Sausage rolls and sultana sauce on the line as James Martin gets on board with Virgin

TRAIN travellers to London can expect their sausage rolls to come with sultana sauce from next month, thanks to a catering deal struck by Virgin Trains with Yorkshire TV chef James Martin.
James MartinJames Martin
James Martin

The Malton-born presenter and restauranteur will create a new menu for first class passengers on services from York, Leeds and Doncaster to London.

Dishes for standard class travellers will follow in the autumn.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

First class breakfast will now include “an exclusive range of jams” produced by Yorkshire-based The Fruity Kitchen, along with “premium black pudding” with the traditional sausages, bacon and eggs. The train company’s “casual dining” menu will feature Martin’s signature golden sultana sauce as an accompaniment to sausage rolls.

Virgin serves complimentary food to first class passengers, although an off-peak return ticket from York to London is around £130, with peak time tickets costing up to £369.

Martin said: “I see this partnership as a real opportunity to open people’s eyes to the great food they could enjoy as they speed up the iconic East Coast line – and I feel the new menus we’re cooking up together will make it a truly enjoyable experience.”

Customer experience director Alison Watson said: “We’re confident the menu James is designing with our team will be the finest dining any UK train operator can boast and will be another step in making our customers’ journeys even better.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Virgin’s deal with Martin is the latest in a long line of celebrity-endorsed menus on the railways. In the 1980s, the nationalised British Rail recruited the late broadcaster and chef Sir Clement Freud to create a signature range of sandwiches, following decades in which the curled-up corners of bread in the buffet car had been a national joke.

Sir Clement, the grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, worked at the Dorchester Hotel, and went on to run his own restaurant in London’s Sloane Square, as well as being the long-serving TV spokesman for Kennomeat dog food.