FOOD ADVERTS - FULL OF EASTERN PROMISE

Here's 5 local ads offering a variety of tasty grub from the East that I'm sure many of you will be familiar with.

Starting off at The Far East in Mains Loan. This was their Christmas menu they had up in December 1977. 6-course for 3 quid - not bad at all.

The Gunga-Din ad looks as if it is from the hippy 60's, but this is actually dated 1981. At one stage, this restaurant in Perth Road was considered to serve the best Indian meals in Scotland, not just Dundee!

The Hong Kong ad IS from the 60's - 1968 to be exact. A rather popular place it was too, with both food and music available at their well known spot in the Seagate.

Across the road from the Hong Kong was The Himalaya. It doesn't say so in this ad dating from 1977, but I'm sure they put on music too sometimes.

Rounding things off with the Peking in Perth Road - and an ad from 1988. I think this place is still on the go but perhaps ought to be called the Beijing by now!

THE ORIENTAL - EXCHANGE STREET CORNER

This was a great wee pub, and probably the only Dundee drinking den I could say was "surreal"!!.

On the go in the late 70's - early 80's and situated on the corner of Commercial Street/Exchange street.

It was quite deceptive in appearance because it looked like an old-timer's pub from the outside, but one step indoors and it transported you to a completely different world.

The crazy interior reflected the owner's madcap outlook. They had a "gorilla" theme running throughout the place. Try and envisage this - there were lots of apes hanging from the ceiling from chains, each one wearing the pubs own t-shirt design (King Kong wrecking the Tay bridge) and all had flashing eyes that were synchronised in time with the music!

As if that wasn't zany enough, the walls had an outer space mural that not only had stuff like rockets and planets scattered about it but also included many cartoon characters!!

The music was sometimes played from cassettes chosen by the bar staff and sometimes picked from the jukebox by us who drank there, but both sources were always played at FULL volume and was a mix of punk, rock & pop.

Always a place to have a really good laugh.

The short clip below is a wee visual recreation of their ape theme.

Photo by DC Thomson.