With its revamped lounges and fashionable onboard menu, Eurostar continues to evolve rail travel into a high-end leisure experience. Robbie Hodges reports

Eurostar, the high-speed European rail network, has been significantly evolving its Premium offer in the past year; the latest development being the redesign of its lounges in Paris and Brussels, unveiled in June 2025. 

Both of the new spaces have been designed by Chris Bagot Architects with sustainability in mind, featuring tasteful furniture sourced from local design studios. The Paris lounge evokes the atmosphere of a traditional Parisian cafe, with black and white tiled floors, a backlit magazine display and oak panelling.

The developments build upon earlier innovations in Eurostar’s F&B offering, rolled out in November 2024. Since then, guests travelling in the train’s Premier class have been treated to an onboard menu prepared by onboard chefs and designed by a trio of high-profile tastemakers. 

Jeremy Chan, the two Michelin star chef behind Ikoyi in London, designs the seasonal menus, the most recent iteration of which features dishes such as baked salmon with grilled red peppers and aubergine, red pepper sauce and marinated spinach, or peppered green bean salad, spiced tomato, pepper and caper sauce, potatoes and black olives. All food is made from seasonal ingredients sourced from countries dotted across the Eurostar network. 

The same is true of the onboard wines, which have been selected by the natural wine connoisseur Honey Spencer, and exclusively comprise bottles from sustainable-certified vineyards. Meanwhile, the renowned French pastry chef Jessica Préalpato, former head pastry chef at the Plaza Athenée, creates desserts. Current confections include peach, apricot and sweet clover baba, and honey, pollen and fromage blanc cake.

“By reinventing the onboard culinary experience, making it more innovative, daring, and environmentally friendly, Eurostar is presenting itself as a destination in its own right,” says Eurostar CEO, Gwendoline Cazenave.

These enhancements add competitive pressure to the short-haul aviation sector. While consumer concerns surrounding aviation have been primarily environmental, a number of high-profile disasters (the crash of AirIndia’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner most recently) and whistleblower accounts from both Boeing and Airbus have eroded trust in flying. 

But studies show that aviation apathy isn’t simply an anxiety response. In IATA’s 2024 report, research found consumers across the globe are growing dissatisfied with various touchpoints in the flying customer journey – the onboard experience, border control and baggage collection, being three.

This frustration is reflected in the growth of the private terminal market, with brands like aether and Flexjet  making inroads in Europe. These terminals function like private lounges, not only providing high-end F&B but also the added benefits of expedited security checks and convenient, lounge-to-aircraft taxis.

As consumer disillusionment around aviation coalesces, innovative rail providers like Eurostar are swooping in to offer a compelling transport alternative – one that is leisurely, convenient and experiential.