FAMOUS KITCHEN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21332, 5 November 1932, Page 6 (Supplement)

FAMOUS KITCHEN

THE MANSION HOUSE If you were to go into the kitchen at the Mansion House the first thing which would probably catch your eye would be a very long, very old table on extremely solid legs. It has been there for three hundred and fifty years. When the King and Queen visited tho Mansion House recently to see the alterations, the King himself stood by that table and was very interested. The kitchen of the Mansion House is a very bright affair now—quite different from the old one. There are white-tiled walls which were distempered and dull and dark with age only a couple of years ago. There are new red-tiled floors. And there is a storeroom which both the King and Queen were interested in. In fact, the King stood there talking with the chef for about ten minutes during his visit. In the cold store you would notice what appears to be a full-sized galvanised dustbin in one corner. The cnef took off the lid. It was filled to the brim with dripping. You would still see in the kitchen the old spit hanging, and no longer used, against the wall. The pots and pans would lighten the heart of any real cook. They are thick and heavy and numerous, of gleaming old copper lined with tin. The sort of pan every cook dreams about but can rarely hope to possess because nowadays they would be almost worth their weight in gold. Everything is home-made. Very often four hundred teas have to bo prepared. Scones and rock cakes are very popular. The chef is an Englishman. When there is a very special dinnerparty, he makes out a special menu. Often he invents his own dishes. Every day a luncheon is served when the Court is sitting at the Mansion House. And quite often there are special dinnerparties. , _ ... . The kitchen staff is entirely British. There is one girl in the still room who helps with the cakes and pastrios.