The Northern Belle with James Martin: A train with a touch of Luxury….

Guest piece by Tom Smith

I was kindly asked to cover an event while my good friend Lucy was out of the country on another exciting assignment. When I found out that luxury travel company Belmond had invited her to spend Sunday afternoon on a luxury 1930's inspired train (the sister train of the Venice Simplon Orient Express!) puffing through the countryside and that I would be treated to a 5 course lunch by celebrity chef  James Martin… I snapped her hand off to cover it! 
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 train arrived looking fantastic with rows and rows of luxury 1930's carriages making my usual commute across the Pennines a little dull in comparison! The red carpet was rolled out of each carriage and we were taken to our seats ready to dine in style. As we chugged out of York station, sipping champagne, we began to see the rolling Yorkshire countryside spread out ahead of us and my appetite started to build. 

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.

 

 

 

 

A Sunday lunch in Yorkshire would not be complete without roast beef and Yorkshire pudding! This served on the luxury Northern Belle on a lovely sunny afternoon going through the Yorkshire dales with a lovely glass of red wine…well, do I need to say more? Go on then… the gravy was so rich and meaty that I couldn't mop enough up from my plate and the sirloin was gorgeous and so tender I cut through it like butter. Finally James Martin and his wonderful chefs are certainly from Yorkshire as they made a cracking Yorkshire pudding. My only complaint is that I couldn't have another plate full of a little more of that delicious beef!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.