Avanti West Coast catering

[voyagerdude220]

Black pudding was included with VT going back to 2005 or even earlier. I love a bit of black pudding!
(Mods: I'm unable to quote the menu with the text)

Thanks for that!

I've a feeling they stopped including black pudding for a while, before returning it within the last few years.

I'm a fan of black pudding as well.

 

[Butts]

Thanks for that!

I've a feeling they stopped including black pudding for a while, before returning it within the last few years.

I'm a fan of black pudding as well.

It begs the question why don't they serve a full sized Breakfast that you would expect anywhere else and not a "Happy Meal" sized offering ?

 

[Butts]

I went out to Birmingham from Euston yesterday (Saturday) afternoon and came back this morning. Thoughts below:

Euston Lounge

• Improvement over pre COVID offering, food is served on proper plates and there is more of a selection, drinks served in proper glassware too
• Cold meat platter on the menu - apparently this is only available in the week at the moment sadly

London -> Birmingham

• First was Coach K only and was 75% full - Standard Premium was pretty empty
• 4 drinks runs with alcohol between London and Birmingham - full tumblers of prosecco and when I asked for a cognac and dry ginger they gave me 2 x 50ml cognac and 2 x cans of ginger ale
• Hot option (gnocchi and smoked salmon) was good, however with only one hot option it would quickly get boring if travelling often
• Salted caramel tart was improvement over previous desserts
• Rather randomly we all got a plate of crisps too!
• Quantity of food served was sufficient for the journey - I wasn't hungry at the end of the trip

Birmingham -> London

• First was Coach K only and was almost full -rest of train was really busy too
• Full English was good, however came with scrambled egg instead of fried egg
• Not quite as forthcoming with drinks - there were 2 coffee runs and you had to proactively ask for soft drinks, but they were delivered promptly

On both journeys the staff were busy for the entire trip - it looks they have to work much harder to deliver the service now, and can't sit down for half of the journey anymore on quieter trains. For my normal journey (London -> Liverpool) which seems to start from £90 each way for an advance I don't think I would bother with First on breakfast trains any more. I may occasionally pay for it on afternoon/evening trains, however I think going forward I will stick to Std Premium and self cater. Having only Coach K as first is a bit of a double edged sword, it makes it more crowded but allows for a more attentive service.

Sounds like the Sunday journey topped the weekday one perversely - mind you with one Coach to serve there is no excuse really.

A vast improvement on the "Cheese Box Specials" and cheaper 1st Class Advances to boot.

Looking forward to my 31st October jaunt from EUS to Brum.