The soupe VGE is a single-serving beef and truffle broth sealed under a puff-pastry dome that you crack at the table, releasing the steam and aroma of black truffle in one theatrical moment.
Where to eat it: 1 restaurant across 1 city.
Paul Bocuse created this dish on 25 February 1975 when the Elysee Palace held a lunch in his honour at which President Valery Giscard d'Estaing presided; hence VGE. Bocuse designed the pastry dome as a personal flourish, the dome echoing the shape of the palace roof above. The dish has remained on the menu at L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges unchanged since that day, and is now Lyon's most-replicated dish: every serious bouchon kitchen has a truffle broth on the winter carte that traces its DNA back to Bocuse's original.
Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy
Tip from the editors. The consomme must be at 70C minimum when you fill the bowls or the truffle aroma does not cook into the broth under the crust. Cold stock makes a disappointing result.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Paul Bocuse's L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges sits on the Saone north of Lyon, the dining room that held three Michelin stars from 1965 to 2020 and now holds one.
Order: Soupe aux truffes VGE, the 1975 dish for Valery Giscard d'Estaing, still on the carte.
Tip: A taxi from central Lyon takes 25 minutes; the suburb is unfit for walking back.
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