Review: the new James Martin food on Virgin East Coast – plus the new First Class seat

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• John says:

  2 Aug2 August 06:58

  I had the curry too, but my naan was round.

  Yes it was quite nice but only about half the size of a proper meal. Though you can have more or less as many crisps and muffins as you like.

  Yes the seat is probably as good as it can be and spacious enough (usually the opposite seat is free if you choose wisely on the website). I wouldn’t pay £25 but at the times I book the 1st tickets are often cheaper than the standard. I’m prepared to pay maybe 33% more than the standard class price, although if a 1st ticket isn’t available at that level then the standard tickets are probably into the hundreds and I am more likely to fly or drive anyway

  • Raffles says:

    2 Aug2 August 07:39

    You are saving at least £10 on coffee and lunch, especially if you visit the lounge too. If you have a drink or two you are up to £15 saved, and that is before you price in the value of the far bigger seat and emptier carriage. Easily worth a £25 premium.

    • John says:

      2 Aug2 August 09:33

      Yes well, I don’t drink alcohol and I don’t pay for coffee (except when my colleagues make me go to the canteen which serves real coffee for 90p), and I usually make lunch at home. The bigger and fewer seats are nice, but don’t actually have any value. I suppose I feel the same way about a J seat on a plane.

      I’m usually in 1st class on Virgin trains anyway though, I just never pay £25 for it 🙂

• Lev441 says:

  2 Aug2 August 06:58

  Agree with you on all fronts Raffles! I had two wonderful first class journeys in June and was really impressed with the quality and taste of the food. Mushroom Rarebit on the way up and the vegetable tagine with couscous on the return journey.

  It is remarkably better than any other intercity operator in the UK for consistency throughout the day. On Virgin West Coast unless you’re traveling in the peaks you are stuck with cold food.

  I wonder if they will keep this offering when the new Azuma trains come in to replace the 125 & 225’s in the next few years.

  • Gavin says:

    2 Aug2 August 10:04

    I think the buffet cars are to be removed from the new GWR variant, and it is the same train.

    Just off to a meeting with the train manufacturer as it happens

  • Fenny says:

    2 Aug2 August 18:07

    My frustration with VWC is that I normally travel at the weekend, so only get the snack box and no booze instead of real food. If I do go on a weekday, it’s nice to get the bacon roll and G&T.

• Tariq says:

  2 Aug2 August 07:10

  Free wifi in standard if booking with Virgin – this just EC, or WC as well?

  • Genghis says:

    2 Aug2 August 07:26

    It seems to just be EC. You get an email after booking on EC with a wifi code

    • nerd. says:

      2 Aug2 August 07:49

      Definitely just EC. Travelled standard on WC last weekend and was disappointed to find they still don’t have free WiFi.

• James Ward says:

  2 Aug2 August 07:50

  I agree it’s worth a £25 premium. if you’re going all the way to Scotland you’ll get two meals, as they serve one each side of Newcastle (or they used to pre-Virgin; don’t see why that would have changed since the change).

  • John says:

    2 Aug2 August 09:21

    If you go from London to Aberdeen you can get 3 meals! I had about 5 wraps and 10 muffins….

    I don’t think many people would do this route entirely by train though.

  • JP says:

    2 Aug2 August 09:27

    Unfortunately, this does seem to have changed. I travel this route regularly, and in the last few months I have no longer been offered more food after Newcastle.

    • John says:

      2 Aug2 August 09:38

      That sounds strange and is not what I experienced twice in July.

      If you travel this route regularly then you know the crew changes there so they shouldn’t know if you’ve had food or not (maybe they write it down when you order? But you could switch seats…) And if you’re starting at Newcastle you’d be pretty unhappy not to get any food…

• nerd. says:

  2 Aug2 August 07:52

  It’s good they finally sorted the food out. I travelled up and down to Leeds each week for about a year and a half on the old EC then VTEC and at first Virgin actually made the food worst. This looks like back to when EC was first re-nationalised and I can remember getting roast lamb in first class. To contrast, when VTEC took over they were offering some nonsense plate of a couple of slices of cold meat, olives and a bap and trying to pass it off as a meal.

  Not quite enough to make me wish I was still travelling up to Leeds but definitely an improvement.

• Simon says:

  2 Aug2 August 08:08

  Lucky you! I came back from Leeds first class on Sunday but due to staff shortages there was no cooked food, just sandwiches and crisps. Seat was fine as you say. More importantly both trips were on time!

  • John says:

    2 Aug2 August 09:15

    Not sure you get any hot food on weekends?

    At least it’s better than West Coast’s abysmal weekend offering, yet there is no shortage of people paying £20+ to upgrade on the train

    • Rob says:

      2 Aug2 August 09:50

      I am usually surprised how few people seem to upgrade at weekends. You see people in overcrowded Standard whilst First is pretty dead. Whilst some people may be sensitive over the extra £15 I doubt that many are too bothered – and you get some of it back just on free drinks.

      • Fraser says:

        2 Aug2 August 11:13

        Last few times I’ve travelled at weekends it’s a reduced offering, just sandwiches and crisps, no alcohol. Same price premium though.

        Has that changed?

        (I can’t imagine an airline offering a much reduced standard of first class at weekends!)

• Kevin says:

  2 Aug2 August 08:12

  Probably worth noting that the catering offered over the weekend is different to during the week. No hot food.

  • Genghis says:

    2 Aug2 August 08:18

    Or free booze

    • Ben says:

      2 Aug2 August 08:34

      But they do offer a “Weekend first” upgrade for a flat £25 per part of journey so it’s a no brainer for me doing NCL->KGX at the weekend having bought the cheapest advanced you can…

• Allan says:

  2 Aug2 August 08:13

  Agree the seats are better but it’s interesting to see that the curry and sausage roll are still on this week’s menu, that’s three weeks in a row of the same menu! I’ve had the curry 3 times now.

  • James67 says:

    2 Aug2 August 20:53

    IIRC it’s just the main dishes like the curry that changes so effectivelly less variation than the old menu.

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