Reasonable buffet/refreshment prices?

[Railjet]

I travelled on my namesake today. Because of the earliness of the departure, I didn't have time to get any food, and come lunch-time, I was starving.

I rarely use refreshment facilities on trains because prices can be horrendous and quality awful (not always, of course).

In this case, I was pleasantly surprised. I had a one-third bottle of white wine (properly chilled, none of your lukewarm rubbish), and a HUGE baguette, literally bursting at the seams with ham, cheese and salad, which took an age to eat and well satisfied my hunger. Cost - €6.60: roughly £5.80, which even with the atrocious exchange rate at the moment I didn't think was too bad, given the quality, and that it was on a premium train.

I havent bought anything on a British train for ages. Which of the TOCs offer the best value-for-money on their buffet or trolley refreshments?

I must admit, sipping a glass of wine while on a train, watching the world go by, is one of life's great pleasures.

 

[Pumbaa]

Urm, I've always thought Virgins drinks were very fairly priced, the food not so. The RailGorumet trolleys in operation on fTPE, fSR, Southern etc I find to still be quite poor value.

Oh, NXEC bloody hell, they didn't change their prices when they went from freshly ground coffee to pre-packaged Kenco crap. And the prices were extortionate in the first place.

 

[dave12435]

i have never purchaed anything from buffet/shop/trolley for exact same reason same with station buffets/shops (pumpkin and so on) for same reason again
on the rare occasions anyone has the prices have been extremely high and the actual product not really worht it

 

[jamesontheroad]

If you haven't already got one, google 'Bite Card' and apply online for the 20% discount at most station concessions. That's the best value I can recommend. I rarely buy anything on board, unless it's a full service dining car with freshly prepared meals (so never in the UK).

 

[monkey]

...yeah food on the trolley/cafe bar is dismal on nxec. don't know why they bother - reminds me of overpriced crap they used to sell on their coaches... also they always advertise appetising hot snacks (which I'm sure are anything but in reality) in ads on the train and in stations, but never seem to have it on board.

I don't think its hard to provide decent food on a train to be honest, at the prices they charge. if boots can do a quality meal deal for £2.99 (inc. sandwich, drink, confectionary/snack) then I'm sure train companies can easily do decent sandwich for arount that price... same with everything else, its just too substandard for what they are charging...

 

[gordonthemoron]

I rarely buy anything on board, unless it's a full service dining car with freshly prepared meals (so never in the UK).

where would that be? E*, Thalys, DB & SNCF only seem to reheat stuff in their restaurant cars, SNCB, NS & DSB have no catering at all and PKP seem to only serve beer & vodka

 

[jamesontheroad]

Last ate in a DB resto on a Paris - Strasbourg - Germany service a few years ago before the TGV Est replaced them. Decent enough, useless vegetarian selection though.

 

[asylumxl]

FGW has always seemed decent value to me in comparison to other companies.

 

[Mojo]

For station catering I'd have to recommend M&S Simply Food; the good thing about this is that the prices they charge on station outlets are either the same as, or very similar to what they charge in the High Street stores; for sandwiches and the like I'd say they are very reasonable.

 

[Daimler]

If you haven't already got one, google 'Bite Card' and apply online for the 20% discount at most station concessions. That's the best value I can recommend. I rarely buy anything on board, unless it's a full service dining car with freshly prepared meals (so never in the UK).

WSMR do freshly prepared meals, as do NXEC (on those restaurant services they haven't yet axed!).

 

[monkey]

For station catering I'd have to recommend M&S Simply Food; the good thing about this is that the prices they charge on station outlets are either the same as, or very similar to what they charge in the High Street stores; for sandwiches and the like I'd say they are very reasonable.

...yeah they do meal deal too at certain stations, but I don't shop m&s for ethical reasons - so I stick to boots, and their ever handy boots meal deal, I mean £2.99 for sandwich, some fruit, desert or crisp and a drink - including teh wonderful innocent smoothies! oh and if you have an advantage card, you get you 6th meal deal in month free, easily done by me the amount of travelling I'v done...

 

[F Great Eastern]

NXEA are pretty poor, the only people I use reguarly for food/drink on trains are FGW, the buffet design is nice, you can see what they have and pretty good choice and products.

At stations I always use a Bite card.

 

[devon_metro]

(so never in the UK).

All First Great Western Travelling Chef & Pullman food is freshly prepared. Plus its not to expensive for the portion sizes (the Chef at least)

 

[jamesontheroad]

Actually, thinking about it, I'd be prepared to defend the ScotRail Caledonian Sleeper lounge car. Admittedly their stock control can lead to very patchy menu offerings, but I just love the late seventies ambience of a late night trip in a mk. 2 buffet. The cheese or paté plates aren't sophisticated, but for a plated light meal they're just a treat with a few drams as you travel into the night. Class.

 

[monkey]

^^if only the lounge car was open most of the time. the amount of times its not open on one portion or the other, certainly on the lowland sleeper. they usually tell you to use the one when they join up at cairstairs, but the point of a sleeper is to sleep, and no ones gonna stay up till 1 to use the lounge car. and even if you did, the glasgow lounge would have probs most likely have run out of stock by the time you get to use it. I have to say that really infuriated when I used it... it does have a nice ambience, but it wasn't much use... I was looking forward to a dram of whiskey before bed