Butternut squash, beets and braised ribs are on the menu for Joe Biden and Anthony Albanese’s White House dinner date, but there’ll be no Rock Lobster for the two world leaders.
In the stunning state dining room - intricately decorated with drapes, flowers and linen hand-picked by First Lady Jill Biden - the duo and a couple of hundred close friends will break bread and plot the future of the free world.
The three-course, five-star feast prepared by chef Katie Button, presented on tables graced by American pink roses and Australian eucalyptus, is a far cry from the prime minister’s preferred Marrickville pork roll.
Guests will start with a butternut squash soup and roasted beet salad, before sarsaparilla-braised short ribs the chef says will easily fall off the bone.
Dessert is a hazelnut and chocolate mousse cake, as the dignitaries enjoy a few tunes from the ‘President’s Own’ Marine Band and the Army and Air Force Strolling Strings.
Rock band The B-52s had been scheduled to perform songs including 1989 smash hit Love Shack, before organisers decided partying while conflicts rage around the world might not be the best look.
“We had initially planned for the legendary B-52s to perform their iconic dance and party music, we are now in a time when so many are facing sorrow and pain, and we have decided to make adjustments to the entertainment portion of the evening,” Dr Biden said in a statement.
“Food is comforting, reassuring, and healing. And we hope that this dinner provides a little of that as well.”
It will be one of the more lavish dinners the man who grew up in Sydney’s public housing has ever consumed, yet the White House is insisting the event will be a subdued, even homely affair.
“(The First Lady) always sets a table with candlelight and flowers, often fresh cut from her garden,” White House Social Secretary Carlos Elizondo said.
“(The dinner) arrangements will bring that same natural ease of being in someone’s home, with tables featuring blooms in vases large and small, making guests feel as if they are sitting in a field of flowers.”
Chef Button described whipping up the feed with the First Lady as “an incredible honour and a true privilege”.
“We wanted to welcome the guests from Australia with the warmth and bounty of fall in the US,” she said in a statement.
The dinner will be held on Wednesday night in the US.
