Ever wondered why people swear by Mandovi Express' food? While testing claims that the Mandovi Express serves the best food among Indian Railways' trains, Sachin Bhandary takes us behind the scenes for a peek into the yummy secrets
The train arrives 30 minutes late, yet isn’t in a hurry. I board it from Mumbai (CST station) on one of those rare instances when the journey is truly more important than the destination. This train has built a great reputation for itself; as a rail fan Natarajan C, who runs a popular YouTube channel, puts it, “10103 Mandovi Express is the food king of Indian railways”.
It's not long before the men in blue show up with breakfast trays to kick-start our delicious gourmet journey to Goa, with Ahuja Caterers as hosts. The uncommon breakfast offering of sheera-upma proves that the Mandovi Express is serious about food. The train slows down as the day progresses, but the regularity of the food service steps up. The menu is an amalgam of regional cuisines–Gujarati dabelis, South Indian idli-vadas, a superb line up of snacks (methi vadas, samosas, chaat, soups) and more.
Mandovi's unusual breakfast offering of sheera upma
By tea time, curiosity gets the better of me and I land at the heart of the action—the pantry car. “We try to provide the tastiest food to our customers,” says the manager, who was sitting in his small cabin before he started instructing his men to move jumbo-sized vessels during the pre-dinner preparation break.
Surprisingly, the pantry is clean and well organized—fresh vegetables and greens are stacked neatly in tubs, which are placed in corners. The staff cleans it before the next round of cooking and having travelled on numerous trains I find their packaging material superior in quality.
The manager and staff of the food lover's train
I'm now wondering, how do they manage to serve such great food on the train, while others don’t? Tripti Ahuja, a third generation member of the family that has been the force behind the train’s great food, informs me that their story started at Castle Rock, a small station in North Karnataka. Sunderdas Ahuja, her grandfather, ran a canteen there and over the years, like many ingenious Indian entrepreneurs grew in reputation. Their journey with Mandovi and Konkan Kanya Express began in 1998, with the launch of Konkan Railways.
Since then the Ahujas have been serving finger-licking food on this ever-popular route, conquering the challenges of maintaining quality and hygiene for a large variety of items, for a large number of people (they serve 1, 000 meals per day), that too at reasonable prices!
While most procurement and prep-work is done at the network of base kitchens in Madgaon, Thivim, Ratnagiri and Khed, cooking is done in the train's pantry. They know that piping-hot food makes all the difference.
Obsessively committed to quality, Tripti’s uncle, Raju Ahuja, personally conducts quality tests on the train every few months and probes customers for feedback; resulting in improvement of some dishes and addition of many new ones, over the years.
Interestingly, most people on the Mandovi are frequent travellers–repeat customers generate about 40% sales. Thanks to this, it has consistently managed to increase sales despite no major rise in passenger numbers.
Their secret? “We keep a sharp focus on quality and the rest follows.” In an industry notorious for high attrition, the company not only hires good chefs, but also retains them. “That is why if you taste our biryani after a gap of six months, it will still have the same great taste,” Tripti adds. That brings us to the hot favourites: chicken biryani and lollipop, fried rice and manchurian. Even their uttapams and set dosas have many takers. Every dish I try is like home-cooked food and their Chinese can give any of Mumbai's mid-range Chinese restaurants (that would charge double) a run for its money.
On this common man’s vehicle, they have also managed to delight some movers and shakers–Narayan Rane, a political heavyweight in Maharashtra, loves their food and requests ‘fish curry and rice’ whenever he’s making quick trips across the Konkan.
Back on the train, we’re 12 hours into the journey, another three from Madgaon. I'm frustrated by the long delay, but right then, dinner is announced–chicken biryani! My smile is back. With enough spice coating the chicken, and peppercorns embedded into the tender meat, it’s like a treat at a serious biryani restaurant.
Mandovi Express bids me goodbye with gulab jamuns sprinkled with cardamom powder; the train arrives ever so slowly at Madgaon. But I'm not complaining anymore–when you're travelling on the Mandovi, delays can be a delicious disguise.
*Food and staff images by Sachin Bhandary
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 "The Mandovi Express")
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