat and Americans don’t.
The Ancel family has operated the restaurant since 1724.