A Royal Feast in Montclair!

by Melody Kettle


All over Montclair people are preparing to celebrate the Royal Wedding.  And like any good celebration, this one requires great food and drink.  So what are people eating?

The Pie Store, 100 Watchung Avenue, Montclair, has put together an Afternoon Tea Menu featuring British specialties.  The menu offers four different varieties of mini tea sandwiches - cucumber and mint, Coronation chicken, egg salad with arugula, and smoked salmon with capers, $1.25 each.  Also on the menu are mini sausage rolls at $1.25 each, mini Cornish pasties, $2.75 each, fruit scones, $1.75 each, and cheddar cheese scones, $2.25 each.   

While I was at the Pie Store, I bumped into Montclair resident and fellow foodie, Sarah Colwell, originally from Essex.  Sarah was toting a William and Kate bag and even had the matching bumper sticker on her car! Tomorrow morning, at 5 am, Sarah will celebrating the royal nuptials by hosting a traditional English Breakfast, complete with bangers, bacon, black pudding, fried or scrambled eggs, baked beans, mushrooms, and fried bread.  This will be followed by Sherry Trifle and William’s favorite,  “fridge cake”.  The eats will be washed down with Guinness and/or champagne, or a mixture of both, known as Black Velvet.

Tomorrow, Halcyon, 114 Walnut Street, Montclair, which has been repainted royal blue in honor of the Royal Wedding, will be opening it’s doors at 2:30 pm. Sharon Egan and company will be airing the wedding 3 pm,  and awarding prizes all afternoon for categories such as the best brides maid dress, the best courtesy, the best royal wave, the best top hat, and the best ladies hat.  Attendees will also receive a complimentary Pimms cup and Bucks Fizz (mimosa). Complimentary tea sandwiches, buttered scones and clotted cream, will also be served, in addition Sarah Colwell's Fridge Caketo Sherry Trifle and, of course, wedding cake. 

Rumor has it that there will even be special celebrity appearances by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Queen, along with random men in kilts.  If this doesn’t sound like a party to you, then I don’t know what would! 

I’ll be at Halcyon taking pictures and shooting video.  Stay tuned to Patch and Hot From The Kettle for more!