The Jersey Royal season commenced in April 2019 with a celebratory dinner at Anglo, a restaurant participating in the Jersey Royal Spring Edition.

Head chef Mark Jarvis rose to the challenge and devised a four-course Jersey Royal menu. Beginning with Jersey gin and tonics garnished with Jersey Royals, the meal featured homemade Jersey Royal bread, Jersey Royals with black garlic and cured egg yolk, salt-baked Jersey Royals with horseradish and caviar, and mackerel with buttermilk and Jersey Royal tartare. Even the dessert featured the star ingredient: apple crumble with Jersey Royal ice cream.

Present on the evening were journalists from Channel 4, The Independent, The Daily Mail, Hello Magazine, Metro and The Sun. They also had the chance to chat with Phil Le Maistre and Christine Hellio, both Jersey Royal farmers who were visiting the mainland especially for the dinner. They recounted what life is like as a potato farmer; how the crops are fertilised with vraic, Jersey seaweed, and how they keep the seed potatoes warm at night under a fleecy cover!

The evening was the perfect introduction to the season. The guests departed, inspired to make the most of the short seasonal window of Jersey Royals, and determined to eat at participating Spring Edition restaurants.