Pix courtesy of Virgin Trains:
IT’S 7.05am and chirpy catering assistant Chris offers a warming cuppa and recites the breakfast menu on the Virgin train heading south from Edinburgh. It’s the full English for me, but there is a wide alternative selection and, within minutes, the toast and tea arrived.
Fruit juice followed and the main event was not far behind, delivered by silver service. The fried egg is perched on top of a hash brown and two rashers of bacon. Accompanying it is a dainty black pudding, full of flavour, by the way.
Alternatives included scrambled egg and cereal. It’s a perfect way to start the day as the darkness gives way to light as we race through the Scottish countryside at around 100mph. The view was uplifting, so was the breakfast experience and full marks to Virgin as the service and food was first class.
Food on the move appears one of the key promotional thrusts as train companies attempt to encourage potential business and leisure customers out of their cars and onto the tracks. Long-haul, they are also vying with airlines for your custom on the main routes to Manchester, Birmingham and London.
And Virgin tick the right boxes. After a meeting in Lancashire I jumped on a train to London from Manchester. The menu boasted two hot dishes plus sandwiches.
I plumped for ox cheek, a rather unusual offering. It came in a rich gravy with new potatoes. They were a soggy disappointment but the cheeks – not a popular choice according to the staff - had bags of flavour. The main course was followed by a choice of cheeses. I plumped for Austrian smoked and a mile cheddar served with an oatcake and bread. The cheese was moist and flavoursome and it was washed down by a fruity red.
Both meals were thoroughly enjoyable and the speed of service also allowed me to get some urgent work done without having to worry about catching a snack on arrival.
Because of a lactose intolerance (can’t take dairy) I asked the attendant if the sauce on the ox cheek was unsuitable because of milk or cream content. He didn’t know. I gambled. Companies offering food should brief staff as people with allergies deserve to be accommodated.
East Coast have also recently launched free food for first class passengers. Their full English breakfast menu also included tea, toast, and fruit juice. Sadly, the toast has been cold on the two occasions I’ve had breakfast, and the chef doesn’t do fried eggs, only scrambled. That’s a major blow, particularly for somebody with a lactose deficiency.
And the offering doesn’t, on the occasions I’ve travelled, match the standard of Virgin. I actually travelled back from London on the afternoon East Coast service. We were quickly offered a choice of sandwiches. Salmon and cucumber or egg accompanied by crisps and with the choice of a scone or cake or fruit.
The salmon was spot on and so was the cake. Later, biscuits were offered.
However, my wife travelled down to London on the following day from Edinburgh. She enjoyed the food but passengers joining after York were told: “We’ve run out.”
A first class service means just that. Passengers are paying a premium and the advertised service must be delivered. Incidentally, both Virgin and East Coast offer a free wi-fi service for First Class. East Coast have just upgraded theirs but it didn’t work for me for most of my journey. Most frustrating.
So, what about other operators. I regularly use the TransPennine Express from Edinburgh to Manchester. First class food on the go here is normally a packet of sandwiches. The bread is normally sliced and limp and the filling is a cheese slice and egg and cress plus a piece of normally extremely palatable cake.
The CrossCountry food I’ve sampled recently has been, to put it mildly, poor. My first experienced was a vegetable hot pot. Never again. I’ve subsequently been offered unappetising sandwiches (cheese slices again) which do little more than fill a hole.
So, take a bow Virgin. You are flavour of the month with me but East Coast coming up fast.
