Café de quartier, a bistro and coffee kiosk at Paris's Gare du Nord

Station food in Paris tends to mean coffee chains and grab-and-go bakeries, so this one is a welcome change. Café de quartier is a joint project from coffee roaster Cafés Richard and Bouillon Service, which is known for affordable, traditional French cooking, and the idea is simply to put a proper neighbourhood bistro into a kiosk at Gare du Nord.

It sits opposite platform 12 and measures just 16 square metres, but it borrows all the right cues: basket-weave awnings, a zinc counter and a red-and-cream palette, updated with digital displays and a large screen. The counter is open, so you can watch the baristas grind beans and work the machine as you pass.

The menu runs from breakfast to aperitifs, all boxed for takeaway and designed to be eaten with just a fork. Think a butter-and-jam baguette, the Petit Parisien sandwich, sausage and mash, Dauphiné ravioli and Breton shortbread, plus a chicory latte, canned Tempranillo and dried sausage. We Heart reports prices from 2.90€ for the shortbread up to 11.50€ for the ravioli, with breakfast combinations from 4.50€, and a weekly special that changes.

Worth knowing if you're catching a Eurostar or regional train and would rather eat sausage and mash than another plastic-wrapped sandwich.

Our summary of a story from We Heart, published 20 October 2026. Read the original