If you regularly commute on a train, you probably don’t think of it as the picture of opulence. It’s probably often very full, very expensive, and very delayed, but believe it or not, travelling by rail can be a very pleasant experience.
The British Pullman, A Belmond Train, is a luxury vintage train offering a ride which is in all ways about the journey, rather than the destination. The carriages are straight out of a Wes Anderson film or Victorian picture book, tickets start at three figures, and it’s all very swanky (we even hopped aboard one last month – click here to read our experience).
As if that wasn’t all fancy enough, the team behind the Pullman has announced a brand new Michelin Star chef series, where passengers will enjoy a five course tasting menu, paired with champagne and expensive wines, straight from the mind of an industry-leading chef.
The series will begin on April 18 and run until October 24 after a total of four seasonal culinary takeovers. It will begin with Theo Randall, who has previously worked at the River Café, an Italian in London, who will create a spring spread, and he will be succeeded by Phil Howard from May 22. Based on previous work, he will probably produce a delicious French-inspired menu.
Andrew Wong will climb aboard from June 13 to make magic in the form of Chinese-British fusion, and then finally Atul Kochhar, who worked with the first ever Indian restaurant to earn a Michelin star, will close things out with a bang in October.
All of this will take place as the train rolls through scenic British countryside, so you’ll have a meal with a view. You can book your seats here – they start at £565 per person. It may be a lot, but considering that a ticket aboard the Pullman usually costs that or more, you’re technically getting an entire meal from a celebrity chef for free. A bargain!
Train travel with Time Out
Loco for locomotives? In other recent news from our railways, Virgin’s cross-Channel train competitor for the Eurostar just got a step closer to actually happening, Britain’s busiest train line is getting £3.8 billion of repairs, one of the UK’s busiest train routes is getting 6 million more seats, and this heritage railway is getting a revamp.
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