THE PRINCE’S CHEF.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3482, 10 May 1920, Page 8

THE PRINCE’S CHEF.

"Tile special correspondent of the Christchurch Press, travelling in the Royal train from Napier to Wellington, writes: —“An excellent chef had been engaged for the Royal train at a certain stage of the journey, but he was a very loyal cook, and he drank the health of the Prince of Wales in such bumpers that before very long he was ordering delicacies in such quantity and quality that even Lucullus himself would have been more than pleased. To begin with he ordered 10001 bof rump steak. He had evidently been a student of literature, and must have read Charles Lamb’s immortal essay, for one of his demands was for no fewer than fifteen sucking pigs To this he added forty gallons of port wine for preserves. Needless to say, he was soon superseded, and it was satisfactory to all concerned that a new chef worthy of the princely occasion was' found without delay. To-day this new chef prepared a special soup for the Prince, which probably no other Prince has ever tasted. It was a soup made from the Toheroa, a product of the North Island. Toheroa is Maori for “Long Tongue,7 ’ and it very aptly describes the apearance of the mussel when it is taken from its elongated black shell It is a delicacy prized by the Maoris, but only of recent years has the pakeha recognised its virtue. Properly advertised, it would make a

name for any first-class restaurant in London, Paris, or even Berlin in its palmy days. The Prince liked the new soup. for on a menu that he signofl. for the chef, “Edward P..’’ be ‘underlined 1-.119 Toheroa soup, and in the margin wrote “very good,” with double exclamation marks. Needless to say, the chef wasAas‘ple:lsed as the Princeg"