Weekend Cooking: Eating on Trains

It's a bit strange but we have had a spate of eating in trains recently. And no, I am not counting those sneaky bits of chocolate that might get eaten on the commute home!

Our first train meal is the one that we had when we were in Sri Lanka where we had a 7 course dinner in a train carriage at the hotel we stayed at in the tea plantation area. The old train carriage  has been repurposed as an intimate restaurant. There are four booths available in the train so usually they are catering for no more than 8 people and they have thought of everything. You have to present your ticket to enter the carriage, and at the end of the meal your ticket is clipped just like they used to be on trains.

Each course in the menu is named for a train station on the journey between Kandy and Ragala. The carriage is rigged up so that at the beginning of the night it moves around as if the train is going down the tracks. Thankfully they switch it off as you get enough movement as the waiters go in and out of the carriage bring the meals and the drinks. The main waiter is dressed as a conductor and blows whistles and waves flags around at different points in the meal. When the main course comes out it is covered in cloches and the conductor and his assistant come and theatrically removed the cloches crashing them together like cymbals. And the food was really great too! It definitely counts as a memorable meal. I shared more about the food in this meal here. 

The second train meal was a place that we had been meaning to go for years but had never visited before. In the inner city Melbourne suburb of Collingwood, there are three train carriages that have been put onto the top of a building. I was surprised to learn that only one of the carriages was full length and that the restaurant is only in that carriage. The other two half carriages house things like an art studio. Easey's is a burger restaurant and it was a bit of fun to sit in the same seats that years before would have been used by commuters. There is a big table in the drivers end where the instruments are still present. I don't know that we will visit regularly but it was fun to go just once. My favourite thing was the Brazilian Cheese Balls (Pao De Queijo) which is at the top of the food picture above. The person in the picture is my friend who we went with. It's the best picture to show the seating!

Last weekend we went on our third train meal, and this one does count as a memorable meal. The Q Train is a moving, fine dining restaurant that runs between two small towns on the Bellarine Peninsula. The starting town, Drysdale, is about an hour and a half away from us. We gave this as a present to my brother in law for his 50th birthday back in April but it took us this long to find a date that worked for them (allowing for things like kids sports commitment) and then to find a date when there was availability

Inside the carriages, there are a number of tables, all packed with people looking forward to having an enjoyable meal while the train travels from Drysdale to Queenscliff and back again, with a couple of stops along the way. I am sure that the last stop is probably so that they can pick up the desserts! Most of the food is prepared on the train in the Kitchen car. Interestingly, the same trains are also used for something called Blues Train which features different musicians in each carriage. I wouldn't mind doing that one day.

The food was actually very impressive. The menu was

Spring Basket - with bread, venison kabana and a delicious smoked trout pate

Bannockburn Chicken - Chicken Lyonnaise with chateau potatoes

Fish Cake

Lamb - slow roasted lamb shoulder

Burnt white chocolate and macadamia brownie with smoked olive oil ice cream

This is a family run business based in the area and it is a very popular outing, with weekends in particular often selling out weeks in advance. The ingredients and wines were all locally sourced and each course included native ingredients ranging from finger lime to saltbush ash and pepperberry. The good thing is that the menu changes seasonally so you could go again and have a completely different meal.

My favourite course was the chicken. It was so delicious and moist. That surprises me a little because normally dessert is my favourite. I did enjoy the dessert, but not as much as the other courses. The course that surprised me the most was the Spring Basket which had honey and walnut loaf along with the venison kabana and the smoked trout pate. The venison kabana was very tasty but the smoked trout pate was amazing. We are going to have to try and find the Bellarine Smokehouse when we go down there another time and see what other goodies they have.

I don't believe we have any plans to eat on a train again any time soon, but never say never!

Weekly meals

Saturday - Pork Normandy
Sunday - Grilled cheese on toast
Monday - Smashburgers
Tuesday - Steak and salad
Wednesday - Chicken Parma with chips
Thursday - Pork Nachos
Friday - Takeaway

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