FOOD ADS AND SOME HOME COOKING

After a wee flurry sampling some of the gastronomic delights from around the eastern side of the globe - it's time to get back to a few of our own homely spots in town who served up delicious delicacies for those of us who weren't too concerned about our westernized diet.

Going in date order this time - the Keiller Restaurant ad is from 1963 and is for their place in the High Street, while reminding us where their other eateries were located.

The ad for Nelson's is dated 1965 and is for their shops in Nelson Street and the Wellgate. Although it was a confectioners, I think their place in the Wellgate may have had a wee corner sitting area.

You'll all be familiar with the T-Bone Steakhouse I bet - their joint doon Union Street. The ad is from 1977 and the place would be doing a roaring trade around this era.

Raffles in the Perth Road was a nice cheery restaurant/café that had a very good reputation for it's food and service.

I just thought I'd include this basic ad from 1984 to remind you of their logo.

The ad for Shepherd's and the Baked Tattie & Pizza House is conjoined because they both shared the same address in Perth Road. It's dated 1984 - so pre Peking.

The Brooklyn Diner ad is dated 1985, and its location was on the corner pf Panmure Street and Meadowside. Typical American-style food, and lots of neon lighting as part of its look. You could also hire the place for private functions too.

The Town House ad is a 1988 one and emphasizes their pub lunches - Farfir bridies an' a' that.

But can anyone remember what David did? It says Wednesday, Thursday and Sundays were music nights, but they don't put David's appearance in that category. So what was in store for everyone - did he come up to you and smash you in the face with a frying pan, or what??

Mondays and Tuesdays to be avoided??!!

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!

POSTERN GATE AD & PHOTO

The Postern Gate was a pleasant wee arty gift shop in the Nethergate in the 70's & 80's, run by Edith Cunningham.
It had all sorts of craft styled goodies as you can tell from the advert.
I used to pop in quite regularly to top-up my art postcard collection!
The ad is dated 1977 and the photo was taken in 1985.
They changed the intrusive traffic light into a quaint lamppost for the illustration too!

PERTH ROAD'S CANADIAN SHOP - 80'S

Those of you who frequented places like the Centre Bar, Club Feet and other youthful dens in town in the 70's & 80's will probably remember (Fast) Eddie Donnelly.

Well after his first trade went bust, he opened up this fashion shop in the Perth Road, the clothing on the racks being stuff he imported from North America.

The shop may have been called Dan Rivers, not 100% sure, although that's a name that crops up on the funky interior design.

Eddies co-owner was George Craigie, and Billy Shaw helped out in the shop - this was sometime around the mid/late 80's period.

Photos by The Bear.

OLD STAMPING GROUND - 1982

I forgot all about this wee shop until I saw this photo - Dundee Philatelic Supplies at Sinderins, on the Perth Road / Hawkhill junction.
Can't say I was ever in it mind you, but passed it often enough.
The shop itself was being stamped out at the time of the photo which was taken on 23rd September 1982.
The corner seated area still remains today, but the wedge of shops that are boarded up, have all been demolished.
And is that a couple of Harris pupils plunking? Surely not!
The 3 white posters on the boards are for Hot Chocolate, who were playing at the Caird Hall in Sept '82, a review of which can be found in the Nov 2009 Retro Archive.
Leading us nicely into the start of another music theme in May.
It'll be mega. So stick around!
Photo by Neale Elder.

AUDIO VISUALS IN THE 70'S

This ad for The Audio Visual Centre in Perth Road is dated 1973.
They were a photographic specialist, although obviously, as their name implies, they must have sold recording equipment, stereos or something like that too.
In fact, it was the name of the place that reminded me of this item below, a piece of newsreel I have from 1979 introducing the Laser Disc. This was technology I didn't indulge in, but it got me wondering, who would have been the first shop in Dundee to stock Laser Discs? I thought it might be an audio/visual store like Dixons or Comet rather than a record shop such as Bruces. Laser Disc content featured bands as well as movies, similar to video releases at the time.
Also, I don't recall video rental stores renting out Laser Discs, they just seemed to go onto DVDs after videos.
Anyway, I'm sure one or two of you out there must have treated yourself to Laser Disc gear, before they ended up in the shed alongside your 8-Track!

CHRISTMAS BOOZE AD - 1987

At least there's nae messin' with their name - BOOZE.

