Best Refreshments avialable on trains

[DarloRich]

A couple of years ago, I was on a TGV in France & went to the buffet for some tea. I was given a cup of cold water with a tea bag in it!
It turned out that the water boiler wasn't working & the buffet steward hadn't realised that it was just dispensing cold water. He was eventually able to get some from a kettle.

The French dont really do tea do they!

Buffets on trains in Europe seem so much better than the UK

 

[Pumbaa]

Actually limited to York-Manchester, Manchester-Sheffield and Manchester-Preston, with the exception of the Scottish services which are supposed to have refreshments beyond Preston. There are also time limits as well on the trolley service and on some services the train is too packed for the trolley to make it's way through.

I'm sure EMT have cut back on Liverpool-Norwich - they don't provide refreshments on the Stockport-Liverpool section.

LM could do with providing a trolley service on Crewe-London and they should probably offer free drinks to FC customers.

EMT is Stockport - Nottingham.

TPE advertise it as 'guaranteed' Man - York, Sheffield, Preston. The reality is during the day most services have it throughout. Most services to/from Liverpool have a trolley and on south route they usually get off at Doncaster.

LM do offer a few services on Crewe - London. It is free tea coffee and snacks for FC.

 

[SS4]

A couple of years ago, I was on a TGV in France & went to the buffet for some tea. I was given a cup of cold water with a tea bag in it!
It turned out that the water boiler wasn't working & the buffet steward hadn't realised that it was just dispensing cold water. He was eventually able to get some from a kettle.

At least you got kettle water instead of urn water though. I always find there is no substitute for water boiled on the spot and it's well worth waiting for.

 

[DarloRich]

It is something called Madhatter Tea (from Northallerton) on GC - it is very nice

They also have some Black Sheep on which is one of the finest ales known to man!

 

[Asian Demon]

Oh on a random tangent virgin also do rekorderlig cider in the strawberry and lime variant. Just found this out on the 18.48 liverpool to london service today. Always thought it was just apple. Very happy obviously

 

[alan71]

FGW are trialing serving their Cooked Breakfasts in the seated section of the restaurant car on certain morning services.
Very civilised as I tuck into my breakfast as we (usually) trundle through the centre road at Reading on my usual 7:09 from Newport..
It's also a cheap way to bag a 1st class seat....

 

[Anon Mouse]

Oops, forgot about the sleeper. Loved the cheeseboard!

and the Haggis Neeps and Tatties!

 

[SS4]

Oh on a random tangent virgin also do rekorderlig cider in the strawberry and lime variant. Just found this out on the 18.48 liverpool to london service today. Always thought it was just apple. Very happy obviously

Excellent, that one remains the sweetest cider I've ever had

Is it served cold over ice per chance?

 

[Tracked]

loved the FGW Sleeper last month, cans of Arkell's 3B (nice beer, £3 a can) and Earl Grey tea, first time I've bothered with on train refreshments since 2006 tbh but the occasion called for it

 

[bnm]

FGW are trialing serving their Cooked Breakfasts in the seated section of the restaurant car on certain morning services.
Very civilised as I tuck into my breakfast as we (usually) trundle through the centre road at Reading on my usual 7:09 from Newport..
It's also a cheap way to bag a 1st class seat....

Are they really? They're keeping that quiet and selective then. I bought a breakfast platter the other day (0731 off Bristol Parkway) and I wasn't offered a seat in coach F....

 

[alan71]

Are they really? They're keeping that quiet and selective then. I bought a breakfast platter the other day (0731 off Bristol Parkway) and I wasn't offered a seat in coach F....

Yep, sounds like my train...
The announcements are pretty vague but getting better, It was only because they mentioned it was in coach F that I twigged they meant you could sit in the 1st class bit. I usually wander down after Swindon, take my time & finish eating somewhere around OOC...

 

[Captain Chaos]

I love the travelling chef service on FGW. Especially the Bacon baguettes. Yes £4.99 may be rather expensive for a bacon baguette and a coffee but it is freshly cooked to order and tastes fabulous. If I am not in a rush to get anywhere I will sometimes even catch a slightly later train if the service is showing in the timetable.

 

[bnm]

Yep, sounds like my train...
The announcements are pretty vague but getting better, It was only because they mentioned it was in coach F that I twigged they meant you could sit in the 1st class bit. I usually wander down after Swindon, take my time & finish eating somewhere around OOC...

That's good going. Officially the TC stops service after Swindon on the Capitals United. My enquiry last week of the chef elicited the reply "I start to close down just before Swindon." Gonna see what transpires next Weds when I'm booked on the same train. Breakfast from Parkway eaten very sloooowly should see me in 1st Class til PAD!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I love the travelling chef service on FGW. Especially the Bacon baguettes. Yes £4.99 may be rather expensive for a bacon baguette and a coffee but it is freshly cooked to order and tastes fabulous. If I am not in a rush to get anywhere I will sometimes even catch a slightly later train if the service is showing in the timetable.

The bacon baguettes are not an exclusive Travelling Chef product. There are fast oven heated ones available on nearly all HST services. The bacon for the TC prepared ones is cooked fresh though.

 

[yorksrob]

Yes, it was an evil taste. I was appalled when I first tasted it on a Virgin train shortly after they took over. One of the first things they did was to replace Coke and Diet Coke with Virgin Cola!

