Bhopal Express - A Unique Experience in a Rail Coach Restaurant

Since my childhood I had been fascinated by Trains and any thing related to trains, may be because I have been travelling in them since the time I don't even remember. I used to enjoy the 30 hour journey to my hometown during holidays & Train was home till reaching the destination. Among many other interesting & exciting activities during the journey, eating home packed food in a moving train was fun which I enjoyed as a child. And I still do enjoy the snacks / meals on the train, how ever the quality of the pantry car food has gone down in recent years. 

Imagine my delight when I visited with relatives to one of a kind restaurant in Bhopal city where I could experience the same atmosphere with out actually making the journey. The Rail Coach restaurant, called Bhopal Express, named after the popular express train from New Delhi to Bhopal. It was formerly called as Shan - e - Bhopal Express restaurant. 

Established in 2007 is a full fledged restaurant inside a railway coach and is part of Lake View Ashok hotel.

There are many theme based restaurants even Metro & Train based, in major cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, but this is unique and prides itself as being the only Broad Gauge Restaurant in the world.

Entrance

It was an actual running Indian railway coach which was modified for the dining car look and yes, it actually sits on broad gauge rails. Immense care has been taken to keep the original look while making modifications necessary for a restaurant.

We entered a pathway with a typical railway crossing gate leading the way in from the parking. 

A pretty looking manual railway signal greeted us. 
Signal down - Restaurant open, Signal up - Restaurant closed. 

The operating lever sits nearby for enthusiasts to see how it used to work in olden days when manual switching was done. Both the lever & the signal are real ones used before the automatic signalling came into place.

Then we entered onto the platform where the grand looking coach welcomed the hungry passengers. Tables were set on the platform as well for passengers who may choose to sit in the open air enjoying the feeling of eating on the platform with the train in the foreground and without the usual discomforts of the actual platforms in India. (But is recommended only between November to March owing to the harsh Indian summer). 

A decorative canopy covered the platform and completing the picture was an antique clock hanging from it. A perfect setting I thought.

     

Yes, as the board says, this restaurant is ISO 9000-2008 Certified

Interior

As we entered the air-conditioned coach immediately were transported into another world. A perfect royal dining car awaited us. The ambiance was instantly relaxing, with soothing old Hindi movie songs playing softly in the background. Trains & movies are integral part of India.

On the platform side there were comfortable sofas & twin seats placed with tables in between. Windows lined with curtains showed the view of the platform outside. 

 But the most interesting & unique thing was on the other side of the aisle where a pair of single seats were placed along the windows. They were not actually windows but screens showing continuous video of landscape passing by. Shot in an actual train as it cruised through  the nearby Vindhya mountain ranges. This was special & a very different experience.

Check the video -->

We were enjoying this when someone reminded why actually we were here, the food had to be ordered. A person uniformed as a TTE (Train Ticket Examiner) presented the menu & took the order. Even the menu had Indian railway locomotive picture on the front and many other vintage pictures of the railways in subsequent pages. The food arrived  & was served by waiters uniformed as railway pantry boys. And of course I was glad that, to make it more realistic the chef did not replicate the taste of the food we get in the trains. Each item was delicious.

The Menu Cover

Menu Main Cover

 "Kadhai Paneer which melted in the mouth, spicy Chole in gracious gravy, Dal makhani, soft lacha paratha". But the highlight was a starter of spicy sweet corn which was out of the world & was instantly doubled. I devoured each item enjoying the ambiance and looking out of the window at the passing landscape which I had done so many times during actual train journeys. Such was the reality effect that more than once I found myself oscillating to & fro as I would have in a real moving train, and had to consciously stop myself from doing that.
It was a delight to be there & I returned a year later and hope to go there again some time soon.

Here are some pictures of Menu. The dishes have interesting names. 

 

This restaurant is rated highly in the popular travel & food related portals
Hope you enjoyed it, do visit it when you are in Bhopal.


Ravindra
Noida
24-08-2016 Wednesday 23:41 hrs.