Old seventies menu,when melons were gondolas

[ChrissyShenkle]

This was posted on my local Facebook from a hotel that's now closed
Hard to believe that fruit juice was a starter, and what the hell are eggs indienne?

Was it the Grand? Or more accurately “No longer Grand”?

Salmon wasn’t farmed at scale until the mid 80s, so in the 70s most of it was wild, and therefore expensive so it was considered a special treat.

Omg yes! I use to have almost the exact same menu, always steak, but always loathed the piece of tomato. And not forgetting the bread rolls and real butter too!

I worked in hotels in the 80s and the melon boat was served with a sprinkle of ground ginger. Didn't get it then, don't get it now

God, ground ginger on melon is lovely! Even better with the cherry on the cocktail stick. Oh dear, I want to make melon boats now.

Are you sure she wasn’t using M&S vol au vent filler?! That was lovely stuff 😊

Em what do you mean you find it hard to believe fruit juice was ever a starter? 🤣

It still is in some countries! And you still see melon (maybe not gondola melons) quite often as a starter in Ireland, along with egg mayonnaise!

Oh I remember Berni Inn did a chocolate and orange ice cream sundae, and t'was divine!

I love looking through these old cookbooks, they really take me back but my god some of the recipes were bad 😄

I miss a good 70s /80s menu. You got a good feed and felt full when you left good decent non pretentious food. Id love a good slice of Strawberry Gateaux or Black Forest 🤤

Corn on the Cob, Chicken Maryland and Strawberry Gateaux were my go to. Scampi or minute steak garni were also firm favourites.

I had many waitressing jobs in the 70s and remember serving all these.
Fruit juice (as opposed to squash) was expensive in those days and as a starter was light and ‘cleansed the palate’. I remember when I first went abroad to European countries being astonished at the range of pure fruit juices in the shops, the different cheeses available (you had to go to specialist/upmarket shops to find regional English cheese in the UK, it was all New Zealand cheddar) and being so pleased to find proper chocolate after the insipid sweetness of Cadbury’s (though their dark chocolate was OK).

Possibly, I don’t recall much M&S stuff knocking about when I was younger though. She was fairly loyal to Sainsbury’s!

sounds like one to put on the list for me to try though - thank you

Haha, my family still do the melon gondolas as starters on Christmas Day 🤣

Complete with a 'sail' comprising a cocktail stick, slice of orange and a glacé cherry and topped with brown sugar.

I've never actually thought about this being dated!!

It was because the Salmon was caught not farmed.

chicken kiev
chicken maryland
mixed grill

I used to work for Berni Inns. The orange juice was from a carton, I think it was called Mr Happy Juice. The ‘Farmers Choice’ soup was Heinz Big Soup, emptied in to a soup heater and then you added to cans of water. Whatever was left over was put in the chiller overnight and heated the next day.

I'll have the eggs indienne, the farmhouse grill and the peach cardinal please. And change from a fiver 😊

Your souffle sounds very much like a Baked Alaska!

Love this! My mum used to make Chicken Madame Benoit all the time.

Cooked broccoli topped with cooked chicken breast sliced then covered in a mixture of Campbells condensed cream of chicken soup, mayonnaise and curry powder, topped with grated cheese and bunged in oven for 30 mins.

bloody delicious!

Until salmon farming became a thing, any salmon was wild caught and was very expensive.

I have a 70s recipe for Refrigerator Cake. Basically a chocolaty tray bake based on digestives. Mixed up and popped in the fridge. My son used to mention it now and then so I whipped it up a few years ago. I think that he was disappointed, tasted better in his memory!

The prawn cocktail and the smoked salmon were pretty expensive, it's £5.99 now for a prawn cocktail at my local, compared to mains costing £15 approx!

Fruit juice or soup was the norm on set menus until the mid 80's when things started to change rapidly, with the rise of pub restaurants like brewers fare and their ilk. Also living in London the food fashions changed more rapidly I think as there was still old school restaurants serving fruit juice and half a grapefruit in the midlands when I met my now exh in the 90's.

It is only fashions though, perhaps if we drank a glass of juice rather than a calorific starter, and fresh fruit salad for dessert we'd be less overweight as a nation! Our national obesity tracks the relatively cheaper availability of take away and eating out, seen the graph!

Wow! I worked at the Savoy from 81-84 and then absconded across the Trent to the Chateau Berni Inn!!

I remember watching Fanny Craddock (who used to frighten me as a child because of the tyrannical way she treated Johnny and her assistants) create some truly monstrous concoctions including ‘party eggs’ - hard boiled eggs dyed with vivid blue colouring.

....and a tiny glass at that, about 200ml, or less! 😂

You're so right @mitogoshi