Food Served in Indian Trains #ShatabdiExpress
While entering Executive Class of Shatabdi Express, I was curious to know how the premium sitting section of the train was going to be different from the rest of the compartments. I’m not a frequent train traveller; not a frequent traveller to be honest. For short distances, AC chair car in trains is good and I get my seat booked in such compartments. “Executive class is higher fare, better comfort and better food” that I knew.
I occupied my seat, found it more comfortable than the other classes. Leg-space was more, seats were stylishly cushioned and covered. Satisfied with the ambience, all I wanted was to be served with good food.Quickly and sharply, stewards brought water bottles, a cold beverage and hot tea with Marie biscuits. Sipping tea in the first class AC compartment, I went through the fresh newspaper that was placed on the chair before our arrival.My newspaper coverage was interrupted midway by the service boy.”Do you want cornflakes?”Thinking “This seems to be the ‘Executive Class addition”, I replied, “Yes, please”.A bowl and a packet of cornflakes were placed in a tray. The guy poured some milk in the bowl and I was ready to feast. Another surprise, a banana, also accompanied the pre-breakfast treat. The journey was five and a half hours long and two hours were already over. I began to look into my mailbox on my phone and scrolled through the social media posts while waiting for another round of breakfast;)
“Veg or non-veg?”, the service boy was asking me.
I, under the effect of early waking up and train-swinging, was sleeping like a baby.”Thought it was mentioned in the ticket, I want veg. What are the options?””Veg-Cutlets, Parantha or Dahi-vada!””So many options!” I was surprised as we never get these options in other chair cars. Then remembered I was travelling in the Executive Class:D. I had paid more fare than others, it’s my privilege train ride. Ahem! Ahem!;)Had never tried Paranthas in the train; they don’t serve in all the compartments.
“I want Parantha”, the elite passenger in me replied.A tray with two paranthas, butter, curd, two pieces of bread, sachets of fruit jam, tomato sauce and pickles was placed before me in no time. I clicked and shared the food pictures on social media. This is what they all do, a small contribution from my side will simply add to the craze.How I ate all that stuff in the next twenty minutes is another story;)
Travelling in the premium class comes with its own pros and cons. They charge you more for a clean, comfortable ride. Food is good, though there’s a possibility of improvement. Now I’m sure about one thing that travel by First Class AC in train is better than many domestic flights.
#BharatKaZaika is a blogging event conducted by #BlogBoosterIndia.
PANORAMIC RIPPLES 
And the hearty breakfast is followed by another round of tea/coffee!
I travel between Delhi and Chandigarh quite often and have had everything from breakfast, lunch, evening tea to dinner. Earlier the quality of food and service in Shatabdi trains used to be pathetic but there’s vast improvement in the past 1-2 years.
Lovely post!
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Hahaha! Exactly, the Railways are improving their services and we enjoy the privileges π
Thanks for reading Seema:)
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Lovely description. Can easily relate myself to it. I had similar feelings when I travelled.
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Same pinch*;)
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Good to see the improvements in rail sector! Hopefully they are able to sustain and be consistent.
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Executive Class is far better than the other compartments but fares are on higher side.
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Nicely written piece.
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Thank you!
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its been 2 years I had train food, the post took back me to memory lane
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Thanks for visiting:)
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Nice to see such improvement in food quality in Indian trains.
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Not all compartments serve same food, quality varies with fare:D
Thanks for reading.
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Lovely post, #BharatKaZaika in trains is an experience, I remember in my first Shatabdi journey I was not aware of these meals and when they bought frooti tetra pack my mom said no to me thinking in-train it will be very costly, and then they politely said its included in the ticket. I am talking about 1989. It was fun then also and now too. Unique post and fun to read.
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Thanks Pragun π
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Good to see a change for better one in Railway services!!very nice post!!
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There is a change! Thanks for reading:)
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Traveling in a train is like second home to me…. enjoy the travel, no complaints about the food too.
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Thanks
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Wonderful post and nice to see food improvement in our Indian train..
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Thanks Surabhi:)
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That’s a nice one on Shatabdi. My daughter recently travelled from Delhi to Chandigarh and sent me a similar picture of cornflakes and banana captioned ” Healthy Breakfast” Times are changing for the railways I guess, finally! #Blogboosterind #Bharatkazaika #Habhitwellness
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What a coincidence π
Agree, Railways are working towards improvement.
