Prince Harry and Meghan stop by Charcoal Lane for 'touch, taste, smell' experience

IT’S not every day you get to serve royalty, and Brooke Warr knows it.

The 20-year-old apprentice chef from Fitzroy’s Charcoal Lane didn’t take the opportunity to host the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for granted.

“It was the best experience I’ve ever had,” Ms Warr told news.com.au.

“Not many people can say they had the opportunity I had today.”

Ms Warr was among a privileged group of young chefs at the social enterprise restaurant on Gertrude Street lucky enough to mingle with Prince Harry and Meghan when they stopped by for a feed this afternoon.

The royal couple was down to earth, staff said, and loved the experience. But they didn’t eat everything on offer.

During a “touch, taste and smell” experience showcasing the restaurant’s indigenous cuisine, Meghan politely refused one dish.

“I was upstairs with Meghan and Harry giving them their ‘touch, taste and feel’ with finger limes and quandongs and saltbush,” Ms Warr told news.com.au.

“With the finger limes, they’re like little caviars. When you eat it in your mouth it pops and the flavour is beautiful.

“It was optional if they wanted to taste it. Harry did but Meghan didn’t. She was smelling it, but that’s understandable because she’s pregnant and being cautious.”

Harry also turned his nose up at one item on the menu, according to Troy Crellin, program manager at the Mission Australia-supported restaurant.

“The food that was served up today was snippets of the type of food they would eat in the restaurant. They were very engaged in that,” Mr Crellin said.

“They ate in the restaurant and prior to that they did try some of our native ingredients. Harry tried some but he wasn’t game to try the pepper leaf, which is what we tend to give to the naughty kids anyway. It’s a little bit hot.”

He said Harry tried the finger lime and a native peach and Meghan told staff she had used one of the menu items, wattle seed, in her own cooking.

For lunch, the pair dined on an entree of mushroom and quinoa nest and chargrilled kangaroo and main courses of wild boar, saffron risotto and barramundi.

“It’s brilliant to see that they wanted to come to this space from the other side of the world,” Mr Crellin said.

During their visit, the royals were told about how the restaurant supports young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people — and about the cultural connection to Fitzroy.

They learned about the mural by Gunnai and Waradgerie man Robert Young, too.

Hundreds of fans lined up along Gertrude Street for a chance to meet the royals — many for more than two hours — but their patience did not pay off.

Because the pair was running behind schedule, they were quickly bustled into waiting cars for the next stop on the tour — a meet and greet with primary school students in Albert Park.

The royal tour of Australia continues tomorrow back in Sydney with a visit to Bondi Beach and a climb atop the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge.

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