Le Train Bleu

The restaurant of the Gare de Lyon, where the TGVs to and from Barcelona come and go: gilded rooms, traditional French cooking and flambés at the table. If you don't want an expensive meal, the bar is open from 7:30 to 22:30 and a coffee is enough to see the ceilings.

A 1900 station buffet

It was built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle, the work of Marius Toudoire, the architect of the station's facade and clock tower, and was inaugurated in 1901 by President Émile Loubet. In 1963 it took the name Le Train Bleu, after the luxury train from Paris to the Côte d'Azur. Since 1972 the restaurant room, the golden salon, the Tunisian and Algerian salons and the corridors have been listed as a historic monument. Paintings, lamps, gilding, wood and leather banquettes remain as in 1900. It has appeared in films such as Nikita.

The cooking

The menu, drawn up with Michel Rostang, is classic French cooking: dishes in sauce, stews and broths, meats carved at the table and flambéed in front of the customer. It is an expensive meal; the house sells gift cards of €210 and €324 for two people, which give an idea of the price of its menus. Updated menus are on the website.

Bookings and hours

The restaurant is open every day from 11:15 to 14:30 and from 19:00 to 22:30. The house warns that there are fraudulent websites: book only on its own website or on TheFork. To get there, go up the stairs from the main concourse of the Gare de Lyon, facing the platforms. The bar, in several small salons, serves without booking from early morning.