1980s retro dinner party - recipes wanted!

[flamingnora]

I rarely ate out in the 1980s and suspect the fare I was served by mum at home thoughout the decade was more representative of the '70s! I'm having a retro 1980s dinner party & would love some inspriration. Another snag is - 2 of my guests don't eat meat - so fish main courses/starters would be fab please!

ice magic, chicken kiev, vol au vents - thy're up there with chesy pineapple things in the 70s dinner party rather than the 80s, I'd say. I'm sure mum served vol au vents in an ironic way in the 80s knowing they were already out of fashion.

babbity beat me to it! god I'm slow

tricolore indeed!

Mangetout Rodney!!!

Pizza

rofl at mangetout rodney.

Now I think about it, in the 80s when I was at Uni and we were trying to be dead sophisticated like, Delia was our bible; tagliatelle was cutting edge (esp green tagliatelle); chocolate mousse was impressive; we flirted with sun dried toms and pushed the boat out with a bottle of Merlot.

Banoffee pie was a really 80's dessert.

nobody has mentioned Surf 'n' Turf....

This fab! I'd vote for the glass of juice on a doily, prawn cocktail, veggie lasagne & black forest gateau (& Tainted Love playing in the background, legwarmers and a side ponytail too - wahoo!). Can I come?

My mum was a caterer in the 80s. She used to cook the food at home and then put it in the car, drive over to the client, sneak it in the back door and then the lady of the house would serve it to her dinner party guests with a big flourish, not mentioning that it wasn't actually made by her own fair hand. I still have all her old files of recipes from those days. Big 80s dishes were any type of 'roulade' (sweet or savoury), souffles (sweet or savoury again), 'floating islands' for dessert, and all sorts of mousses and pate's. Lasagna was definitely big as well.

I seem to remember a big trend for Mexican food served with Sol(or some other bottled lager) with a wedge of lime stuck in the neck , can't think of any desserts other than Vienetta... although it did arrive in mint flavour in the 80's if you wanted something a little more exotic!!!

Ooooh... and Lambrusco to drink ( red cos we were classy teenagers!)

at the Sol and similar. I do remember eating loads of Mexican food in the late 80's: I discovered the burrito and the enchilada alongside American desserts like chocolate fudge cake and brownies. Up til then, I had been a Victoria Sponge and Lemon Meringue pie from a Green's packet mix kind of gal!!

I thought Sol and the like didn't turn up till 1990 (but I was in Ireland so I suppose the UK was far more sophisticated then)

I distinctly recall things being served on black plates:

This is a bit mixed up 70s and 80s but here goes:

Starter:
-1/2 a melon (very generous) with a sprinkling of cayenne pepper
-Garlic bread
-1/2 a grapefruit
-pate and melba toast

• tiny glass of orange juice (from a carton obviously)

Main:
-Quiche Lorraine
-Spag Bol
-Coquille St Jacques
-Mixed Grill
-Chicken and Mushroom Vol au Vents
-Chicken Cordon Bleu
-Crepes with chicken and mushroom or seafood -sauce

Dessert:
-Pavlova with Kiwi Fruit
-Tinned Fruit Cocktail in a stainless steel cup thing (the grapefruit from the starter served in the same kind of bowl)
-Knickerbocker Glory

My Dad would take us to the "Big City" ( Cork!)once or twice a year and this is what I remember from the menu in the "posh" resturant he used to take us to.

prawn cocktail
spag bol
baked alaska

How about a cheese fondue? We hosted a cheesy 80's dinner eve this week and the fondue went down a storm!!

My kids (aged 10 & 13 have just asked if I could make a fondue. Has it come up in some TV programme, I wonder? Chocolate mousse is a) definitely very 80s and b) delioious. How about chilled avocado soup for a starter? Oh, and cocktails were HUGE - Pina Coladas and Brandy Alexanders.

i remember a la carte magazines i thought it was brilliant