Items that you no longer see on menus.

[DeathAndParsnips]

Which foods do you rarely see on menus now? I was watching some old adverts on YouTube for Little Chef and such which made me think of this.

Do you still get melon as a starter? I used to love that as a child. Also a glass of orange juice as a starter. I went to a hotel in around 2010 and they still had that as an option on the menu. I found it rather charming.

I was just going to say! I had it on Friday night - delicious!

Whitebait is definitely still an option round me! I think lots of this stuff is found on gastro pub menus, sometimes done slightly differently.

We have the prawn cocktail from the Prawn Cocktail Years (brandy in the sauce) for Christmas dinner every year, and the sherry trifle from it too - but the trifle is not exactly you’d expect (no jelly!).

Peach Melba

Thank goodness things like veal are no longer around

I came on to say goats cheese and caramalised onion tarts but a PP beat me to it. Used to be everywhere but have disappeared. I used to buy a pack of 2 from M&S and they were so yummy.

We always have prawn cocktail with homemade sauce on xmas day at my parents. Delicious. Although for me its every other year now due to having to alternate with husbands family. Their starters are rubbish.

There's a place near us that does (or did pre-Covid) many of these and had a dessert trolley. It's family owned and some of the waiting staff seemed quite elderly & infirm and I was on the edge of my seat several times during the meal there as the restaurant was split level and they kept having to life the trolley up & down these two steps and each time it looked as though something was going to go wrong.
All the veg there came swimming in butter too.
It was all delicious!

the trifle is not exactly you’d expect (no jelly!)

Birds trifle from the packet, yum. Instant custard and the white pretend cream with hundreds and thousands.

There’s an Italian restaurant near me that still does those lemons filled with sorbet. It’s one of the options on their laminated dessert menu that also has that plastic penguin filled with ice cream. Does anyone remember that? You could take the penguin home. I’ve never tried them at this place because they do homemade tiramisu, which is obviously the only correct choice!

Does everyone know that Morrisons bakery do a black forest gateaux that is lovely? Rich chocolate sponge, cherry jam and cream. It's in the chilled section by the bakery

Sorry if it's been mentioned

Babycham

I got a baker to make a Black Forest gateaux for my husbands birthday cake as he isn't a big cake fan and asked for one. OMG it was huge and delicious. But trying to get someone to make it was a task in itself.

I love a ploughman's and make my own, it always reminds me of my dad (good memories) and chicken in a basket reminds me of my mum.

Obviously food and eating out featured lots in my childhood.

Gammon steak and pineapple/fried egg

I still dream about the butterflied chicken I used to get from there. Never tasted anything as good again!

I didn't, but I will get one for my husband as a treat, he would like that.

Talking of Ploughman's lunch, they should come with one of these, not bloody french stick
I haven't seen a cottage loaf in years.

Also those miniature Hovis loaves.

Blooming onions. I've been craving one for a couple of years now but I can't find anywhere selling one. I can't make it myself at home either so I've just been wistfully looking at pictures every couple of months.

I buy fabulous Manchester Tart on Bury Market - delicious. We had a woman work for us who used to be a dinner lady and she said she had the recipe for Manchester Tart from school. When she brought it it was for 60 portions and coudn't be bothered to sort it out for 4.

I had A whitebait starter on Friday and we shared a cheeseboard.

I take grandchildren to a local Italian Ice cream Parlour they serve Knickerbocker glory and banana splits

Mississippi mud pie!

Faggots with onion gravy

Say What????

Most of this sounds like the current menu for my local. Not sure he’s changed a thing since about 1977 - if you asked him for avocado or halloumi he’d be completely bewildered

Haven't read the whole thread, so someone may have mentioned these:

Lemon meringue pie
Rhubarb crumble
Rice pudding
Tapioca pudding (it was foul)
Summer pudding
Apple Charlotte
Spotted Dick
Jam roly poly
Viennetta (may still be a thing)

Liver and bacon
Mutton
Egg and bacon pie
Devilled kidneys
Kedgeree
Savoury pancakes (the Findus ones were amazing)

I don't think anyone's mentioned this yet but cheese and pineapple sticks are an under-rated classic.

My MIL makes an incredible baked Alaska. She is a marvellous cook and still uses her BERO book.

Beef stroganoff is still a favourite in the Balkans, as is veal. It was on every restaurant menu in Montenegro.

I frequently see prawn cocktail (even if it's king prawn with smoked salmon) and one of my favourite local pubs does potato skin starters. And most definitely cheese boards. And scampi. And ham, egg and chips. And mushroom risotto. And Eton mess .

I think you get the orange / lemon sorbet in the fruit at some Asian restaurants where they offer various frozen deserts, including the one in the penguin mentioned by another pp .

I remember the orange juice as a starter in the 1970s - definitely not seen that for many years.

You missed the glacé cherry in the centre as the finishing touch 😂