Has train firm got it wrapped up with its new on-board menu?
FIRST CLASS NOSH, OR HAS IT HIT THE BUFFERS?
BRITISH Rail sandwiches were always the butt of jokes in the 80s and 90s. Bill Bryson, the author of Notes from a Small Island, wrote: “I can remember when you couldn’t buy a British Rail sandwich without wondering if this was your last act before a long period on a life-support machine.”
Historian Keith Lovegrove quipped “it was a sandwich of contradictions; it could be cold and soggy, or stale and hard, and the corners of the isosceles triangle-shaped bread would often curl up like the pages of a well-thumbed paperback”. That said, more than eight million of the much derided sarnies were sold to hungry train passengers.
Thankfully times have changed and railway food has vastly improved. East Midlands Railway (EMR) has partnered with the Soho Sandwich Company on its new spring menu. Inspired by the deli culture of New York, the company’s founder began a mission to create “deep filled, outrageously tasty deli quality sandwiches” for the UK. In 2022 it won the manufacturers category in the Sandwich & Food to Go Industry Awards.
We headed to Nottingham Railway Station to find out more. The new range includes focaccia sandwiches, wraps, gluten-free and vegan options. The well-presented sandwiches include spicy chicken and pepper and pastrami with cheese and gherkins. Vegetarian options include a ploughman’s sub roll and for vegans there’s a chickpea, mango and masala wrap, an onion bhaji wrap, and This Isn’t chicken & stuffing sandwich. For more traditional tastes there is the classic ham and cheese sub.
“Whatever we do we try and cover most dietary requirements. The sandwiches run on a 12-week rotation but every week there will be meat option, a vegetarian option, vegan option and gluten-free option,” said Debbie Atha, EMR’S customer experience development manager.
“The onion bhaji wrap is really really popular so we’ll put more on the train. The spicy chicken has gone really well. We changed supplier to make it a little bit different for regular passengers who travel a lot.
The menu changes seasonally. “Around Christmas time we might have turkey and stuffing sandwiches, Boxing Day sandwiches and pigs in blankets crisps. At different times of the year we try and do different products to suit. During the school holidays we do cheese and ham sandwiches as well as we have more children travelling,” added Debbie.
The sandwiches are only available to first class passengers and they’re complimentary just like breakfast, drinks, cakes, biscuits and crisps.
Standard class and the cafes on the platform and concourse are run by different operators.
But with 850,000 annual journeys in first class on EMR’S Innercity trains between Nottingham or Sheffield to London that adds up to a lot of sandwiches. Debbie said: “Before Covid it was a lot more business travellers, now we have opened that market up more to leisure so it’s not huge ticket prices. I think first class has become more available for everyone to travel.”
The cheapest first class return ticket from Nottingham to London is £51 compared to £36.40 for the lowest standard price. The introduction of a new app, Seatfrog, last year saw more than 25,000 EMR passengers upgrade to first class within the first six months of the launch. The seat bidding app allows travellers to bid for an upgrade with savings of up to 60 percent.
What’s the verdict?
I remember the miserable days of British Rail sarnies with curling corners sadly sitting in the buffet carriage’s display unit. The grim, unappetising sarnies were bland and insipid.
They made school dinners look like fine dining in the 1980s, an era where words like focaccia and vegan were unheard of, at least in the circles I moved in. Rolling on to 2024 and EMR’S new sandwiches from the Soho Sandwich Company are as good as any you’d eat in a posh deli. I particularly enjoyed the rosemary focaccia, fresh and springy, with chicken and spicy ‘nduja. Another gourmet sandwich, contained pastrami, Swiss cheese and gherkins, on focaccia bread with dill mayo and mustard - with no scrimping on the contents or flavour. A massive improvement on the old BR sarnie.
The onion bhaji wrap is really really popular so we’ll put more on the train.
Debbie Atha