You’ll never go hungry on this train ride

The night before leaving on the Rocky Mountaineer, we were instructed to be punctual and advised, “Don’t have breakfast.”

Of course, they would serve us something — after all, we would be on a luxury train and Rocky Mountaineer wouldn’t let us start the day without at least a cup of coffee and a scone.

We did get a coffee and a scone — deliciously light and cinnamony — but that was just the appetizer to the hot breakfast that was to come.

In early August, I was invited to travel on the Rocky Mountaineer train from Vancouver to Banff through the Canadian Rockies (one of its four routes).

I was on the Goldleaf Service which means travelling in a bi-level domed coach with gourmet à la carte meals served in the lower-level dining room. The tables, set with linen, silverware and china, sit next to huge windows so passengers don’t miss a moment of the panorama outside as they eat.

In the Goldleaf Service dining room, passengers continue to enjoy the view through the oversized windows while they eat.

And boy, was there a lot to eat.

We had the same breakfast and lunch menus for both days on the train (there was an overnight stop in the town of Kamloops) but there was so much to choose from that we could have been on board for a week and not eaten the same thing twice.

Breakfast started with fresh fruit or baked goods followed by a choice of seven dishes, from a souffle and scrambled or poached eggs to French toast, pancakes, oatmeal and granola.

Special mention goes to the French toast which were pan-fried slices of cranberry and apple baguette, served with roasted almond and honey syrup, and a dollop of maple cream so delicious I would hook myself up to it with an IV tube if I could.

French toast with that magnificent maple cream.

I had a brief chat with sous chef Bernie Wen before the Taiwanese ladies in the group got hold of their good-looking countryman for pictures.

The 28-year-old, who has worked on the Rocky Mountaineer for seven seasons, said he had to step outside his comfort zone when he started working in a train galley.

Chef Bernie Wen loves that he gets to work with seasonal ingredients.

“We have to deal with limited space, and sometimes ingredients as well,” he said.

“But we do get very good local seasonal ingredients, for example Alberta beef and coho salmon from British Columbia [incidentally, the two Canadian provinces the train travels through], and it’s great that we can do farm to table.”

With about 60 passengers per car, each meal service was done in two seatings. I was amazed at how efficiently things were run and we didn’t have to rush through our meals.

Our king-sized breakfasts over, it was back to our plush seats upstairs to enjoy more of the view. But refreshments, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, kept coming. It was the first time I’d tried a virgin Bloody Caesar and it was — pardon my language — bloody nice!

… and pork tenderloin

Before I knew it, it was time for the three-course lunch. The Rocky Mountaineer executive who gave us a tour of the train before starting the journey wasn’t kidding when he said, “Let the force feeding begin.”

Here was another round of tough decisions: There was chicken with sun-dried tomatoes, seared steelhead salmon fillet on couscous, a mushroom burger with mesquite seasoning and jumbo prawns with garlic rice, among other things.

My top choice of entrée was the Alberta beef short ribs braised in Okanagan Valley Merlot, accompanied by whipped garlic potatoes and local market vegetables.

Imagine Mr Carson from Downton Abbey announcing the dish at the Crowley dinner table. That’s how good it was.

Source : Star2.com