Currently undertaking a three-day state visit to the UK, US President Donald Trump hosted guests at Winfield House for a reciprocal dinner on Tuesday evening, as an acknowledgement of the State Banquet held in his honour at Buckingham Palace on Monday night.
But when the announcement that the president was hosting a banquet was first announced, there was one thing in particular that many people were eager to find out: what was on the menu?
The curiosity is likely fuelled by an incident earlier this year where President Trump served a football team MacDonald’s and Burger King when they visited the White House in January, which sparked much controversy and became a viral meme across social media.
The news had many people on Twitter jokingly suggesting that the president, notorious for his very unpredictable behaviour, would serve his high profile guests a similar spread to January’s – The Prince of Wales eating a Big Mac? Now, there’s a sentence we never thought we’d write.
Thankfully, the First Lady Melanie Trump, undertook the role of choosing and approving the menu for Tuesday’s black tie dinner.
The three-course menu was as follows:
Heritage tomatoes with fresh burrata, garden basil, and Maldon salt
Grilled fillet of beef, pommes Anna, watercress puree, celeriac and Chantenay carrots
Summer berries and homemade vanilla ice cream with Muscovado sugar tuile
The meal was served with wines sourced from the Iron Horse vineyard in northern California, The Telegraph reports.
But how did this compare with the Queen’s State banquet on Monday evening?
According to People the Buckingham Palace menu included:
Steamed fillet of halibut with watercress mousse, asparagus spears and chervil sauce
New season Windsor lamb with herb stuffing, spring vegetables and port sauce
Strawberry sable with lemon verbena cream, fresh fruits, petit fours and coffee
Both sound quite delightful, although CNN reporter Kate Bennett quipped on Twitter that Trump’s menu was “basically Trump’s favourite: steak, potatoes, vanilla ice cream.”
The president hosted Tuesday’s dinner at the same venue he and his family are staying at during their three-day state visit, Winfield House in London’s Regent Park, which is the US ambassador’s residence.
Tuesday’s dinner proved to be much more intimate than Monday’s State Banquet, with six round tables set for around 10 guests.
Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla were the guests of honour, the only members of the royal family in attendance.
The Duchess opted for an elegant cream Fiona Clare gown for the occasion, where she was seated next to the First Lady who wore a striking red cape gown by Givenchy. Prince Charles sat next to the president at a separate table.
The return banquet follows a busy day of meetings and engagements for the president as well as a busy day on Monday spent with the royal family which included a tour of the Picture Gallery, a private tea with Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla and a wreath laying at the Grave of the Unknown Soldier followed by the State Banquet.
The State Banquet hosted by the Queen was attended by 170 guests which included a number of senior royals including Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex.
Since the Trumps’ arrival it’s also been revealed what the Queen gifted the President, and vice versa.
According to the CNN, the President and First Lady gifted the Queen a silver and silk poppy brooch from Tiffany & Co, encased in a custom White House wood jewellery box within a red leather box and gifted her husband, The Duke of Edinburgh, a personalised Air Force One jacket and signed autobiography by WWII Air Commander James Doolittle.
The Queen, on the other hand, gifted the President a first edition 1959 copy of Winston Churchill’s The Second World War which was bound in crimson goatskin and gold tooling, along with a three-piece Duofold pen set.
WATCH: The Queen gives Trump a gift. Story continues below…
The Trumps’ three-day state visit is the first official visit for the president to the UK, after previous plans had been delayed with speculation it was due to worries about the protests he might face.