To be honest, I rarely buy refreshments on board, but I always used to like the FGW shortcake biscuits!

I thought it was quite nice - but then again I did grow up drinking Tesco's blue and white value brand

 

[Kingfisher200262]

Rekorderlig cider is a VT first class offering as part of complimentary drinks. 330ml apple cider cans. Love the stuff.

Travelling up to Liverpool on VT in First tomorrow.... I'll try that, thanks!

 

[Asian Demon]

Excellent, that one remains the sweetest cider I've ever had

Is it served cold over ice per chance?

Indeed it is. Was the highlight of the trip back home

 

[DarloRich]

Oh on a random tangent virgin also do rekorderlig cider in the strawberry and lime variant. Just found this out on the 18.48 liverpool to london service today. Always thought it was just apple. Very happy obviously

that isnt cider - it is flavoured manufactured rubbish ( and ANY cider is for kids and Alkies! )

Now Grand Central do PROPER, Northern, ale - i had a ncie bottle of Black Sheep the last time i came back form York

 

[Essexman]

I love the travelling chef service on FGW. Especially the Bacon baguettes. Yes £4.99 may be rather expensive for a bacon baguette and a coffee but it is freshly cooked to order and tastes fabulous. If I am not in a rush to get anywhere I will sometimes even catch a slightly later train if the service is showing in the timetable.

Me too - I try to plan my FGW journeys by availability of Travelling Chef.

 

[Wyvern]

On an EMT service from London one afternoon, the buffet person said "I can do you a sausage in a roll."

Fans of Terry Pratchett will immediately think of C.M.O.T. Dibbler.

 

[DarloRich]

Thinking back they used to do a nice ale on GNER but that seemed to go when NXEC took over. ( they used to do lots of nice things on GNER :cry: )

 

[Rugd1022]

Away from the 'big railway' you'll have a long way to go to beat the Great Central's full English breakfast with all the trimmings, washed down with a nice pint or piping hot cup of tea, served aboard a proper Mk1 buffet car

 

[DarloRich]

thinking of having a run down there on saturday so i will check it out.

They had a nice selection at the buffet on the Waverley the Sunaday before last. Premier class was good to!

 

[Blindtraveler]

best trolley by a mile is the S and C. Otherwise current fave has to be the SR sleaper. Intend trying the WAG soon!

 

[krisk]

It's also a cheap way to bag a 1st class seat....

That says it all....
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Yes VT have rekorderlig cider but currently only in 1st class-complimentary-it's excellent and 1 of my favourite ciders! It's Bulmers in the VT shop which is also quite good.

I think the VT shop is good-excellent coffee @ tea selection and recently some good offers like the 2 bottles of Coca Cola for £2-it is strange about selling Coca Cola in the shop and offering Pepsi in 1st-like both though and Pepsi goes well when mixed with vodka etc which is possibly why they do this.

The plain ham sandwiches are also good-not often that you can get plain sandwiches without salad or horrible fillings-ok if they're fresh but not pre-packed!

Yay someone who values us

I try and take a keen interest in the onboard shop and in the future i'd love to have a role that takes the shop forward and reinvent to to what our customers want, its your shop, you tell us what you would like to see us sell.

I have asked for Green Tea / Decaff Tea and maybe a speciality tea of some description but without any joy (yet!). I have also worked on a scheme that would allow us to log not just what we sell but also sales we have lost so future product loadings would be based on sales + missed sales = future loadings. It is a part of my job I am very passionate about, are we providing what our paying customers wish to buy?

 

[Blindtraveler]

well a few microwave meals e.g. Saussage and mash, tomato pasta etc wouldnt go a miss, as would the voyager style FC breakfast sold to std customers. Generally more hot food, paninis etc! Its amazing what a microwave can do! More interesting crisps and maybe some of those fruit packs like boots do?

 

[Hydro]

I'll say that the few times I've travelled with VT, the shop has been pretty OK. Most other services I travel on are limited to a trolley service that just has the standard "Walkers, Kit Kat and a Coke" by the time it gets round to me. I've not had the luck to travel on any services that do cooked food, save a couple of times on FGW services (hot, rather than cooked I suppose), and not the Travelling Chef ones. I've seen a fantastic corporate Intercity video online about how crews should present the trains before use, and there are some brilliant shots of the full English being served in the restaurant car, on real china, by a steward in a uniform. Ah, for those days gone by...

 

[krisk]

well a few microwave meals e.g. Saussage and mash, tomato pasta etc wouldnt go a miss, as would the voyager style FC breakfast sold to std customers. Generally more hot food, paninis etc! Its amazing what a microwave can do! More interesting crisps and maybe some of those fruit packs like boots do?

When we had micro meals there was very low uptake on them, a cooked breakfast option was also sold which didnt go down well.

What i'd like to see is more use of ambient items, I look at some of the pot meals that Heinz do, Beef Stew and Dumplings, Chicken Cassserole, Sausage Casserole that are heated in around two minutes. Warm, hearty and just enough to fill a gap. Introducing porridge was a great idea too.

Chilled pot meals could also be an option, some of the Innocent range is brilliant, Sainsburys do a nice pasta with sauce which is microwave heated an retails about £1.65 I believe.

 

[Blindtraveler]

nice one! Surprised uptake was low, on that kind a trip I want more than a cheeseburger!