May not be subtle but they must have been doing good business as they had 2 places in 1987, one in Perth Road and one in Blackness Road.

Here they are trying to entice you with a rather nice case of wine, to get you to put in an order for Christmas!

UNIVERSAL GARDEN AD - 1974

Back to 204 Perth Road where we were a few days ago when it was the Underworld Cafe, only this time, a decade later, it has become the Universal Garden Chinese restaurant.
Plenty music to munch along to it seems, and a 3 course meal for 40p must have surely been the cheapest in town!
The ad is dated 1974.

THE RUSTY KETTLE AD - 1988

Whether you just fancied a cup of tea & a scone or you needed a full meal, The Rusty Kettle at 304 Perth Road would serve it up for you.
This ad is from 1988, but a wee slogan they had going in the mid 80's was - "The Best In The West"!

THE UNDERWORLD CAFE - 1960'S

The Underworld Cafe, on the go in the 60's, was to be found at 204 Perth Road, sharing the building with the Shakespeare Restaurant.
Owner was Alf Paladini, the guy in the picture.
Not sure if the interior designer had a split personality, but there seems to be a bit of a bizarre clash going on between a Swiss chalet look and a tropical island hut!
I like the tree trunk seats mind you.
By 1970, the place had changed to the Gold Lucky Chinese restaurant.
The advert is dated 1965.

GROUCHO AD - 1981

This whimsical ad from 1981 for Groucho's shows a parade of folk wearing the kind of clothing that was on the go back then. Various fads and factions in the mix.
The shop was still in Perth Road when this was published.

DUNDEE RESTAURANT GUIDE - 1981

A reminder of some of the eating places on the go in 1981 can be found in an overview presented in Cranked Up, with Egon Boney taking us on a youthful guide to dining out in Dundee.
For this food tour, EB lists the following - KOH-I-NOOR - GUNGA DIN - HIMALAYA - BALAKA - HIGHLAND STAR - GULLISTAN - BRUNO'S - PIZZA GALLERY - FORTE'S COFFEE HOUSE - RAFFLES - PENTHOUSE - DEEP SEA.
I remember Raffles in the Nethergate/Perth Road got a rave review in Punch magazine in the early 80's. This was when food critic & MP, Clement Freud was doing a weekly food column in the publication. The reason he ended up in Raffles was because he was in Dundee for the Liberal Party conference. He had of course previously been Rector of Dundee University from 74 to 80, so he was well acquainted with the Perth Road area.
He gave Raffles a really good write-up and commented on how cheery the staff were...and Clement wasn't easy to please!
Not only that, but in the mid 80's, Raffles actually achieved an award from the real Egon Roney and got a mention in his 1985/86 publication "Just A Bite Guide".
To find out the ratings by our own Egon Boney, click onto the image to read the large version.

THE SPEEDWELL BAR - PERTH ROAD

This postcard of the Speedwell Bar aka Mennies, highlights the fact that it is pretty irrelevant what era the photo was taken, the timeless interior of the pub has remained the same since it opened for biz back in the early 1900's.
My era for visiting it was the late 70's to mid 80's period.
Using a University Challenge phrase, this was our "Starter For Ten" pub - not points, but pints - Mennies being the first in the Perth Road Pub Crawl, and 10 being the amount of pints we'd have sunk by the time we reached the Nethergate!
So although I've never spent an entire evening there, I do have cheery memories of the place for it launching many a Perth Road pilgrimage!

MID 70'S AIR SHOT - SEABRAES

Ready for take-off....and on with another mid 70's flight over Dundee.
This is the view looking across town just as the plane leaves the runway. Still too low down to make out any particular street detail other than the Seabraes area, where Perth Road meets the Nethergate.
Seabraes has since been tarted up a bit, but this is how it looked when we were on our Perth Road pub crawls in the 70's & 80's. We used to stop off at Seabraes for a couple of joints when going from McGonagall's to Chequers..!!
Also recall occasionally doing a spot of sunbathing there on those hot summer Sundays!

NAUTILUS GYMNASIUM - PERTH ROAD

This advert for Nautilus in Perth Road goes back to 1981.

I didn't actually try the place out myself but I knew a couple of guys who were regulars.

From what they told me, their evening's fitness routine went like this - go to gym for 1 hour then go to pub for 4 hours!