The railways in East Africa have a long history, the railway was built by the Brit’s with the help of Indian labour. The rail line opened up the interior of East Africa for commerce, during construction the famous man eater lions of Tsavo caused a spot of bother, added to that a pesky tribe of spear-chucking Nandi’s held up construction for almost 10years(we rock!). The British had not obtained the requisite building permissions from the Nandi’s, the Brit’s prevailed after killing the Nandi’s leader. After railway was built, train services were run by East African Railways & Harbour, which then became East African railways, which became Kenya Railways, which then became Rift Valley Railways.
End of history lesson, I was heading off to Mombasa for some rest & relaxation. The plan was to train down to Mombasa then fly back to Nairobi. Booked first class cabin, for an addition ksh 1,100 you get dinner & breakfast. The train journey is typically 13-14 hours long, the train engines have a top speed of about 55km/h.
Dinner menu, it reads very well, the execution was way off the mark. Yep, that’s my pilsner on the table too.
Bread service consisted of a single slice of cold white bread, margarine was served along with it. Margarine sucks, where is my butter?
The soup for the night was cream of leek soup, which didn’t taste like leeks. Total mystery.
Cool cutlery, this knife is labelled E.A.R & H, East African Rail & Habours. This is what the rail company was known as during Kenya’s colonial days. Amazing how long the cutlery has survived.
Fish appetiser, this tasted really good, the sauce worked very well with the fish.
Main course of roast beef with potato puree & veg. Beef was cooked to leathery consistency, I can’t stand overcooked meat. Anyway, about the rest of the plate, you decide.
Other main course was chicken curry with steamed rice, this was way better than the roast beef but nothing special.
On the menu, we were promised chocolate cake instead we got a plain & very dry cake. The custard sauce was made using commercial custard powder. Commercial custard powder normally consists of cornstarch, artificial flavour & colour. This custard tasted nothing like real custard made from milk/cream, vanilla & eggs.
Breakfast plate of eggs, bacon, sausage & tomato. Also served was orange cordial.
Coffee with Kenya railways cutlery.
Anyhow, the train journey to Mombasa was great apart from the food. The cabins were clean, clean beddings & great service from staff. I would take the train again…….
by Rista
30 Apr 2009 at 20:54
Hmm… looks decent. You mean RVR’s hanging in there despite their probies with uprooted railways? Do they still come round with the ‘marching band’ at dawn, and the steamed string beans and carrots? Basi I give them the ‘brass cojones’ award, if the answer to any of the above is yes. Thanks for sharing.
by porkygourmand
30 Apr 2009 at 21:40
@Rista The dude with the loud chime device still makes his rounds. Those chefs in Madagascar are well trained & deserve some applause, sometimes the customer is not always right. I’m familiar with the kausha mentality. I was offered some kaushwad tuna in mombasa, chef had to make another one for me just seared & rare in the centre.
by porkygourmand
30 Apr 2009 at 21:42
@rista inasemekana string beans were out of stock… Asante.
by Rista
30 Apr 2009 at 20:58
Also, if you can’t stand overcooked beef, take a trip to Madagascar (regardless of government legitimacy), the chefs there (frenchie influence?) refused to ‘kausha’ the beef for some of us kenyans. They preferred to cook an entirely different dish than mess with their medium rare beef. Said it would be an affront to their reputation!
by bankelele
02 May 2009 at 13:35
great review; when i take the Mombasa train i usualy opt for break fast only (and carry a pizza for dinner) . last time they ran out of breads, but they bought some at the next station and the toast was warm and ready 5 minutes later. it’s a shame that RVR does not market teh train more, and only a few tourists know that it still exists
by porkygourmand
02 May 2009 at 19:06
@banks RVR has so much potential, they need a transformational manager to kick them into the 21st century. BTW I love your blog, I have been reading it for years.
by Rafiki
18 May 2009 at 22:04
Thanks Porky for such an excellent post with great pics!
I agree 100% with Banks, don’t take the dinner, just the breakfast.
Staff is generally polite and fun (some are real caricatures in their own right, others are drunk during the whole ride)
2nd class is also an excellent option, basically the same as first class, but with 4 people instead of 2 people in a room, so recommended for a group or family of four at cheaper rates.
Yeah, the cutlery, some of it is still there indeed. I understand some of it is silver and travellers steal it as a souvenir. RVR should actually sell it to passengers (other options include postcards, pictures, more choice in the bar etc).
I also prefer NBO-MSA by train and MSA-NBO by air. For one reason or another, there seem to be less delays on the NBO-MSA train than the MSA-NBO train (going uphill???). I don’t mind the delays too much, it is nice to see part of the journey in daylight.
And I agree with Banks again: this trip should be properly marketed! And RVR should think about online bookings.
Pingback
by Kenya Airways Mombasa to Nairobi | The Porky Gourmand
28 Jun 2009 at 18:05
[...] is post brings my Mombasa posts full circle. First up was the RVR railways train trip, then followed by dining reviews of The Moorings, Whitesands breakfast, Whitesands Lunch, [...]
by aMERUcan
29 Jun 2009 at 09:42
Hi,
We were discussing the train over the weekend and guys were saying some bad things about the train. The said it had bed bugs!Thanks for the blog as it has now given me a nice picture of the whole thing. Banks thanks for the tip on the pizza for dinner, those pics did not look appetising at all!How much was the cost of the trip including the meals? I figured you were accompanied(unless you have an appetite for both leathery meat and chicken).
by Kip the Porky Gourmand
29 Jun 2009 at 10:47
@aMERUcan Karibu! Regards the linen & the beds, they were in good shape. The cost of trip including meals is about 3660 kshs.
by Chem
24 Sep 2009 at 15:21
I’m a huge train fan, done it a couple of times both ways. Last time coming back from MSA we got stuck at Mackinnon Road which is like 100 km from Mombasa due to a derailed train. We were right on the edge of Tsavo East Park so when we finally left 9 hours later, yes 9! at about 10 a.m., we got to experience the trip in daylight and it was the most awesomest trip ever. Coming through the park we saw all the wildlife you can imagine, bar the big cats but trundling past dusty red Tsavo elephants was amazing. I always skip the dinners, instead i pack Java sandwiches, water and potato chips. Love the breakfast which can be oily but it’s filling and delicious.