Lunch at the Palace

Few staff restaurants can claim to have an ever-changing display of priceless antiques and works of art on display. But, then, there are not many staff restaurants that have a royal connection.

The new £1m staff catering facilities at Buckingham Palace serve 350 staff, 90 of whom live on the premises. All enjoy the benefits of the refurbished amenities, including a refitted servery, two new dining rooms and an all-day caf‚. Now they can choose from a much more extensive menu and dine in more comfortable surroundings. More importantly, the previous hierarchical dining room system has been replaced by an informal approach.

It had been 10 years since the staff dining facilities were last refurbished, and the new look brings the staff eating areas into line with the redeveloped royal kitchens completed last year.

"The main objective was to offer facilities that would benefit all staff, including those who are resident," says Edward Griffiths. As deputy master of the household, he is responsible for overseeing all the catering and hospitality in the four royal palaces - Windsor, Sandringham and Balmoral, as well as Buckingham Palace.

Griffiths joined the Palace two years ago, having previously been a managing director of Roux Fine Dining.

"Before the refurbishment," he says, "we carried out an extensive survey and the results were instrumental in the planning of the eventual design. We have now opened facilities that compare very favourably with other high-quality staff restaurants."

But that's where the similarities end, for these staff dining rooms are adorned with royal treasures. The wood-panelled entrance area has carefully positioned lighting that highlights such artworks as a bronze of one of the Queen's favourite horses, Burmese, and a selection of gifts from all over the world. On the walls hang works of art from the Royal Collection that would otherwise be held in storage.

While the decorations may be antique, the food and furniture are distinctly modern. Lunch is served from 11.30am to 1.30pm and staff select their food from a servery. Here, white walls and sleek display areas are enlivened by displays of enlarged original menus from Windsor, Balmoral and Buckingham Palace positioned behind the servery.

When the palace is "open" (meaning that the monarch is in residence), the menu has three hot dishes, including a roast and a vegetarian option, a fresh soup of the day, jacket potatoes with a choice of two fillings, ready-made sandwiches, a cold buffet with salads, a hot pudding, a cold pudding and a selection of fresh fruit, yogurts, and cheese and biscuits.

On average, 300-350 lunches are served daily, as well as 40-50 breakfasts and suppers for resident staff.

The choice is more limited when the palace is "closed", as royal chef Mark Flanagan (see right) and some of his staff travel to one of the other royal residences with the Queen.

One notable absence in the staff dining area is a till. Palace staff are entitled to a three-course lunch under their terms and conditions of employment. However, tills may be installed in the future to monitor what's being chosen.

One of the biggest changes has been to the dining rooms. Originally, there were five rooms, designated for use according to rank - staff, stewards, officials, senior officials, and the royal household. Now, most staff meals are served in just two - a main one, which is open to all staff for lunch, and a smaller one, which can be used more efficiently for breakfast and supper by the live-in staff. The smaller room is also used for meetings and training sessions. In addition, there's a third dining room, which has been retained for use by royal household staff only.

The main dining room has an informal atmosphere, with wooden tables of different sizes, accommodating two to 10 covers. With no linen on the tables, there's a relaxed, contemporary feel to the space, despite the grandeur of the high-ceilinged room. Having this one main dining room, it seems, has helped to forge a stronger team spirit among the palace staff.

The new all-day café, open from 8am to 5pm, is quite a departure for the palace. Reflecting the clean, simple lines of the hippest venues in the high street, the room is dominated by long, Wagamama-style wooden tables and benches down the centre of the room and a wide-screen plasma TV on the back wall.

Here, staff can buy a selection of coffees, juices and snack foods, as well as a few essential items such as soap and shampoo that are particularly useful for live-in staff. All the profits from the caf‚ go into the staff welfare fund.

Completing the staff catering facilities is the Jubilee Room, a large, light, dual-aspect room with comfy sofas and easy chairs, where staff can relax with a coffee or have meetings.

The Royal Chef

Mark Flanagan took over as the royal chef last September. His predecessor, Lionel Mann, retired after working in the royal kitchens for 41 years.

Flanagan heads a brigade of 20 chefs and is responsible for the catering for both the Royal Family and the staffs in all the royal palaces - Windsor, Sandringham, Balmoral and Buckingham Palace.

Flanagan trained at Thames Valley University on a three-year day-release course while working at brasserie Le Mange Tout in Kew, west London. A move to the original Le Petit Blanc in Oxford, working under John Burton-Race, was particularly inspirational. Brief stints followed at Chez Nico in Shinfield, Berkshire, and 90 Park Lane in London, before he returned to work for Burton-Race, this time at L'Ortolan in Shinfield.

Flanagan boosted his international experience by working in Australia, at the Regent in Sydney and the Hilton in Perth, before returning to London, where he worked at Martin's restaurant, the Mirabelle and the Regent hotel (now the Landmark).

He then went abroad again to work at the Grand Hotel, Amsterdam, as executive sous chef and then as head chef for Albert Roux. He returned to England to take up the position of head chef at Surrey's exclusive Wentworth Golf Club in 1998.

Staff menu at Buckingham Palace

27 June 2003

Breakfast

• Scrambled egg, bacon and tomato
• Cereals, toast and fruit juices

Lunch

• Fresh soup of the day
• Chicken and bread sauce and gravy
• Stuffed pepper fajitas
• Deep-fried plaice and remoulade sauce
• Baked jacket potato with hot or cold filling
• Cold meats and salad
• Sandwiches
• Eve's pudding and cream
• Rhubarb fool
• Fresh fruit, yogurts or cheese and biscuits

Dinner

• Bacon, egg, sausage and tomato
• Baked jacket potato with hot or cold filling
• Colds meats and salad
• Pear conde
• Fresh fruit, yogurts or cheese and biscuits