Bocuse

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A House with a Hundred Years of History

In 1924, Georges Bocuse — father of the legendary Monsieur Paul — established himself in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, in the restaurant of his in-laws, which he would go on to own outright by 1937. A plaque at the entrance still reads "family-run since 1924," and that quiet statement tells you everything about the spirit of the place. Paul Bocuse himself trained under la Mère Brazier and then Fernand Point before going on to help put Lyon firmly on the world's gastronomic map. The restaurant that bears his name celebrated its centenary in 2024 — a milestone that few dining rooms anywhere can claim.

The house's recognition by The World's 50 Best Restaurants, appearing in both 2006 and 2007, underlines a reputation that extends well beyond France. It is the kind of standing earned not through trends, but through decades of uncompromising standards.

Tradition in Motion

Paul Bocuse was fond of Anthelme Brillat-Savarin's maxim: "To invite someone to dinner is to be responsible for their well-being for as long as they are under your roof." That philosophy remains the animating force of L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges today. Eighty people devote themselves every morning and evening, five days a week, to ensuring that each meal feels like a genuine celebration.

The team — led by chefs Gilles Reinhardt, Olivier Couvin and Benoît Charvet — includes two Meilleurs Ouvriers de France and a World Champion of Desserts. The kitchen itself has been entirely renovated: dazzlingly white walls, gleaming copper moulds above every workstation, and a standard of precision that matches the aesthetic. The first-floor salons have been transformed into sophisticated showcases. The restaurant is now flooded with light. As the house puts it with characteristic confidence: "Everything has changed, but nothing is different."

The Experience of Arriving

The vivid pistachio and raspberry façades along the Saône are immediately recognisable — a deliberate signal that something exceptional lies within. In the courtyard, tributes to some of France's greatest chefs who passed through Bocuse's orbit — Antonin Carême, Alain Chapel, André Pic, Raymond Olivier — set the tone before you've even sat down. Attentive staff receive your vehicle, take your coat, and guide you to your table. The scents drifting from the kitchen do the rest.

Whether the occasion is a birthday, a proposal, a business dinner, or simply the desire to return to a place that never disappoints, the restaurant frames every visit as a celebration of French cuisine at its most alive and purposeful. Private rooms — the Salon Fernand Point, Salon Paul Bocuse and Salon Raymonde Bocuse — offer intimacy for those who want it.

This is not a place resting on its legacy. It is a place actively reinventing it.