Restaurant Car on Tibet train

In order to offer passengers fresh meals, each Tibet train is provided with a restaurant car that offers 3 meals a day for hundreds of travelers. This car is usually situated next to the soft-sleeper car.

The restaurant car has a kitchen, a dining room and a mini bar. The cooks prepare both Tibetan and Chinese dishes for passengers.

For breakfast, passengers will be served with pickles, eggs, bread and milk. A nutrient-balanced breakfast costs only RMB10, or so. Some Chinese would like to have noodles for breakfast, so there are a wide variety of options: from Snow Vegetable Noodles to Beef Noodles, Steak Noodles.   

For lunch and dinner, there are both Chinese and Tibetan dishes. There are 55 cold dishes, 8 Tibetan dishes, 32 ordinary dishes and 8 soup dishes. Each dish is about RMB 25 and the average bill is about RMB 100 for two people.

The dining room is decorated in a unique Tibetan folk style, which let travelers feel a strong Tibetan atmosphere before arriving in Tibet. There are many small tables in the room. Travelers can enjoy delicious food at the tables while appreciating the spectacular scenery along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

The mini bar sells drinks and snacks. In non-meal service time, passengers are required to buy at least a beer or a cup of tea to stay in the dining room. Otherwise, they may be asked to return to their compartment.

The restaurant car is usually crowded at lunch and supper time. Actually, passengers do not have to go to the restaurant car for a meal because the attendants always push the meal cart through the train to offer passengers set meals at meal time. Each meal package consists of three dishes and costs around RMB 20, but it might only cost RMB 10 when the train approaches the last station. 

Many foreigners might not like the food offered on the train. They are highly advised to prepare enough snacks before boarding the train to Tibet as the trip is long. For example, the train from Beijing to Lhasa takes over 40 hours. Delicious food also makes a good journey, so make a good preparation.