What 6725 DialAFlight clients thought of Europe

Harrison was very responsive each time I contacted him - even the day we left to travel home. Great service, courtesy call before we left - will definitely use again!

Always amazing service from Cameron - I recommend you guys to everyone

You saved our trip in the face of a total nightmare. Thank you!

Micky Patten was fantastic, super helpful, friendly and efficient. Our holiday was fantastic

Every stage of my trip to the USA was expertly put together. Assistance in place, lovely hotel, all flight seats were aisle, as requested. DialAFlight will be planning my next trip.

Always brilliant, make it all so easy, hence we always come back!

Sarah Hole and her team are fantastic! I so recommend them. They give you confidence

Thanks Adam for the excellent service as always

Thanks to Tara for arranging assistance through Malaga airport for our son in his wheelchair. When we arrived at Malaga airport there was a clearly marked intercom near the entrance to the terminal for disabled passengers. When I used it, the person I spoke to checked our son’s name was on the system, asked us to stay there and within 10 minutes an escort arrived in a buggy to transport the whole party through the airport from check in, through security and straight to the gate. Very impressed!

Neil and his team were all so helpful. We could not have managed the trip without their help. AND they answered the 'phone quicker than any other company that I have had the misfortune to ring in the last 30 months!

Fantastic service as always, especially Troy

Always excellent service

Sean Furnival was his usual outstanding self

Paul Jones and his team are excellent. I will be using you guys again for my next holiday.

Lucas is a star! Always gets it right

Paula was brilliant and a credit to your company

Matt Power is a legend

Super-satisfied. Many thanks.

Amelia Beecham looked after our recent Portugal trip. She also booked my Toronto trip earlier in the year. Both trips were fantastic. Accommodation was brilliant. Everything ran smoothly. Amelia was superb!

Have used you guys for several years and would not consider using anybody else. Brilliant all the way.

Efficient and informative. Would highly recommend

Bruce was always available and dealt with any queries immediately. He also contacted us before travel to wish us a happy holiday

Very informative - lots of updates. Very helpful and friendly - would definitely recommend Danny Sharma.

Everything went according to plan. Thank you so much Patrick

Perfect service as always

Fantastic service from start to finish! We had an amazing holiday

Very responsive from the outset; quick to provide documents and responses to questions. Would definitely recommend. Thanks to Teddy and Les for making it all run smoothly

I will certainly use you again! Thank you so much

Ed was so professional and friendly. Would never book with anyone else.

I thought the pre holiday attention was great and given the amount of variables involved in my trip to several Greek Islands - logistically it was great. I would say there was some inconsistencies in hotel qualities though as the only caviat. But I appreciate it was a fairly tricky itinerary and was overall a fantastic holiday

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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