This is in continuation to my earlier super popular post on AC 1^st Class Duronto train

In a nutshell:
Quite enjoyable food, a memorable journey & excellent service by the crew.

Address & other details:  N.A.

Meal for 2: N.A.

Cuisine type :  vegetarian and nonvegetarian

Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.

Food is a part of the train ticket price. So am unable to produce a bill (like we do in all other posts)

I rate all the food items & then give a final overall rating which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster.

Short description – in case u r in a hurry:

Unlike the previous experience of a new AC1 coach, this coach was an old one but pretty well maintained.The aisle of the coach had black & white photographs of stations & trains in Western Railways clicked 80 – 100 years back.

We got a coupe. Loved the travel experience. The seats seemed broader, thus enabling a good sleep, specially for tall people and those with a wide structure.

This of course came at a price. Cost of travel by 2 people was approx Rs. 1000 more expensive than airfares of delhi to Mumbai on booking date.

For climbing to the upper berth, there was a proper staircase at the corner – good for use by elderly people as well (as compared to the regular metal rod staircase in other coaches).

Food was served everytime on a small foldable table – so one did not have to hold the food in one hand & eat with other.

Proper cutlery was also provided – metal spoon, fork, knife & ceramic type plates.

The people in charge gave outstanding service. At the end of the journey we asked for a feedback form. What came was a complaint book. I wrote ‘this is not a complaint but a note of appreciation’. The Manager returned a copy of that note with few handwritten sentences ……………… interesting.

Detailed description – in case u hv the time to NJOY reading:

As soon as the train started we were served packaged Mixed fruit juice.

The guys serving us came to take dinner order options – veg / nonveg / Indian / continental.

In a little while we were served Evening snacks

It had Khasta Kachori – this was much more khasta than I thought a Kachori in a train Wud be. It had flavor of ghee. Had many thin layers to it.

The filling was not spicy and hot on the face but had flavours of spices and was somewhat hot. I quite liked it. Rate it 3.75/5

The Veg sandwich was non toasted white bread with a filling of carrots and Mayo. The look of it did not impress me at all but a bite into it broke my inhibitions. The bread was super soft. The carrots were crunchy and that combo made it interesting and good. Rate it 3/5.

We also got two Eclair toffees and that took us back to memories of school days and we re- lived some past moments.

We got a Pack of Roasted Almonds in the snacks as well. These were very crunchy and very good. Rate them 4/5.

Gulab jamun was served in a tiny paper box. This gulab jamun had a tinge of salt in it in addition to sweetness and was of the dry kind – intense inside, not fluffed up. I liked it quite a lot due to the balancing of sweet and salt and also the dry, non fluffy texture. Rate it 4.25/5

Dinner – Continental nonveg had some common items with dinner continental veg as well as with the Indian dinners.

There were two soup choices with all meals – tomato and veg.

We tried the Soup tomato. It was not like the packaged tomato soup but it had been made from scratch. It was a bit high on the sour side. A pinch of salt balanced off the sourness very well. A dollop of Amul butter enlivened the soup. A sprinkling of black pepper added some spice. Enjoyed the soup with all that addition. Rate it 3.75/5

For starter we got Aloo Tikkis. They were very soft inside, crispy outside. They had green peas and carrots inside too. There was perfect balance of salt and it tasted very good. Simple yet very good. Rate it 4/5

Boiled veggies were served with continental platter.

Cold Macaroni with herbs and white sauce was served. It was good – soft and tasty. Rate it 3/5

For maincourse we were served roasted Chicken. It looked most impressive but even before it reached the mouth, we cud smell ‘over refrigerated’ chicken. We took few bites from different parts of the chicken but it was not different anywhere. Simple case of not following FIFO ( first in first out). The sauce was nice. Since the chicken was bad, rate this 0/5 – inedible.

We were served Potato wedges. These had withered but tasted very good. Perfect salt, super soft and good to taste. Rate them 3.5/5.

We were also served plain packaged Dahi and Ice cream ( vanilla or butterscotch).

Dinner Indian nonveg.

We started this menu with Soup mixed veg. It was slightly thick, pale colored soup with carrots, beans etc. Though the veggies were quite crunchy, they were not optimally crunchy. I guess they softened up in the immense temperature of large cooking vessels.

Addition of a dollop of Amul butter, a pinch of salt and some pepper again enlivened the soup. Turned out to b pretty good. Rate it 4/5.

Aloo tikki was same as in the other platter.

We super loved the Bhindi Ki subzi – the serving guy got this curry in a large vessel and served from there – like in home. He was willing to give more helpings also. The bhindi was not slippery, it did not have masala on the face but had good Flavor of spices and generally very good taste. Rate it 4.5/5

We were also served Paneer curry – light colored gravy with spices and mild hot. Cream made its presence felt in the gravy. The paneer pieces were good but not great. Rate the gravy 4/5 and the paneer 3/5. Overall rating averages out to 3.5/5

Another dish that we just loved was Dal fry. Yellow Dal finished with ghee and spices. Simple yet awesome. Felt like home. Rate it 4.5/5

The Chapati had been freshly made and were super soft and warm.

Fried rice was visually good but it had no salt in it – thus it was not possible to eat it as it is. Also, the rice was suboptimal cooked. A bit softer Wud have been better. Rate this 2/5

Final dish we had was Chicken curry. Spicy, somewhat hot and tasty chicken gravy. The pieces were good too. Nothing extraordinary but very good on its own. Rate it 3.5/5

We also got Dahi & Ice cream.

Breakfast again had two choices – continental veg or continental nonveg (egg)

Veg breakfast:
They served us a pack of Kellogg’s corn flakes and option of only hot milk.
Non toasted Brown bread was also given.
Veg cutlet was predominantly an aloo, carrot and green peas filling – crisp outside, soft inside. The aloo Tikki of previous day was much better. Rate this 3/5

We also got freshly made Upma with corn & veggies. Good but nothing stood out. The curry leaves made their presence felt visually but not thru flavor. Rate this 3/5

We were also given an Apple, coffee / tea.

Nonveg breakfast:

Again , common items were Kellogg’s, Apple & Brown bread
Masala Omelet was soft inside and firm outside, was slightly low on salt and was fried in moderate oil. It was not extreme on chilly. Rate it 3.5/5

Potato wedges were same as the dinner previous night.
That rounds off our culinary experience aboard AC1 Rajdhani.

Rating of food at AC Rajdhani delhi mumbai averages out to 3.4/5

Food was way more memorable in the delhi Kolkata Duronto that I had reviewed earlier.

What surely bypasses the rating is the amazing personalised service that the guys provided – as if we were guests at their home…. Memorable