State banquet menu.

[madaboutpurple]

After reading the menu they ate especially the starter I am glad I did not have to go .The starter they had sounds really odd. Also why is the vegetarian menu never mentioned. I wonder what alternatives were offered.

I think it was for 160? You can’t get too exciting for that number, they serve it all pretty quickly so playing up can’t take an age.

Trump would have chosen a Big Mac and large fries or maybe a stuffed crust deep pan hawaiian with extra pineapple, and would have asked for it to be supersized, along with a bucket of diet coke. The man has no taste, good food would be wasted on him.

Jokes aside, I have to admit, I would LOVE to go to a State Banquet like this. I just think it would be absolutely fascinating.

And how Kate didn't vomit when he kept talking about how healthy and beautiful she looked.... god. She always gets put next to the crazies - downside of being second highest ranked female? I have to wonder if she goes up and slugs tequila to recover!?

That sounds delicious id love to.try parmasan shortbread.

I imagine they don't want the food to be too "heavy" but the main sounds substantial.

Often the reason a main is chicken is because it's the one mist will eat. Pork, beef, lamb, duck - some nationals don't eat pork or beef, some people won't eat pink beef or lamb or duck. As regards fancy poultry like pheasant, people can be fussy.

I am quite sure the menu would have been checked and passed by the main parties involved.

Bet the Don was perplexed by the French

And only 3 courses??

Makes for a short supper

I thought it sounded really boring. I’d have showcased British food with something like a smoked salmon starter, beef main course and a creme brûlée for dessert with a cheese course and some petite fours as well.

showcasing ……watercress and vanilla ice cream?

Yeah, no cheese and biscuits? Unless that's served separately with the port?

Do you think anyone ever gets drunk? I assume the wine is fancy - but do you get a strict allocation - and a small glass of whatever wine is on offer with each course?

I'm clearly way too invested in this thread but....

I read a very interesting article about Watercress and its history as a crop in this country a few months back including that apparently some woman cornered the market 100 odd years ago and it was all a bit mafia-like! I believe we have large farms of it in surrey or Sussex?

He has been attending fancy events his whole life. The menu choices will have been sent in advance.

I feel sorry for his secret service food tasters ( apparently he has them) imagine having to taste Big Macs and fries every day, several times a day. They must have been thrilled to have something different to try.

I think it sounds dull but seasonal showcase some of the best of British possibly!
starter and pudding I’d leave, the main I’d have a go at but chicken cooked like that has a weird texture and I don’t really enjoy it.
Still; it’s all plain enough to appeal to the masses I guess.
But yes I think it’s a pretty dull menu.

creme brûlée

Not exactly showcasing British food! Eton Mess or trifle or cranachan or apple crumble would have done the job. Sussex Pond Pudding has gone off in a huff to California. Spotted Dick probably not a good idea.

I once helped out at a lunch banquet for the late Queen. She ate the starter (King George whiting) and the dessert (stone fruit poached in Sauternes) but not the main. She drank a gin and tonic before lunch and a glass of white wine with the meal.

The DoE ate everything and drank beer.

It was very interesting. They ate off regular plates but brought their own silver cutlery.

What security did you have to go through?

what? So it was a banquet but she brought her own cutlery? That makes no sense. And beer? At a banquet?

What kind of banquet was this!?

I'm fascinated by this.

I actually thought it sounded okay (if not as elaborate as I was expecting!).

But I'm glad I wasn't the only weird one wondering about vegetarian/other dietary requirements 🙃 160(?) people there; there must have been a few alternatives!!

I’d say it’s the difference between “fine dining/tasting menu experiences” and “banquet” (although realistically a state banquet is still going to be pretty elevated!)

To me, one is a dining experience all about the food and the chef showing how creative and precise they can be. There can be more risk in ingredients and combinations, more unusual textures etc, because it’s all about the food itself and people go knowing that’s the deal.

With a state banquet the food is important but it’s really about hosting and networking, so still needs to cater for a very wide range of palates which may not be open to riskier, left-of-field choices (it would be poor hosting to throw in a fish foam or something only for a portion of the group to dislike it). Plus it needs to be replicable at scale. It might be royalty and HoSs but it’s just a big dinner at the end of the day.

Slightly boring menu executed very well is safer than a super creative, off the wall menu which could fall very flat. Imagine an international incident because Don was made to eat a weird foam or gel. The horror!

To me I'm thinking more blancmange/jelly. Cold, wet, slimy, wobbly. Not good!

It sounds ok, I’d probably like it but the three courses sound a bit samey

I’d have gone really traditional for dessert…. Sticky toffee with Cornish vanilla ice cream
or rhubarb and custard

It was some time ago, the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. The lunch hosted by the then Prime Minister of Australia.

Security was actually very relaxed. We had to show ID and be ticked off a list when first arriving, but after that I was in and out of the venue from a back door quite a few times without being checked again, and I don’t recall any searches of persons or bags.

Yes, very heavy ornate silver cutlery. The waiter who served the head table gave me the cutlery and asked me to have them hand washed and rolled in a clean napkin to be given back to her equerry. I wasn’t front of house staff but in a managerial position and I was there helping out behind the scenes.

Regarding HM’s gin. The instruction were to have an unopened bottle of gin, tonic, ice, glass etc on a side table. The Queens equerry mixed her drink but the waiter served it to her.

It was indeed fascinating.

@JadziaD perhaps for security ? I can’t think of any other reason 🤔