What 6905 DialAFlight clients thought of Europe

We loved the hotel, our room with balcony and the place. Thank you so much for your suggestion and recommendation

Fantastic service and support throughout adding a sense of security to the trip. I received friendly advice and back up from Jay some years back and also from Jessica

Thanks to Marie Mckeown for putting together a stress free and memorable holiday to Iceland

Noah was very helpful and knowledgeable

Very personal service from all the team

I had issues when checking in online to allow our group of four to sit together.

You are all brilliant! I already knew this, but I can confirm it again. Nicole's support as always continues to be fantastic!

Thanks Billy, we had a wonderful time. Hotel was wonderful, great staff, comfortable rooms and great food at their restaurants.

A great holiday if a little tiring

When we did find problems checking in these were quickly renedied by Manny.

Everything went to plan

Always excellent

All went very well: excellent apartment in a lovely city. A great antidote to the English winter…

Amazing experience from start to finish. Ivor and his colleagues are simply exceptional. Keep up the good work.

Scandic Hotel recommended and was great. Flight connection on return was a rush but made it.

We had a BA City break ruined by a bomb - and needed to find a break for the same price within 20 hours. Ian as always came up trumps.

From first phone call to every arrangement requested. Everything happened perfectly with Sean and Oliver guiding the process. Thank you for making it happen and giving me assurance when concerned, you are brilliant!

Have already recommended

Unfortunately our flight was delayed 8 hours at Heathrow termimal 5 because of fog - all very frustrating but no one's fault. It's a risk one takes when flying

Big thanks once again to Jack and his team. Five star service - wouldn't book anywhere else.

Always a great service from Samuel

Always very helpful and fast to respond - Colin Barlow very helpful in particular.

Everything went smoothly and as expected.

As always brilliant!

Howard suggested a wonderful holiday within our means. The accommodation was good with loads of activities and places to go.

Thank you Troy. Would highly recommend

It was a shame that our flight was cancelled by British Airways coming home. But Des sorted it out. We had a lovely time in Copenhagen and we are all looking forward to booking our next trip

All went very well. Jonathan always looks after us

Appreciate the help and confidence you gave me booking this holiday….have used many times in the past

Up to the usual high standard.

Culinary capital

Lyon, the culinary capital of France

Giles Milton revels in a gastronomic extravaganza (except perhaps for the cow's foot) in a city that has the finest food in France

Lyon makes you fat - or can do if you don't follow the advice of celebrity chef Raymond Blanc. I happen to be travelling on the inaugural Eurostar service from London to Lyons in the company of the Michelin-starred owner of Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons.

He's a passionate ambassador for Lyonnais cooking, with good reason.

France's third largest city has a staggering 16 Michelin-starred restaurants and stupendous food markets - as well as Paul Bocuse, France's most celebrated chef, who is still - at 89 - turning out the very finest quenelles de brochet, a delicate mousseline of local freshwater pike.

But how to avoid getting fat? 'Never eat the whole head of a cow,' says M Blanc. 'Concentrate on a few parts, like the ears.'

I soon find myself dining on food cooked by a master of Michelin cuisine, Anthony Bonnet, head chef at my hotel, the Cour des Loges.

In the candlelit courtyard restaurant M Bonnet suggests a menu de dégustation. Fresh asparagus accompanied by a buttery oyster broth. Then exquisite cod, infused with cinnamon. The pink lamb and rosemary is swirled with wild hazelnut oil.

Cheese follows - including cellar-aged tomme from the nearby mountains, and a sticky Burgundian epoisses.

Gastronomic rendezvous in Lyon

The next day I visit Les Halles Paul Bocuse, the food market. I've come to have a cooking lesson with chef Philippe Lechat, but first he offers me a tour of the various stands. Stallholders here are sages whose advice is received with as much reverence as if dispensed by an Old Testament prophet.

Back at Philippe's class, he sets me to work on a fresh tuna and mango timbale, showing me how to chop, de-seed and then rub the vanilla into the tuna until we have a mixture that tastes like some heavenly Pacific island.

There's more to Lyon than food. There's the cobble-and-clock-tower old town; the city art gallery (with Picassos and Matisses) and the startling new Confluence Museum. There are boat trips along the city's two rivers, and trendy rooftop nightclub Sucre.

The city also has homespun bistros, where Lyonnais cuisine was born.

There's blood sausage, cow's feet and pig muzzle, terrines, pickled herrings and flageolet bean salads.

Tomorrow I've booked myself into another Michelin-starred restaurant. Lunch is unlikely to be cow's feet or even cow's ears. But if it is, they'll doubtless be carefully balanced with Chablis, cream and an artful twirl of citrus.

First published in the Mail Online - October 2015

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