An historic hotel popular with Royals and heads of state is set to host a recreation of Her Majesty’s 1953 coronation state banquet to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee.
Taking place on Friday 3rd June 2022, the Castle at Taunton will lay on a banquet fit for a queen in its newly refurbished Garden & Wisteria Room, recreating the exact menu that was served at Buckingham Palace nearly 70 years ago when Elizabeth II was crowned.
The special menu will feature favourites such as poached sole, rack of lamb, and strawberry and Pimm’s jelly.
During its long history, the Castle at Taunton has hosted royalty including Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, King Edward VIII, the Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret.
The last Royal visit was from Her Majesty in 1987 while she was in Taunton to open The Queen’s Building at Musgrove Park Hospital.
A coronation chicken canapé will also be on the menu; a dish which was developed for international guests who were being entertained at the palace after the coronation. The dish holds a special place in Royal culinary history. For the coronation, the food had to be prepared in advance, and florist Constance Spry proposed a recipe of cold chicken in a curry cream sauce with a dressed salad of rice, green peas and mixed herbs. The recipe won the approval of the Minister of Works and has since been known as coronation chicken.
The full menu will include:
- Coronation chicken canapé, served with a glass of Smith & Evans Somerset sparkling wine.
- Tortue Claire Sandringham (mock turtle soup).
- Délices des soles Prince Charles (poached sole, shellfish mousse, bouillabaisse sauce).
- Carré d’Agneau à la Windsor, haricots verts au beurre, pommes nouvelles (rack of lamb, buttered green beans, new potatoes).
- Salade royale, aspêrges, sauce mousseline (crab beignet, asparagus, mousseline sauce).
- Bôites de fraises reine Elizabeth (strawberry and Pimm’s jelly, fresh strawberries).
- Friandises assorties (assorted sweets).
The dishes will be cooked by the hotel’s executive chef Andrew Swann, who returned to the property last month after working in Michelin-starred London establishments such as Zafferano and L’Escargot.
The banquet has been priced at £95 per person, with 80 places available for guests to experience the royal treatment in an historic setting.
