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The Train Bleu restaurant at Paris Gare de Lyon, ideal for lunch between a Eurostar from London and a TGV to Nice, Milan, Zurich or Barcelona. Book a table online at www.le-train-bleu.com. |
Lunch in Paris at the Gare de Lyon?
Journeys from London to the South of France, Italy, Spain or Switzerland often mean a morning Eurostar to Paris and an onward afternoon TGV from Paris Gare de Lyon. Consider booking an earlier Eurostar & having lunch at the celebrated Train Bleu restaurant inside the Gare de Lyon, on the main concourse in Hall 1. Originally the Gare de Lyon's grand buffet opened in 1900, it's decorated in a sumptuous art nouveau style, see www.le-train-bleu.com. Anyone who's anyone has dined here, from Salvador Dali to Coco Chanel and Brigitte Bardot...
The set 3-course menu costs around €65 including a half bottle of wine, the food is excellent, the surroundings spectacular, truly an experience in itself. You can book a table online at www.le-train-bleu.com, although you'll often find a table free if you just turn up.
Don't worry about your luggage. The restaurant has a large secure cloakroom, your luggage will be taken by the hostess at the entrance and you'll be given a numbered luggage tag. If you can't manage the steps from the concourse with luggage, there's a small lift in a passageway accessed from the station forecourt, it just takes a bit of finding. As you stand on the concourse looking at the steps up to the Train Bleu restaurant, the lift is through a passageway at the right-hand end of the restaurant.
Catching an overnight train from the Gare d'Austerlitz? Have dinner at the Train Bleu then stroll over the Seine to the Gare d'Austerlitz for an overnight train to the South of France or Spanish border.
Use the Big Ben Bar as a VIP departure lounge... A leather armchair in the Train Bleu's peaceful Big Ben Bar section is far better than a cafe table downstairs on the concourse - it's not the cheapest coffee or beer, but the bar offers comfort, tranquillity and bags of character. Consider it your VIP departure lounge!
The Man in Seat 61 says: "This place is special, and beautifully, authentically French. I ordered a Rum Baba for dessert, expecting the feeble confection served in most British restaurants. A bottle of fiendish Martinique rum materialised on my table. The waiter reappeared, carrying a generous sausage-shaped sponge roll. Whipping out a long knife, he deftly slashed the Mark of Zorro into the sponge, and flamboyantly emptied half the bottle of Martinique rum over the top. One deliciously dangerous Rum Baba later, I finally staggered across the concourse onto my train to Nice. The Train Bleu reopened in September 2014 after a full refurbishment, the photos below are post-refurb. I'm glad to say that the place has lost nothing of its character...".
That ceiling...
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The ceiling and walls are decorated with paintings of the cities served by the PLM - the Chemin de Fer Paris-Lyon-Mediterranée. You'll spot the company's initials PLM in various places. See panorama photo. |
A meal at the Train Bleu...
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The entrance to the Train Bleu restaurant, up the steps from the main Hall 1 concourse at the Gare de Lyon. There's a lift to the right & round the side. |
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A dining room at Versailles? No, the Train Bleu restaurant for lunch before taking the train to the South of France, Italy, Switzerland or Spain... |
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Beats a burger a Luton airport, any day... |
A typical starter from the set lunch menu... |
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A main course from the set menu... |
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Rum baba. Watch out for that Martinique rum! |
The Big Ben bar: Your VIP waiting lounge!
If you can't stretch to a meal or if the restaurant isn't open, at least have a coffee, a beer and perhaps some tapas in the Big Ben Bar. Walk into the main entrance and turn left for the bar area. Make sure you gaze at that ceiling first! It's not the cheapest coffee or beer in the world, but consider it as the Gare de Lyon's VIP departure lounge, a great & atmospheric place to wait for your train. These photos show the bar area after its summer 2014 refurbishment, below left shows the bar's main corridor, below right one of the areas off the main corridor, namely the Moroccan room which is my personal favourite.
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Passageway tables... |
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The Moroccan room... |
...or at the Gare du Nord, try the Brasserie Terminus Nord...
If you'd like a decent meal near the Gare du Nord rather than the Gare de Lyon, try the typically French Brasserie Terminus Nord (www.terminusnord.com), just across the road from the front of the Gare du Nord. It's good quality French cuisine in classic Parisian brasserie surroundings, and so handy for Eurostar. Main dishes cost around €18-€20.