We headed to York train station and were greeted by Samantha at Belmond then taken to the platform to await the Northern Belle train.
The first course was cauliflower soup with curried vanilla oil and what a start to the day. Simply delicious- I could have been given the whole pan with a loaf of bread and I would have been happy.
Up next… Fresh Lemon Sole with dressed local crab. The crab really made this dish. I love shellfish and the crab on the sole was moist and light. A nice little course to set me up for the next course.
During the day James Martin came through the carriage several times and chatted to everyone. He even managed to sneak a few Yorkshire puddings in between pictures! He was extremely nice to us all and took us down to the TINY kitchen where our meals had been served from. I couldn't believe how small it was, it was about a quarter of a carriage, if that. I wouldn't have survived cooking in there as there was no room at all to make an ounce of mess!
So if I wasn't satisfied by the previous 4 courses, meeting a celebrity chef, lots of wine, and this stunning luxury train…dessert was waiting for us when we returned to our table. Perfect! Now I know I have already said that maybe one or two of the previous courses were my favourite but now I promise the dessert was my favourite – it was sublime: vanilla and vodka panna cotta with roasted rhubarb, ginger purée, lemon balm and little warm sugar doughnuts.
This was so great that it made me forget that I've had 5 courses and I was very tempted to sneak back to the kitchen and steal any spare desserts lying around. However being on my best behaviour, I instead hoped for my girlfriend to be full but… bad news for me – dessert was also her favourite course of the day and there was nothing spare for greedy old me! A great end to a brilliant day.
After all this, all that was left to do was sit back and relax on the train for the last little part of our journey back to reality.
http://www.belmond.com/northern-belle-train/
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