[No Name]

I travel between London and Brussels in Eurostar Standard Premium very frequently. Although I certainly don’t take Eurostar for the food, the catering standard seems to have steadily declined over the past few years to the point where it is now nothing short of abysmal. Much of what they serve is inedible, and often either not fresh or not properly cooked.

Given that the cost of some journeys can be approaching that of a transatlantic flight, I do think they could do better.

[StephenLondon]

I couldn’t agree more. The ‘breakfast’ is a sugar and carb fest. They insist on having the tiniest of coffee cups which splash coffee all over the place and are frozen solid when they appear on your tray, giving you a luke-warm coffee at best. Food on ‘rest of the day’ menus would hardly fill my left boot let alone offer nourishing satisfaction. They really could do so much better. In fact, they used to! Even BusinessPremier isn’t all that great. Raymond Blanc should be ashamed to have his name attached to some of the dishes presented. I’d happily pay a few more €uros for a decent charcuterie plate, or some quiche and salad, anything that has a hint of protein or vegetable to it, cutting the sugar and carb on offer. No wonder so many people are bringing their own food with them, which leaves the trains greasy and full of crumbs.

[capetonianm]

I agree about the food, it used to be much better, but as the first contributor said, who takes Eurostar for the food? Do we really need a food on a 90-120 minute trip? It’s become an expectation and I accept it should be a benefit of paying a higher fare. I prefer to take my own food and just have a drink on board, served by the invariably polite and friendly on board staff.

I pay premium for the extra space and quiet, although on one evening trip from Paris all I got for that was a bunch of drunken louts from a well known UK consultancy firm discussing their clients in loud and abusive terms, throwing empty beer cans and pieces of food along the carriage. Eurostar train staff handled the matter extremely well, having three beefy security guys ring them, and then having them removed from the train at Ebbsfleet (or Ashford?). they also took the names and addresses of everyone in the carriage and sent a hamper and a letter of apology, which was a lovely gesture.

On the following day a couple of phone calls were made, on to the HR department of the consultancy, and one to the client in Paris to let them know that their business confidentiality had been loudly and rudely breached.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Montysaurus, mkcol74

[BPP]

Well done capetonianm.
Couple of years ago I was on a Virgin west coast train to EDI hearing a trio of ‘ladies’ going to a ‘meeting’ in Lancaster slagging off their manager for all to hear.
Said manager was a colleague and personal friend. I also made a point of ‘reporting’ this.
You can never know who is listening!
Re the food on Eurostar. I agree it has got steadily worse. I remember the days of a good hot beakfast. Best thing now for me is a take-away Chicken Salad or such from M&S in St Pancras station on the way out!
BPP

3 users thanked author for this post.

Montysaurus, capetonianm, mkcol74

[Chutzpahflyer]

I can’t resist offering two further comments:

1) I remember my first Eurostar meal not long after the service started. With fond memories of British Rail/British Railways restaurant cars I was expecting freshly cooked food – not the airline pre-packed microwaved mush that I was served. Never again!

2) and on “you never know who’s listening”: I was the editor of a specialist business newsletter covering an esoteric tech field, and once upon a time I was in the departure lounge coffee shop of a US airport when a group of besuited, short-haired young men sat at the table across the aisle from me. They started discussing their visit to a local company which was known to me, and it became apparent that they were Federal people exploring a new, military application for an advanced product from this company; clearly something that came under the confidential, if not “secret”, designation. As I left, I introduced myself as the editor of said newsletter and thanked them for the info. I never published, but their faces all went ashen. I enjoyed it!

[GivingupBA]

[quote quote=917979]“you never know who’s listening”[/quote]

That’s right. I am a white British Caucasian male, but speak Korean. By chance I have several times been near (not in Korea) Koreans chattering away in Korean, completely unaware that I could understand every word, very amusing sometimes, especially when one woman said (in Korean) “Look at that great tall git I can’t believe it” (I am 6 foot 2), I was not at all offended of course, just very amused. Another woman one day said in a very frustrated tone to her female friend “Why, WHY, did I ever meet my husband?” It’s very tempting to suddenly start talking Korean to them but I haven’t done it yet…. One day….

[Author]

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