Royal
Menus
Menu
Potage Vefour
Consommé with tapioca and garnished with quenelles
Tartelettes à la Ypsilanti
Small savoury tarts named after Prince Ypsilanti
Soles à la d’Orley, sauce remoulade
Filets of sole fried in butter and served with a remoulade sauce made from olive-oil and herbs; and thickened with puréed boiled egg
Filet de bœuf à l’anglaise
Crumbed filets of beef served with boiled potatoes and leeks
Homard en belle-vue
Medallions of lobster dressed in a cream and white wine sauceoast partridge with salads and fruit compotes
Sorbet
Chapons de Graz, salade, compote
Roast capons (castrated roosters) from Graz served with salad and fruit compotes
Asperges en branches
Asparagus spears
Franchonettes à la Marquise
Meringues topped with pear purée and cream
flavoured with pineapple and Champagne
Fromage
Cheeses
Glaces aux fraises à la crême et aux noisettes
Strawberry ice-creams with hazelnut cream
Dessert
Menu dated 20th May 1899
Dinner at the Belvedere Palace, Vienna, hosted by His Imperial Highness Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.
As heir to the Habsburg throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was undoubtedly one of Europe’s most eligible bachelors when he hosted this 12 course dinner at, what was likely, the Belvedere Palace in Vienna. Just three years earlier, the Emperor Franz-Joseph had given the upper wing of the palace to the Archduke for his use, when he became heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne.
This banquet took place almost fifteen years before the Archduke's famous assassination in 1914 which is largely attributed to triggering World War I. The menu-card is embossed with the Archduke's family arms of the House of Habsburg-Este.
The 12 course dinner commenced with Vefour soup made from tapioca and also featured roasted capons (castrated roosters) from the Archduke's home city of Graz. The dessert of Fanchonettes a la Marquise was made from meringues topped with a pear purée and a cream flavored with pineapple and Champagne.
This menu is one of few insights into the personal life of the Archduke. Most English history on the Archduke is centred on the day and implications of his assassination; or on his controversial morganatic marriage to the Countess Sophie Chotek in 1900.
