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Dinning Car & Food Options If we did not spend our time in the sleeping car then we spent our time in the Dinning Car. As As I stated before the drapes on windows were closed unless you opened them. The staff was very attentive and as soon as you sat down you were greeted by someone asking you what you would like to order. If I was looking to sit and not eat I normally got some tea and that seemed to appease them. They seemed to be uncomfortable unless you ordered something. All of the food items were quite oily in nature and I am guessing were loaded with MSG. I am not quite sure how they prepared the food, but in the back part was some type of kitchen. At one point I went to take a photograph of the kitchen and was immediately told not to do so. A couple of times I went to take photographs of the employees and were told not to do so. Pointing the camera out the window never raised and an eyebrow, but as soon as the camera was pointed in the train you could just tell the staff became very uneasy.
There were also some interesting translations. One item was "Rape with Mushrooms." Breakfast each morning was the same. You either had your choice of a traditional Chinese breakfast or a traditional Western breakfast. The Western breakfast was average. Not good, not bad. While the tea was good it was traditional tea where they put the tea leaves directly into the water. The first cup of tea that I ordered had quite a few tea leaves in it and by the end of the trip the amount of tea leaves you received became increasingly less.
Another option for food on the train was purchasing items from these little carts that they would constantly be pushing up and down the aisles of the train. There was
Although we certainly did not starve while we were on the train, it was a little bit more of a challenge getting food then I had anticipated. Overall it was quite expensive when you consider what you were getting, (the average bill in the dining car was probably about 100 Yuan for two people) but then again they have a captive audience that really does not have many choices. So if I had to do it over again I think I would have packed more food to take with us on the train. Remember also that there is no place to prepare food and there really is no place to sit down and have a meal except in the dining room. So if you go for something like the tofu option then you are eating it off your lap in your sleeping cabin.
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you can see from the photograph the dining car was very basic. It had a number of tables to sit at and I was surprised that it never seemed too crowded. This also seemed to be the place that employees would come to socialize with each other. 
You can notice this in the photograph. So the first thing needed to do when you sat down was open the drapes and if someone was not sitting at the table across from you then the drapes would be closed and you could not see out of the other side of train. Most of the people both in the dining car and in the sleeping cars were Europeans. 
The menu was very basic. There were about seven items on the menu and each item was about 25 Yuan or $3 US, which seemed to be very expensive especially for what you received. You can see the two menus (one breakfast, one all other times) in the photographs below. The options did not change the entire time we were on the train. 
everything from fresh fruit, to instant noodle cups to chips. The prices were expensive, but were quite reasonable compared to the dining car. I would recommend that if you see something that you like you purchase it sooner rather then later. I took the photograph to the left towards the end of the trip and as you can see there were very few items left by this time. 
The last option available was purchasing something while stopped at one of the stations. This was an interesting experience, because you had very little time (5 to 10 minutes) and naturally there were quite a few people trying to do the same thing you were doing. Most of the stops had multiple options that ranged from hot food such as cooked chicken to your very basic neighborhood store that had a little bit of everything. The most frequent option however was the cart you see in the photograph to the right that sold a little bit of everything. I saw a number of people purchase beer as well as soda and water. We purchased an extra roll of toilet paper and if I remember correctly they offered a number of other personal items.
quite good although it was very heavy on salt. The best part was the fact that it was quite cheap and did not have the grease of the dining car.