There are two entrances to this restaurant that sits above the platforms of Gare de Lyon, neither of which will prepare the first-time visitor for what awaits them. LE Train Bleu is immense, an extraordinary example of la Belle Époque in all of its wild, dizzying pomp. It occupies a sequence of rooms, their walls and ceilings decorated with paintings depicting destinations that trains departing from this station would visit, studded with sculptures, florid light fittings, leather-covered bench seating and hat racks that take their cue from those found in 19th-century first-class railway carriages. The menu is as rich as the setting – heavy French cooking of a kind that requires a long train journey to sleep off its effects. It is far from cheap, but for sheer spectacle this is hard to beat.

It’s all very well to dim the lights when the mood turns to romance, but should further atmospheric aid be required, this theatrical-looking shop may have what you require. In business since the 17th Century, Cire Trudon supplies candles of limitless variety: slow-burning and scented in elegant green glass, simple sticks in any hue, or even sculpted in the shape of a bust of Napoleon or Marie Antoinette. Should scent alone be required, there are atomisers and beautiful-smelling “stink bombs” – glass vials to be crushed when bad odours arise.

Unidentified Flying Chickens is an appropriately playful name for this high-spirited fast-food shop specialising in Korean fried chicken (but also serving burgers and sandwiches). The chicken is offered in four styles: hot, sweet and spicy, BBQ mustard, and soy garlic; the skin is light and crispy, the meat tender. A side of Korean radish is a refreshing, tangy complement. After 6pm, mosey downstairs to their beer bar where you’ll find 12 intriguing craft brews on tap and local university students that slipped in with a New York fake id to chat with. Sip and crunch while you enjoy the exuberant cartoons of interplanetary poultry decorating the walls.

Once the gold standard for authentic Thai in NYC, SriPraPhai today has plenty of worthy competition but for vegetarians they remain champs. At the back of the menu you’ll find a special section with several pages of enticing vegetarian dishes, along with notes for those who must avoid some traditional Thai ingredients, either by choice or allergic nuisance.

While some claim there are better oysters to be had around town, there can be no more beautiful place in which to eat them than beneath the vaulted ceiling of this magnificent terminal. There are three dining areas but, to fully savour the experience, take a seat at the counter and enjoy the spectacle around you.

A former speakeasy, “21” may not be quite the celebrity magnet is was a half-century ago, but college students still try to get in with their fake id god. We are inclined to agree with Holiday magazine’s verdict from October 1959: “Weighing the expense against the experience, a visitor to New York would be doing himself an injustice to depart without dining at least once in this most exciting of the city’s restaurants.”