What's on the Menu in the VIA Rail Dining Car?

Where: Canada

February 23, 2012 at 9:30 AM | by MsRebecca | Comments (0)

Now that we've shown you around a Sleeper Cabin for Two on VIA Rail's The Canadian, chugging down the tracks from Vancouver to Toronto, it's time to talk food.

If you spring for a Sleeper Class ticket, your meals are included. If you're in Economy, you can still access the Dining Car, although you'll be paying for your meals (they're around CAD$9-12 each) and the Sleeper peeps get priority access to the tables. There is also a snack bar on board, where anyone may buy packaged sandwiches, crisps and drinks.

The Canadian departs Vancouver at 8:30 pm and there is no dinner. If you're in Sleeper Class, however, there is a little send-off cocktail party in the Park car; down a little cup of bubbly and some hors d'oeuvres as you sit under the domed roof and watch the lights of the city slip away in the dark.

Click through our gallery to see the breakfast and lunch options served the next day, en route to Jasper. Overall, we were pretty happy with the variety, presentation and taste. Expectations were not high, but we were pleasantly surprised and reminded that train food is far superior to airline meals. The servings were generous and our lamb burger (a substitute for the usual Angus burger) was especially savory and delicious.

Of course the experience of dining en route is made even better by the ability to sit at a table with proper flatware and stare at the snowscape out the window.

For a peek at the meals served on the rest of the journey—Vancouver to Toronto takes four days—click here. We didn't partake in any wine, but you can peruse the selection available here as well.

Disclosure: We traveled courtesy of VIA Rail Canada, but all photos and opinions here are completely our own.

[Photos: Rebecca W for Jaunted]

Jaunted

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