Transport for Wales welcomes new head chef
A series of exciting new menus are set to be served up on Transport for Wales’ long distance fleet thanks to a new preparation kitchen and a new head chef.
January saw the completion of a brand-new preparation kitchen at Newport Station where a team of chefs will be busy putting together an array of dishes for customers traveling between Holyhead, Manchester and Cardiff.
Asian inspiration
Head chef Mark Roberts who joined from Wagamama at the end of 2024 says he is excited to bring a mix of home cooking to customers with a dash of oriental flavour too.
“I love classic home cooking using local produce that can showcase the best we have to offer in Wales,” said Mark, who worked at the popular restaurant for eight years.
“But we’ll also be offering some Asian inspired dishes like Thai fishcakes, so I’m not totally leaving behind my recent experiences.
“We’ve got a fantastic new facility here that will allow us to prepare so much more.
“I’m planning to work at least two menus ahead and can’t wait to share some of my ideas for the spring, the Eisteddfod and Christmas with our customers.”
Customer favourite
While much of the prep work will be done in Newport and loaded onto Premier Class services as they head north, onboard chefs will still be putting dishes together freshly in the onboard kitchen as the service travels at up to 90mph along the Welsh Marches.
That includes food for the southbound journeys back to Cardiff which is stored in onboard fridges before being unloaded at key locations en-route ready for the return services and for breakfast the following day.
The catering offer on the route has long been a favourite of travellers and has won rave reviews from critics over the years, including last year’s Eisteddfod choices.
TfW is also planning an exciting menu as part of the Railway 200 celebrations in 2025 and will be sharing more details soon.
Catering Manager Paul Otterburn said the investment would lead to an exciting future for the already successful catering option.
He said: “With this superb new facility we’ll be able to greatly expand the range of foods we can produce ourselves.
“Our chefs will now be able to pre-prepare food for our premier service from here which will build on the success of our onboard dining experience, so it really will be an exciting future for catering on TfW.”
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In the Royal Navy tinned tomatoes were known as ‘Train Smash’…
I don’t know what made me think of that…
This is a well worth trying on a weekend away to the north or south coast, and surprisingly good value with a railcard and advance 1st tickets.
Will this appointment make trains more reliable, like on time or nearly so ?
Forget about a head chef and try to run the trains without constant cancellations TfW 😞
The trains are significantly improved under the direct control of the Welsh Government—especially with the hourly service to Manchester. It’s fantastic to see Welsh brands featured whenever possible. Best of luck to the chef; might he consider adding laverbread and cockles to the breakfast menu? Alternatively, how about creating a pasta dish that showcases the wonderful ingredients from Selwyn’s of Penclawdd?Im also
sure you’d sell a ton of Joe’s ice cream if it were included on the menu.
This all sounds wonderful and one can only wish the catering team success. However for those in the West of the country the idea of having actual ‘long distance’ trains rather than the threatened commuter trains for our long distance services would be a great improvement. Adding high quality catering would be well beyond the ‘icing on the cake’. It would just be nice to reliably have the snack trolley on the service and enough seats for all the passengers.
I’d like to see some of these trains run between Fishguard and Holyhead via the HoW line to create a world class scenic rail option.
There could be an onboard shop offering high-quality food options prepared by the travelling chef, as well as other showcase products such as Welsh whisky which could be ordered to the seat from standard class.