Restaurant Food of the 1970’s
A nostalgic retrospective of the 70’s bistro classics….
My earliest childhood memories of eating in restaurants belong in two countries. Every year we would holiday in Germany at my Grandparents homes and I always looked forward to my first plate of bratwurst, chips and salad in a restaurant just past the Dutch border. Once settled we would eat in the local pubs and restaurants and devour schnitzels, more bratwurst, sauerkraut and my all time favourite; sauerbraten, a fantastic marinated and braised beef dish served with noodles and red cabbage.
Back in England and a special treat would be a visit to a restaurant on the edge of Victoria street in Grimsby called The Friar Tuck. Our parents knew the owner and I was fascinated by the fact the male chef was called Bev. I loved going there, sat in a booth being told to be patient whilst waiting for our chicken maryland! Now there was a dish, fried chicken served with grilled banana and sweetcorn fritters, I loved that.
The restaurant food of the 1970’s took up the idea of the 1960’s bistro with poor attempts to copy French brasseries and ran with it. Red Checked tablecloths and candles in wine bottles were the in thing. Your starter was probably served in a coup dish; half a segmented grapefruit covered in sugar then burnt under the grill with a glace cherry as the piece de resistance. What about eggs harlequin? A hard boiled egg cut in half and coated with two sauces made from mayonnaise (ooh, go on then!) Shop bought pate (de maison, naturally) with a basket of melba toast if you wanted something fancy or what about a bowl of mulligatawny?
The more adventurous would go for mussels rather than the obligatory prawn cocktail followed by a chicken kiev perhaps? I’ve seen some bloody awful attempts at making these. Chicken not stuffed properly, not enough/too much breadcrumbs, breadcrumbs too lumpy, oil too hot/not hot enough/not clean enough, breadcrumb black, inside raw, garlic butter in the fryer not in the chicken, and please, leave the residue grease on the plate-I’ll mop it up with some bread, thanks.
Other classics, and to be fair they are include beef stroganoff (don’t forget to ram the rice into a mould for a fancy garnish) peppered steak (au poivre if you were posh and knew how to say it) coq au vin (the only bit of French 98% of the population knew) Did you know your moussaka from your taramasalata? Stuffed vine leaf Madam? The list goes on until you reach the desserts.
Oh the joy of the dessert trolley. Wheeled out at 6.30 and stood by the radiator. ‘OOh, George, fancy a roly poly?’ ‘Not ‘alf!’ Obviously the black forest gateau reigns supreme as most used and abused dessert ever. There was a moment in time when a gifted pastry chef invented this fabulous dessert, good quality chocolate will have been used to make a superior sponge. Kirsch soaked cherries will have been carefully placed over a layer of freshly whipped cream before doing it all again and finally coating the top and sides with a delicious chocolate cream. Now of course we dredge the lot in a kilo of cocoa powder with another avalanche of icing sugar in the opposite direction so the entire plate is covered and sucks every last drop of moisture from the cake and saliva from your mouth. Oh, the agony of icing sugar shakers.
I’ve given the 70’s a bit of stick and in some ways rightly so. The fact is that the dishes I’ve mentioned are all great dishes, when cooked properly. Prawn cocktail, steak and chips, black forest gateau works, no question. It’s just that restaurants annihilate them on a regular basis.
How does the restaurant scene of back then compare to that of today? Well, it depends on what you compare them to. I believe that the ‘quality’ bracket of restaurants is better beyond belief but the lower end has, if anything gone down. I say this because however bad some of the food was back in the 70’s you knew that somebody was stood in the kitchen making it. Now you go into huge 100 cover family pubs and order off a ‘menu’ comprised of bought in ready meals that are ready in the ping of a button. Where’s the progress? None other than from a ready made meals supplier’s point of view.
Tell you what, give me the rubbery eggs harlequin, the sole veronique and the peach melba to finish anyday, at least the kids will be well behaved!
Miles,
In the late 70’s I worked at weekends in a local hotel restaurant, while still in my teens. It certainly was a life-changing thing, all of it bad although it did teach me that everyone had to work hard and long hours … we used to get home between 1/2am. As a group of waitresses we did manage a laugh although mostly it was blind panic and no training. As I recall I was the only one who would attempt to silver serve chips (teeth gritted, eyes focused). The dessert trolley would be wheeled out triumphantly at the end of the meal and we would read the list off a tatty old bit of paper …. only one night ‘mens genitalia’ were added, no one owned up - thankfully we stopped short of the description and the customer luckily plumped for fruit salad
It could have been a Victoria Wood sketch.
