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London North Eastern Railway (LNER) First Class service
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voyagerdude220
Established Member
- Joined
- 13 Oct 2005
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I see on a small number of services, there will now be another menu - "Brunch" in addition to the Deli / Dish / Dine which already exist. This appears to be pretty much the Deli menu, but offering both the breakfast and all-day offerings rather than one or the other dependent on the time of day.
Am I imagining it, or haven't we had these "new" sandwich fillings recently? It seems to be a thrice yearly rotation consisting of N.Y. Deli / Egg Mayo; Chicken Salad / Veggie Wrap and Coronation Chicken / Cheese & Pickle. Not complaining, just an observation ...
Am I imagining it, or haven't we had these "new" sandwich fillings recently? It seems to be a thrice yearly rotation consisting of N.Y. Deli / Egg Mayo; Chicken Salad / Veggie Wrap and Coronation Chicken / Cheese & Pickle. Not complaining, just an observation ...
Blindtraveler
Established Member
Given the sandwich menu is the only one that they seem to be able to serve consistently and probably the only one that they actually care about because it costs them pennies compared to the rest we could do with rotations more frequently, once a month perhaps
Brunch is welcome and souls the issue of full breakfast options not being loaded but some of us not quite wanting a vegetable curry at 9:30 on a Saturday morning when we're by and large all still at the coffee and orange juice stage
Brunch is welcome and souls the issue of full breakfast options not being loaded but some of us not quite wanting a vegetable curry at 9:30 on a Saturday morning when we're by and large all still at the coffee and orange juice stage
Scotrail314209
Established Member
It does make me happy that LNER normally try to offer a service to the best of their ability (unlike the Avanti service i’m currently on which has empty glasses lying around and no indication that there was no at seat service for the remainder). Normally i’m satisfied with LNER in terms of their First Class, I’ve never had a massive problem
Butts
Veteran Member
Were you not invited to help yourself from the Shop in the absence of at table service in Avanti 1st Class ?
Butts
Veteran Member
This really is the elephant in the room - has anyone asked them about this on Twitter ?
No doubt the response would be "you are welcome to have another serving if not satiated with our initial offering"
Scotrail314209
Established Member
No announcements from the Train Manager or any indication that there were hosts onboard at all. There were no announcement re the shop being open either. Usually Avanti put it on their JourneyCheck if it’s not available for all or part of the journey.
LNER have a brunch menu; I've not seen or experienced this before today.
You can get a 'main' (I got the overnight oats, 200g) and a small desert (65g) or fruit. My request for a banana was turned down, a curt "it's either or" was the reply.
I've not done badly as I am on a half price ticket, but I found it to be quite amusing more than anything else (there looked to be no shortage of bananas and no takers in sight for them!)
The items I had were tasty but the lasting impression of this journey will be the "either or" remark; if that's how LNER want to be seen then that's absolutely fine by me but maybe they should alter their wording, to remove terms such as "luxury travel" and just be a bit more realistic about the actual experience?
Next time I may try the plant based sausage, though I'd prefer it if they offered a healthier option than white bread, but I am probably being too fussy there.
You can get a 'main' (I got the overnight oats, 200g) and a small desert (65g) or fruit. My request for a banana was turned down, a curt "it's either or" was the reply.
I've not done badly as I am on a half price ticket, but I found it to be quite amusing more than anything else (there looked to be no shortage of bananas and no takers in sight for them!)
The items I had were tasty but the lasting impression of this journey will be the "either or" remark; if that's how LNER want to be seen then that's absolutely fine by me but maybe they should alter their wording, to remove terms such as "luxury travel" and just be a bit more realistic about the actual experience?
Next time I may try the plant based sausage, though I'd prefer it if they offered a healthier option than white bread, but I am probably being too fussy there.
Blindtraveler
Established Member
This is disappointing, the brunch menu bridges a gap that I've always felt was there and also provides them a get out of jail free card if they can't provide the morning menu but want to perhaps seem a little less off the wall to those of us that don't want a curry or a stew or even a chicken sandwich at 9:30 a.m. on a Saturday, but as ever the consistency or lack thereof with service delivery let's them down
I've never heard of that happening!
They can be let down by what is available, but the biggest variable for me is the on-board staff: some are lovely, friendly and hard working, while others sound/look like they really don't want to be in this job.
It's definitely getting better in that regard, but there are still a few about. It's not really obvious what they're trying to protect, and the experience usually leaves me flustered and uncomfortable for the rest of the journey, and worrying that it might happen can ruin a journey with perfectly nice staff. Honestly if I could get a solid guarantee that this wouldn't happen, or LNER would stand with the customer when it did then I'd probably pay at least 10 quid more for the ticket.
Butts
Veteran Member
Absolutely ludicrous, I bet that made you feel special - parsimony at it's best.
A better crew member would have smuggled you one on the qt.
God knows what would have happened if you'd done an "OT" on the Scotch ?
Bizarrely they did have wine on the drinks trolley (I just took orange juice) but no coffee, on a departure before 11am!
So they probably would have had whisky too, but I didn't partake.
An easy win would be a cheap bottle of fizz on the trolley as well and offering some Mimosa-type drinks on the brunch services...
Agreed that the staff are still extremely variable. Thankfully as I'm usually in/out of Newcastle early/late, I usually get the (mostly) chirpier Geordie and Scottish crews.
Had the Full LNER on the 08:00 KGX to YRK on Tuesday. I was actually quite impressed with the amount of food you get given. I guess having black pudding AND mushrooms (as opposed to one or the other as in the past) leads to that. My only complaint would be that it wasn't very warm. My first LNER English Breakfast since 2019, as it hasn't been available on that train the two other times I've caught it since then.
Butts
Veteran Member
Looks quite good - accompanying Toast as well ?
No. They got rid of toast a few years ago didn't they?
Strat-tastic
Established Member
Yes, the all important toast report
please.
Willie Bee
Member
Just being nosy .. is the breakfast served at a set time ?
No doubt a passenger leaving Kings Cross early heading for Edinburgh would get breakfast, but what about somebody joining the train at Doncaster, York or even Newcastle ?
No doubt a passenger leaving Kings Cross early heading for Edinburgh would get breakfast, but what about somebody joining the train at Doncaster, York or even Newcastle ?
Merle Haggard
Established Member
It used to be the case that if you had breakfast leaving Kings Cross, you were not allowed further meals - although passengers joining your train at later stages in the journey were offered lunch.
I did wonder whether an Open ticket and dropping back a train at Peterborough would overcome this
I did wonder whether an Open ticket and dropping back a train at Peterborough would overcome this
Butts
Veteran Member
Sadly, you can - and it was Gerallt, that paragon of on-train dining, that introduced me to the concept some 10 years ago
Butts
Veteran Member
Sadly, you can - and it was Gerallt, that paragon of on-train dining, that introduced me to the concept some 10 years ago
So only Avanti do the toast with Breakfast now ?
dave87016
Established Member
Even that’s hit and miss these days on Avanti see the Avanti first class thread mate
And it goes cold very quickly.Why is it so hard to provide a bit of toast?? It's literally just a couple of slices of bread warmed up for a bit!
Andy Pacer
Established Member
I didn't get any yesterday.
Butts
Veteran Member
Did you ask ?
Andy Pacer
Established Member
No, never thought until I read about it here.