London North Eastern Railway (LNER) First Class service

[ainsworth74]

Judging from this trip report it would seem that the chef difficulties at Inverness have thankfully been resolved!

 

[Blindtraveler]

Good to hear.

 

[Sealink]

That's the only time I've seen LNER first full to be fair, leaving KX in the morning and arriving in the morning before 9AM.

Everytime I've boarded the Highland Chieftain (1200hrs from Kings Cross) it has been full. That's the only service I can speak for

 

[800Travel]

I would like them to add haggis to their 'Full LNER' breakfast.

I think they'd have relative success with some sort of 'classic' British meal like cottage pie, hotpot, if they want to be fancier, wellington.

Cottage pie would be a nice idea! Still to try a dine service, every time I've booked one it has been swapped out! Hoping that the sausage and mash doesn't disappear, but have a bad feeling it will

 

[styles]

Cottage pie would be a nice idea! Still to try a dine service, every time I've booked one it has been swapped out! Hoping that the sausage and mash doesn't disappear, but have a bad feeling it will

If it's the same sausages they have on their full breakfast, they're very tasty!

 

[800Travel]

If it's the same sausages they have on their full breakfast, they're very tasty!

They are different, I think it's because otherwise it'd be slightly repetitive with the same sausages all day - having different ones probably offers a little variety

Source: https://www.lner.co.uk/globalassets/lner2810-dine-menu-jan-2025-web.pdf

Full LNER

Lincolnshire sausage, smoked bacon and black pudding all from Taste Tradition, hash brown, baked beans, mushrooms and free-range fried egg. 576 kcal

Toulouse sausage and mash GF

Toulouse sausages, from Yorkshire-based Taste Tradition, served with champ mashed potatoes, fine green beans and a red wine jus. Ultimate comfort food! 506 kcal

 

[Doctor Pepper]

Has anyone ever ordered a meal, and then been completely forgotten about? Happened to me yesterday, on the 15:30 EDB to KGX. Ordered the curry. Subsequently saw a bunch of other people get served, with dishes being carried down the train, but for me nothing. What really irked me was when a group got on at a subsequent station, ordered the curry, and then were served, when I still hadn't been given mine! I tried to grab the attention of the crew member who served them, but he walked off....despite looking back at me as I called out to him............

I had to grab the attention of another crew member, who was doing the drinks run. Eventually I got my meal. Nice, but the naan bread was a bit firm tbh.



My experience on my previous journey was odd too. This time the 13:00 KGX to EDB on Monday. There were very late taking food orders, and again I saw other people being served and dishes being whisked passed me for what seemed like quite a long time. I began to suspect they'd forgotten about me this time too. Eventually my meal turned up, with an apology for the wait, so I'm not sure what that was about. Given the train departed KGX at 13:00, I didn't actually receive my meal until gone 3 pm!

This one was a Dine train, so I had the sausage and mash, and very nice it was too.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Sausage and mash was always my favourite on the old gner restaurant menu, back in the good old days when you paid for it and first class was simply teas, coffees, water and snacks. I still feel that this was better

 

[WesternLancer]

Sausage and mash was always my favourite on the old gner restaurant menu, back in the good old days when you paid for it and first class was simply teas, coffees, water and snacks. I still feel that this was better

I very much agree - the quantites were substantial too and the quality was superior for the food.

 

[trebor79]

I was in Austria this week and stamped the restaurant car on one of their Railways. Very nice, proper meal served on proper plates etc. quite reasonably priced too. Seems every Railjet has a restaurant car open for the duration of the journey.
Why can we do that? I'd gladly pay for a proper meal on LNER rather than the diddy portions provided "free".

 

[rg177]

Decided to take the 1403 Kings Cross to Leeds this afternoon in First - just for the treat of doing a MK4 set more than anything.

Again, the weird mix of contrasts you seem to get these days. Two of the members of staff are lovely, and one is seemingly making it his mission to be as unpleasant as possible. Extremely short with people and basically storming past with the trolley barely giving you a chance to ask for anything!

The risotto was tasty but one of the tiniest portions I've seen. Still, we've had two (hot and cold) drinks runs within the first hour, on top of all food being served and cleared away, so its been efficient.

 

[Falcon1200]

Has anyone ever ordered a meal, and then been completely forgotten about?

Yes, happened to me a couple of years ago - Ordered my meal, waited and waited and waited. Eventually, after everyone else appeared to have been served, I went to find the catering crew who by that time were sitting down having their own lunch, which one of them then had to interrupt. I did get my meal eventually.

 

[Doctor Pepper]

Yes, happened to me a couple of years ago - Ordered my meal, waited and waited and waited. Eventually, after everyone else appeared to have been served, I went to find the catering crew who by that time were sitting down having their own lunch, which one of them then had to interrupt. I did get my meal eventually.

I don't understand how this can happen, tbh, when they write down seat numbers when they take orders.

A very long time ago (I think it was back in EC days), I didn't event get to order, as when they came round they walked straight past me, and I had to ask about it later.

One thing that irked my on the first journey last week, is they started coming round and clearing things away before I'd been delivered my meal, and wanted to take away my unused napkin and cutlery, when I hadn't even had a chance to use them yet!

 

[ainsworth74]

It does amuse me that they have to write things down. Way back in the mists of time of pre-May 2011 when they took orders for paid food it was via a digital system that sent tickets electronically back to the kitchen with, I believe, the delivery instructions included. But such is progress I suppose that they had to go back to pen and paper!

Then again it wasn't all modernity in the pre-complimentary era. My first and last time of having my card run through one of those imprinting machines (where they took your card, put it into a device and then ran paper over the card and embossed the details into the paper) was paying for breakfast on an East Coast service towards Edinburgh in about 2010. Took about a month before the payment debited from my account

 

[Sealink]

Judging from this trip report it would seem that the chef difficulties at Inverness have thankfully been resolved!

I see today there is no food in First Class, something alternative being offered. This happened to me on my last trip from Inverness.

 

[WesternLancer]

I see today there is no food in First Class, something alternative being offered. This happened to me on my last trip from Inverness.

If you were hungry it's not too clear what an 'alternative' might be useful for....

 

[800Travel]

I see today there is no food in First Class, something alternative being offered. This happened to me on my last trip from Inverness.

If you were hungry it's not too clear what an 'alternative' might be useful for....

It's normally a dine service (source https://www.lner.co.uk/globalassets/first-class-dining-services-january-2025---south.pdf) and the travel alert states:

07:55 Inverness to London Kings Cross due 15:49​

Facilities on the 22/05/25 07:55 Inverness to London Kings Cross due 15:49.
Catering is reduced in First Class.

Further Info:​

Due to a catering equipment fault, we are unable to provide the advertised food offer in First Class. An alternative food offer will be provided. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Source - https://www.lner.co.uk/travel-information/travelling-now/travel-alerts

So it's probably something like they can't offer the hot food, so are serving the cold food offer (sandwiches etc.) instead.

 

[WesternLancer]

It's normally a dine service (source https://www.lner.co.uk/globalassets/first-class-dining-services-january-2025---south.pdf) and the travel alert states:

Source - https://www.lner.co.uk/travel-information/travelling-now/travel-alerts

So it's probably something like they can't offer the hot food, so are serving the cold food offer (sandwiches etc.) instead.

understood and fair enough