Dejeuner - Le Train Bleu

Le Train Bleu is located inside the Gare de Lyon station and has been in operation since 1901.



When you know what lays behind the door, the appearance of the entrance to Le Train Bleu seems a bit out of place.



The photos really don't do justice to the absolute splendour of the venue - visit their website to see some decent pictures.









It does get hard to concentrate on the menu when all you want to do is just look at your surrounds.

We always had this on our list of places to visit but hadn't actually made any type of booking - so finding ourselves in the area we decided to try our luck and see if we could get a table - obviously we were successful!



As we were studying the menu, the amuse arrived



That does look like a devil on horseback - retro but tasty and an excellent onion tart - fantastically short pastry.

For starters:


Saucisson pistaché à la Lyonnaise en brioche, sauce périgueux - Lyonnaise Sausage with pistachios wrapped in Brioche, served on Périgueux sauce

I was expecting this dish to be half this size - the Périgueux sauce was perfect, rich and luscious and heavily studded with truffles. The brioche was light and wonderful for soaking up that sauce. The sausage too was really excellent - well spiced and not fatty, with the lovely crunch of fresh pistachio.


Boudin Blanc de Rethel

This particular Boudin has PGI status and can only contain pork, eggs and milk and cannot have any breadcrumbs.

The boudin is sliced and served in a puff pastry case along with a crayfish and mushroom bisque-like sauce.


Mains:



Tartare de bœuf de race Charolaise préparé selon votre goût, traditionnel ou juste poêlé,
pommes frites et salade mesclun - Charolais beef steak tartare served with a leaf salad and fried potatoes

I couldn't not order the Tartare. It comes out unassembled and the waiter then deftly mixes it and moulds it on your plate using only a couple of spoons. I'm amazed at the speed, it wouldn't even take a minute.

The charolais meat was wonderful, beautiful flavour, excellent texture and the spicing is spot on.



Joue de beouf

Braised beef cheek, served with cabbage sauteed with lardons and red wine reduction.

Perfectly tender beef, excellent sauce, lovely cabbage - classic flavours.


Dessert

After so much wonderful food we decide to share a dessert:


Baba au Rhum Traditional

You've got to love a restaurant that leaves the bottle of rum on the table so you give the baba an extra soaking of rum.



The baba was light and well soaked in syrup - the extra splash of rum, fantastic.



The details:

Le Train Bleu
Gare de Lyon, 1er Etage
20 Boulevard Diderot
75012 Paris, France

Open Every Day:
Lunch - 1130 to 1500
Dinner - 1900 to 2300

Phone:
01 43 43 09 06

Reservations online

WEB