Cid
September 14, 2007 @ 1:29 pm
Cid,
Ah, the old genitalia trick, still do it at christmas with the stuffing and chipolata-’I'm not taking that out’ the waitresses cry! The thing about this trade is that no matter how long or short your stay in the job is you are always guaranteed to take a memory or two away with you.
Miles (at work on an ‘afd’)
September 14, 2007 @ 7:31 pm
Miles,
… and then there was the old soup in the handbag trick … the running out of salad at prawn cocktail time so we were all sent outside to scour the grounds for dandelion leaves, right on trend now no doubt. I could go on but modesty forbids
So Mr Collins when I drop by for lunch there’ll be no pulling the wool over my eyes, and let it be known I’ll be scrutinizing the dessert menu for any sign of inappropriateness
Cid
September 14, 2007 @ 9:46 pm
Cid,
You’ve given me an idea for a post! winding commis chefs up! Good idea about keeping your modesty, makes a change nowadays!
Miles (enjoying a particularly nice glass of Riesling after a long day)
September 14, 2007 @ 10:00 pm
Miles,
Someone (well lots actually) asked me recently why I wanted a job. Apart from the obvious wealth that flows in (if I’ve got £100 I feel rich) I think it’s that I appreciate my free time more. Today for instance I strolled around the corner to replenish my vase of lillies which cost only £4 … then waltzed into a local boutique, two hours later I had judged two ball gowns on someone else, downed a cup of coffee while I heard the amazing life story of a woman I’d never met before, saw a pair of tattooed eyebrows and for the first time in my life, was dressed from top to toe by the owner (she obviously felt it was high time I stopped this naturist thing
). It was a bit of a revelation so I bought the outfit in more or less its entirety … now as if that wasn’t enough and bear in mind I had originally set out for groceries … was offered a job!
It’s time for tiffin so that’s all for now … who can say what might happen next, the day is young etc.
Cid
September 15, 2007 @ 4:08 pm
Cid,
What a day! It is in stark contrast to mine (see new post) Next week sees six and a half days out of seven in the kitchen so I needed some fresh air and inspiration before tackling it. Good luck with the job (if you take it)
Miles
September 15, 2007 @ 4:45 pm
Cid,
My kind of a day. Let us know if you take the job and keep us up to date with the fashion!
September 15, 2007 @ 6:25 pm
Elsie,
I can tell you this … apparently grey is huge and long knitted jackets are all the rage. You should have seen my face when the shoes came out, 4/5 inch leopard print heels… “just pop these on, they’re being featured in Cosmo mag this month”, they said, “it’ll bring the whole outfit together”. So I said, “I couldn’t possibly walk in them”, so they said, “but they look sexy and sassy and the men will love them and how tall and willowy you look”…. “I’ll take them in every colour please and the corset that matches”
Seriously though, it’d be like working in a chocolate shop and might curb my tendency to eat the high calorie stuff. Do I have the time? Probably not but it was great being asked so I might go and help out from time to time just for the coffee and high drama!
Cid
September 15, 2007 @ 8:35 pm
Cid,
I think women should be made to pass a ‘walk test’ before being allowed to wear high heels. I saw a woman attempting to walk in a pair yesterday and looked nothing short of comical. They must be so uncomfortable-is it worth the effort?
Miles (in blissful ignorance)
September 15, 2007 @ 9:06 pm
Miles,
Well, the clothing stylists out there would almost definitely say yes, it is worth the effort. As you so rightly point out they must be worn with confidence and grace. In my humble opinion a woman’s wardrobe should contain flat pumps, heels, boots and a good set of wellies - got to be gorgeous though. Forgot to mention bejewelled flip-flops, trainers and for all the Ray Mears followers out there, a pair of walking shoes with matching backpack and pithhelmet - I wear mine at all times! There are two sirens here, one for flood and one to signal the arrival of Mr Mears … so as the waters were rising, there I stood in my pithhelmet … drat and double drat thought I
Cid
September 16, 2007 @ 2:52 pm
Cid,
Don’t forget the blouse, ear rings, eye shadow etc to match all of the shoes!
Miles
September 16, 2007 @ 3:45 pm