https://unsplash.com/photos/vLoqSYzcjB8

Best Places To Eat Near Gare De Lyon

You won’t need to go off the station concourse if you find yourself feeling hungry after getting off a train at Gare de Lyon, but you’ll be missing out if you don’t. Yes, no one can disagree that some of the best places to eat in Gare de Lyon itself are out of this world. Think premises with frescoed ceilings, gilded chandeliers, and Michelin-starred menus that will leave you saying ooh la la, or something similar when you get the bill. 

You don’t need to spend so much to get a decent meal. There are plenty of down-to-earth brasseries with sidewalk terraces close by the station with more reasonable prices. There are restaurants where you can sit and while away a couple of hours, as well as coffee shops and bakeries where you can grab a snack to eat on the go while sightseeing.

Whatever your plans for eating near the station, it’s hard to enjoy the true Parisien culinary experience when you’re carrying heavy bags. The solution is to drop your suitcase off at a Gare de Lyon luggage storage before eating your way through the city.

Where Are The Best Places To Eat Near Gare De Lyon

From the sublime to a humble sandwich, read on to discover where the best places to eat near Gare de Lyon are, then set off to find them and enjoy the fantastic French and international fare they have to offer.

Aux Cadrans

Aux Cadrans is the brasserie to head for if you want to eat somewhere with a traditional Parisian feel to it. Aux Cadrans is only a three-minute walk from Gare de Lyon, so you’ll be sitting at a table under the awning watching the world go by before you know it.

This brasserie is a delight of wood paneled walls, varnished wood furnishings, and elaborate artwork inside which gives it real eye appeal, but the best spot in the house is definitely the terrace. The food they serve is pretty typical, too, and as they open from 6 am until midnight, you can get breakfast, lunch, or dinner here.

Location:

21 Boulevard Diderot

https://unsplash.com/photos/oWGYtS7ife0

Entre Les Vignes

Should the popular terrace tables of the Aux Cadrans be full, then it’s just a few paces further to the equally as good restaurant, Entre Les Vignes. It doesn’t get more classically French than Entre Les Vignes. It even has those old-fashioned, but still stylish, typical bistro half curtains hanging in the window. Think diner-like with banquettes, placemats on the tables, and chalkboard menus, and you’ll be thinking along the right lines.

Entre Les Vignes closes for siesta between their lunch and dinner service. They’re rigid, as many French eateries are, about service times. Lunch is from noon to 2:30 pm, and dinner is 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm. Don’t turn up at the wrong time or you’ll be shown the door. Don’t expect sophisticated food here. What you’ll get is rustic and hearty French food like duck breast or steak prepared simply and served without faff.

Location:

27 Boulevard Diderot

https://unsplash.com/photos/zIJfhf0VSvw

La Viaduc Brasserie

Head out of Gare de Lyon, and rather than taking the Boulevard Diderot, go in a different direction, and after a four-minute wander, you’ll come across La Viaduc Brasserie. As the name suggests, this brasserie occupies the arch of a viaduct and is in a quiet scenic spot that’s ideal for outside dining, weather permitting.

The La Viaduc Brasserie is a casual, friendly place where you sit just for a coffee, indulge in an afternoon aperitif, or their happy hour if you arrive around four o’clock. Here the menu veers away from traditional French as they offer more international dishes like pasta, pizza, burgers, steaks, and salads as well as a selection of sharing plates and nibbles. For central Paris, the prices here are exceptionally reasonable, so it’s well worth walking in this direction.

Location:

43 Avenue Daumesnil

Kitchen & Bar

With a name like Kitchen and Bar, you might expect this Paris eatery to be a fast-food restaurant that serves drinks as well. It’s not, and far from it. Kitchen and Bar is a modern gourmet bistro, or bistronomique, just two minutes from Gare de Lyon.

While Kitchen and Bar seems to lack imagination name-wise, the menu certainly doesn’t, nor does the bright yellow and black décor. The menu isn’t huge by any means, but what they serve is in a class of its own. Recommendations for lunch include the club sandwich or courtyard burger, and for dinner, the salmon meuniere. Here, they also adhere to classic French restaurant opening hours, so don’t expect to get fed between 2:30 pm and 6 pm.

Location:

209-211 Rue de Bercy

https://unsplash.com/photos/R3iAcQxylmE

Cafe Barge

If you can handle a ten-minute stroll without fainting from hunger, the Cafe Barge is a not-to-be-missed eating experience. The Cafe Barge is exactly what its name implies – a cafe on a barge. The barge has been decorated inside with some serious French flair, including glitter-back pink chairs and purple lighting. If that sounds slightly overwhelming to you, you’ll probably prefer to take a table on their riverside terrace.

The views from both the barge and the terrace are impressive, as you can see both the city and the river at the same time. Here they offer a type of set menu common in the French capital that means you get to choose two dishes, a starter and main or main and dessert or a single dish, for a fixed price. Lunches are decently priced, but their dinner menu is a little pricier.

NB: It’s not the ideal place to go with children. They have one set menu for kids, the price of which will probably make your eyes water, especially if you have more than one youngster to feed.

Location:

Port de la Rapée

Conclusion

You don’t need to go far from Gare de Lyon to get great food. It’s a good idea to check restaurant opening times on the internet before you decide where to go, though, as they can vary from place to place. There’s nothing worse than arriving somewhere to be told the service is over, so try to avoid that disappointment if you can.