Great Western Rail have a dining service that everyone can access (Picture: X/@pettittemily)
Train journey delays have given the railways a pretty bad rep – but it turns out there are some serious perks to train travel, most notably, the food.
Now, we know that you’re more likely to scoff a Pret sandwich on board, than enjoy fine dining, but this little known offering from Great Western Railway could be able to change that.
In a now viral tweet, 21-year-old travel enthusiast Emily Pettitt from London shared her ‘unbelievable’ experience dining on Great Western Railway, where she ate like a king for just £39.50.
Travellers can choose from dishes including spiced coconut and spinach soup, sage stuffed chicken and aubergine tagine.
And you don’t have to fork out for first class to enjoy it. Regardless of the ticket you purchase you can enjoy Pullman Dining – a three course meal – something Emily thinks ‘everyone should experience’.
If you’ve got a standard class ticket, simply board your train and tell a staff member that you’d like to visit the Pullman restaurant. As with any other restaurant, if they’ve got a table in their dining carriage, you can sit down and enjoy.
You have to pay an extra £15 for the steak (Picture: X / @pettittemily)
First class travellers however do have the option of booking up to two weeks in advance if they wish.
Emily tells Metro.co.uk: ‘I was travelling from London to Exeter, purely to experience the Pullman restaurant — I’d wanted to do this ever since I found out about it.’
Emily ordered soup, steak and potatoes and a panna cotta – but she says that, not only was the food great, but so was the service.
The menu for GWR Pullman Dining experience (Picture: X / @pettittemily)
She says: ‘Highlights were the fantastic, friendly service — there’s a team just for the dining carriage so it’s like a proper restaurant service.
‘As for the food itself, the steak was amazing. They charge £15 extra for the steak which is well worth it!’
On X, formerly Twitter, Emily added: ‘It’s reasonably busy. It’s only a rather small section of the carriage — there would have been a few more spaces but may have necessitated sharing a table with a stranger.
The soup was one of the three course meals available (Picture: X / @pettittemily)
‘I made sure to turn up as soon as I could, and to go from Paddington instead of from Reading for that reason.’
If you’re not hungry enough for three courses, you can opt for two courses, for just £33.50.
Emily added: ‘It’s slightly unbelievable that this exists on the railway in 2024 — but it does and *everyone* should experience it. You can dine no matter your ticket and the food and the service is outstanding. A little pocket of joy in the world we find ourselves in today.’
The panna cotta pudding looked very tasty (Picture: X / @pettittemily)
Trafnidiaeth Cymru Trenau Transport for Wales Rail also offers a similar dining experience but it’s unfortunately it’s not available to everyone.
Its Class 67 dining experience offers two courses for £19 and three courses for £22 with dishes like pan-fried Salmon and Baileys chocolate cheesecake.
But the catch is you must hold a first class ticket to dine there and those tickets aren’t cheap.
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‘It’s unbelievable that this exists on the railway in 2024.’