From the outside, I-Way is a black box sitting in an industrial park in the suburbs of Lyon. We got there by train this morning.
Marine met us inside and was at our disposal for the day, she was a delight. I am sure you are wondering what this place is. I-Way is a total experience concept and it is mind blowing. From the time you leave the futuristic foyer, to when you emerge outside again, you have not seen any natural light. In fact when we left after six hours, we had no idea at all it had been raining outside. This link will help you understand the concept http://www.i-way-business.com/site/-Francais-.html
Marine met us inside and was at our disposal for the day, she was a delight. I am sure you are wondering what this place is. I-Way is a total experience concept and it is mind blowing. From the time you leave the futuristic foyer, to when you emerge outside again, you have not seen any natural light. In fact when we left after six hours, we had no idea at all it had been raining outside. This link will help you understand the concept http://www.i-way-business.com/site/-Francais-.html
I-Way houses 18 simulators for endurance, rally and F1 experiences that pull up to 2G. I gave the endurance and F1 a blast, they were incredible, an adrenaline pumping rush. I felt I was driving at the limit and emerged from the cockpit of my cars quite pleased with myself. AJ scoffed and dubbed me 'Captain Slow' after James May from Top Gear. Oh well, my ledgend lives on - if only in my mind. You have to be 18 to race but AJ was delighted to be able to just sit in an F1 car and race in his mind.
I was lucky enough to meet chef Jean-Christophe Ansanay-Alex, a lovely man with a twinkle in his eye and a heartwarming smile. He has the two Michelin starred Auberge at l'Ile Barbe we visited (only for a look) a few weeks ago with Lucy, and last year opened his first London restaurant which already has one star. I will hopefully visit the London restaurant in a few weeks (fingers crossed).
Chef's menu was simple and uncluttered and had a smattering of influence from different corners of the globe. It was lovely to enjoy the spices in the samosas Alex ordered for entree, we have been sticking to fairly traditional French food while in Lyon, and it was a seemingly new experience to taste spices again after so long. My entree was a light tomato mouse, the green salad on top separated from it by a disc of mango, its crown a chevre encrusted toast - hmmm.
We could not go passed the chicken for main course, Bresse chicken of course. The jus was dark and a little sticky.
Since the apple and strawberry Clafouti on the dessert menu was Jean-Chrostophe's Grandmother's recipe I just had to try it. Thank goodness she did not leave this earth without passing on her recipe. It has no doubt been tweaked a little over the years and is a gorgeous blend of scrumtiousness.
After all the hard work of car racing and indulging, we retired to the sport and spa area. We alorned white fluffy towels and floated between the hammam and sauna, cooling ourselves at the ice fountain in between. I had a leg and back massage and floated into another dimension for a while.
We stepped outside to see the road slicked with rain, it didn't come to much.
