Chateau Commodore — fit for the Queen

Press, 8 December 1976, Page 26

Chateau Commodore — fit for the Queen

The Chateau Commodore, on its beautifully landscaped grounds off Deans Avenue, has something for everyone and a great deal for some. Its special nights have become famous; and that of next March 6 will be long remembered at the hotel for a State banquet. On that night the Queen will make her farewell speech on the eve of her departure after her tour. The banquet will be in the Great Hall of the Chateau Commodore, a place where many conferences and other large functions have taken place since the hotel opened; and where many bright parties have also been held. The Chateau has three venues for eating, and the Great Hall is the most adventurous of these. The others are the Camelot Room, for a la carte every evening with dancing; and the Lamplighter Room, a fresh and sunny teahouse, for all meals every day. The Chateau’s fairly recent special nights have included a Roman party, where the guests lounged round in togas and similar; a Great Gatsby night, an occasion of uneven hems, fringes and very long necklaces; an American Thanksgiving night; and a Music Hall gathering. On a Saturday in November the Chateau had a baronial feast where knives and forks were out but daggers (for eating) were in, and otherwise the meat was torn apart by the hands. The guests dressed suitably. This night cost $l5 a head including drink.

On Sunday, December 19, the theme for the special night will be Dickens, and bookings are heavy. Christmas Day will be big at the Chateau. The noon Christmas dinner will be in the Camelot Room— a seven-course, sit-down affair with entertainment. The evening Christmas dinner will be in the Great Hall, comprising an elaborate cold buffet to include crayfish, prawns, oysters and the like and set off with whole roast pig. There will be dancing. Both occasions will cost $2O a head. And so to New Year’s Eve, when there will be a seven-course sit-down and dancing till 2 a.m., to cost $l6 each. A regular occasion planned for the Great Hall next year is a Saturday theatre restaurant, when a one-act play staged by local players will follow a five-course meal and coffee—all for $9 a head. The standard menu in the Camelot Room has appetisers at about $3, including Bluff oysters done four ways; soups about sl.7>; entrees such as poached courgette, savoury pancake, French snails, and Nelson scallops for a_n average price of just under $4. Fish dishes start at $6 for fillets of turbot and run to $9.50 for lobster with the trimmings. The main dishes of steak, chicken, beef, and so on, run about $7, and the cold main dishes the same. A crepe Suzette for two will cost $5.50, but ordinary sweets from the trolley are $1.75.