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I have never travelled in Executive class in train. Last time I went with my daughter. She was so excited to have breakfast in train. We were in A.C. coach. So we had less options. Next time I will try executive for sure !
Thanks for sharing the information
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Everytime I travelled in Executive Class, it was because of the delay in booking tickets π
Thanks for reading.
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That was amazing something different but i dont prefer to eat railway food..
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There nothing like home cooked food but I enjoy getting served while travelling:D
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The best thing is that time flies when you’re served food at short intervals π
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I traveled a lot in Shatabdi during my college and early job time. It used to be the fasted train to my hometown from Delhi. I enjoyed both the services where you get breakfast in morning train and dinner in evening one. I even preferred it always as I did not need to carry my own food then. When you are a frequent Shatabdi traveler, you more than enjoying the journey wait for food to arrive. You keep on guessing the time of its arrival. And you feel confident about your food choices as you know what is the best in terms of options. Whenever, any friend accompanied me, I behaved as if the train was more like my own house.
Now I donβt travel much by train, but this post made me nostalgic.
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Thanks Shipra! Glad you enjoyed reading:)
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Good to go through your experience.
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Thanks!
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I’m scared to try food in Indian Railways. Many people have told me that recently the quality has been improved but haven’t tried it yet. I wonder how uniquely you choose topics π Well done π
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Thanks Sanjota:)
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I always loved shatabdi for a fact that, they give so much to eat that once we get down “khane ka tension” is already gone.
Even in other trains the food, cleanliness and hygine is improving. Hopefully we see beautiful trains soon in India too.
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Yes hopefully:)
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I once travelled in Duronto express. The food was tasty but not good for health.
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In Shatabdi Express, the food was clean, somewhat healthy but not very tasty;)
Thanks for visiting.
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Recently, I heard from may that the food quality has improved a lot in Railways. Thats is good to know. Usually, we carry our own food but traveling by Shatabdi, we are dependent more on train food. I was okay with their Cutlets. But looking at the variety that you have presented, I am surely not going to pack my food from now onwards π
#BharatKaZaika #BlogBoosterIndia
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Hehe…. quality of food in trains varies with fare. But improvement is there and it is visible.
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In South, we have Idly/Vada once when I travelled instead of Paratha..but the food is really delicious indeed.
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This is goodπ
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Train food is always train food. It was nice to see that they started serving corn flakes. nice addition.
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Thanks for reading!
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Good one aditi and I had a great time while reading your travel and food experience of Indian railway. I agree they charge more but when you get good services, I think itβs ok to spend little more. #bharatkazaika
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Exactly! Charges are a bit more but services are much better in Executive Class. Glad you liked it:)
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Good to know about the improvisation …..your selection of topic is unique and quite needed
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Thanks:)
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It is fun to pamper us and our taste buds with such luxury once in a while, isn’t it? We usually carry our own food but ordered biryani once. It was good.
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I enjoyed this post aditi, I halted here to see how different your Shatabdi experience than mine. Bhala tumhare kapde mere kapdo se safed kaise types and the difference is the Executive premium fare π π
Else Mumbai-Ahmedabad CC serves the most pathetic food and the only equal tasty food itens are the amul butter, jam and that meri Marie biscuit.
Don’t ask me about the most pathetic medu vada sambar and veg cutlets π€ͺπ€ͺ
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Hmm …. You know what I miss in the so called modern day renovations (with ref to SouthIndian trains and Malls)? The hot hot masala vada, the hot samosas (onion, not potato stuffed), roasted ground nuts with shell, cut mangoes with salt and chili powder, Mirchi Bajjis, riceflake mixtures, etc., And people serving these with so many names and accents. The malls are filled with cold food re heated elements and trains, filled with routines. The special train travel feel, at least for me, was from the smells, sounds, sight and taste of these kind of small snacks and smiles of those who serve when we compliment them. In European trains, they serve packeted chips and biscuits. I had to facepalm! And I feel same culture is mimicked by us.
(Parantha is indeed a special option for a change, but not the biscuits/cornflakes).
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