The House of Commons has stocked up on supplies of turkey and Guinness for Christmas dinners at the chamber’s catering venues (Picture: Getty)
MPs can enjoy extravagant Christmas dinners with courses of roast fresh farm turkey and duck with a quail egg for under £5 each.
Festive in-house menus for the House of Common’s catering outlets also include rabbit with thyme and apricot terrine and pan-seared wild boar.
At the Members’ Dining Room, turkey comes with wild mushroom and smoked pancetta ballotine with glazed parsnip, butternut sprouts, wild boar and apple stuffing, duck fat and thyme roast Maris Piper potatoes.
The largest dining space in the Commons, which hosts lavish dinners, is described as the ‘epitome of grandeur’ by the UK parliament.
The turkey costs £9.30, but a less grand version served in the Members’ Tea Room, reserved for MPs, Lords and some staff members, and the Terrace Cafeteria, retailed for £4.95 up to the menu’s end on December 13.
The cheaper dish consisted of roast breast of Leicester fresh farm turkey with sage, sausage and onion stuffing, cranberry sauce, a pig in blanket and turkey gravy. The Members’ Dining Room is also offering a ‘duck leg hash brown’ with a fried quail egg, brandy pickled pear, candy beetroot remoulade and chorizo crumb for £4.95.
Desserts include the Commons’ aged ‘homemade’ Christmas pudding with whipped vanilla butter and apple brandy sauce for £3.
The Members’ Dining Room in the House of Commons is among the catering facilities offering Christmas menus (Picture: Parliament)
At The Adjournment, the festive menu includes pan-seared wild boar and apple sausages, which comes with swede and potato mash and whisky and onion jus as one of the options on a two or three-course set menu, including coffee and petit fours.
Another item on the mains list at the contemporary restaurant in Portcullis House is the rabbit, thyme and apricot terrine with carrot and star anise purée and toasted sourdough.
Three courses are priced at £27.95, with two units of Kir Royale blackcurrant liqueur and champagne cocktail available for an extra £9.95.
A private dining menu produced for Christmas 2023 also shows the kind of high-end catering available on the estate.
Duck is on the menu this Christmas for diners at the House of Commons (Picture: Getty, library image)
First courses for diners booking ahead include flaked duck confit flavoured with star anise, soy and coriander seed brambles, celeriac cream, sprout leaves and chestnut crumble.
On the mains list is roast turkey with Madeira sauce, panko crumbed fig and leg confit, parsnip and sage potato rosti, glazed baby Brussels sprouts and buttered carrots.
Alternately, guests can dine on maple glazed salmon fillet with tiger prawns, Pernod fish cream and leek, potato and watercress gateau with wilted kale.
A pre-dessert ‘sweetener’ is a bellini consisting of House of Commons ‘Digby’ English sparkling wine sorbet and white peach compote and puree.
Afters include the Commons’ Christmas pudding with gingerbread butter and brandy sauce. Three courses cost £56pp and five £61pp.
Main courses on a private dining winter menu include seared Barbary duck with caramelised conference pear and verdant London gin sauce, sage Derby-flavoured potato dauphinoise, carrot puree and crispy kale.
Christmas orders for parliament
The House of Commons ordered in 250 turkey supremes and stocks of rum and brandy for Christmas at its in-house catering outlets.
The provisions were ingredients for use in the festive menus.
Orders up to November 11 included 250 British farm assured turkey supremes from Herefordshire, seven litres each of brandy, rum and Guinness, 66,636gm of sultanas and 27,500gm of brown sugar.
Desserts on the a la carte list, produced by the Commons’ Events Team, include the ‘Queen of puddings’, consisting of rich egg custard, sponge, toasted meringue and blackcurrant jam ripple ice cream.
While catering at Westminster is not directly subsidised, it runs at a loss, meaning taxpayers’ money effectively supports the overall operation.
However John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, believes that the public is effectively picking up the tab at a time when the cost of living crisis squeezes millions of people’s Christmas budgets.
He said: ‘It’s frankly bizarre that well-paid politicians get their meals subsidised by hard-pressed Brits. While parliamentarians are pulling crackers and eating pigs in blankets, it’s taxpayers who are subsidising their meals.
‘Parliament’s food subsidy should end immediately so MPs can feel the full impact of the cost of living crisis like everyone else.’
The House of Commons’ Christmas pudding is on the menu at catering outlets this year (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto, library image)
Responding to a Freedom of Information Act request for the ingredients, the House of Commons said: ‘Fresh ingredients are not purchased by the House until they are required, and the numbers above are subject to change over the Christmas period. In addition, we will not hold details of actual quantities used, or actual costs until after the Christmas period.’
The Commons catering teams are responsible for the chamber’s outlets, while the Lords venues are run separately.
A Commons spokesperson said: ‘Christmas food at our catering venues is accessible to all parliamentary passholders, which includes staff, Members, contractors and members of the press gallery, as well as the many annual visitors to Parliament. The volumes served will be in line with demand and we continuously seek to reduce costs.
‘The net cost of providing catering services in 2022-23 has fallen by £1.1 million compared to the year before.
‘Our food and drink offering is regularly benchmarked against similar outlets in Westminster and all food and drink is sold above cost price.
‘The services aren’t directly subsidised, but they unavoidably come at a cost due to the irregular hours that Parliament works.’
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The House of Commons has ordered in 250 turkeys for festive meals on the parliamentary estate.