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??!!

EUROPEAN FLAVOURS IN THE 80'S

The top 2 ads are for Don Quixote, the Spanish restaurant in Blackness Road.

First is dated 1981 and 2nd is from 1984.

The reason I put both up was because in the 81 ad it mentions Miguel the chef - but in the 84 one, his name's not there and is replaced by a "dedicated young staff". Well by 1984 there was a new restaurant opened up in Broughty Ferry. It's name? Miguel's. So I'm putting 2 and 2 together here!

In 1980, Le Mirage, on the corner of Ward Road and the Conshie, was indulging in European dishes every Wednesday, a theme they termed "Continental Night", with a variety of cuisine from Italy, Spain and France to choose from.

Since writing the above caption, I have been given photos of Miguel's and they can be viewed in the January 2010 Retro archive.

Here is the link - Miguel's

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!

PIZZA GALLERY AD - 1984

I suppose students could have gone straight from their days stint at Kingsway Tech and popped down to the Pizza Gallery in Peter Street pend to take advantage of the discounts they had on offer.
I can remember visiting it a couple of times - a pretty decent place to dine - and it had a "Famous Artists" theme for you to view while waiting to be served.
The advert is dated 1984.

NICOLL & SMIBERT - NETHERGATE SHOP

Here is a photo of the Nicoll & Smibert shop in the Nethergate, taken sometime in the late 60's.
Big thanks to Peter.

NICOLL & SMIBERT - NETHERGATE ADS

Another bakers in centre of town offering snack/restaurant facilities was Nicoll & Smibert who were in the Nethergate.

The top ad is dated 1968 and the red one is from 1974.

Nicoll & Smibert had baker shops all over Dundee back then, and the ones listed in the 1974 directory are as follows - Overgate, Union St, Hilltown, Albert St, Strathmartine Rd, Lochee Rd, Princes St, Craigowan Rd, Lochee High St, MacAlpine Rd, St Giles Tce, Blackness Rd, Fintry Rd, Whitfield Dr, Whitehall St, Clepington Rd and Brook St in the Ferry.

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 BOULEVARD AD - 1988

This ad from 1988 is for French restaurant, The Boulevard, who were based at 10-12 Crichton Street.
I don't know anything about this place but I guess it must have been a rather upmarket joint judging by it's 7 course meals on offer!

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.

REFORM STREET - 1983

An ordinary, everyday scene of folk going about their business along Reform Street on 3rd December 1983.

The most prominent shop sign on view is the one for Wimpy, who also have the "Restaurant Open" sandwich board on the pavement.

Some of the other shop signs down the left are - Sixty Minute Cleaners? (it says 2 hour on the sign!) - Elena Mae (cameras) and the Cairds canopy.

The Christmas decorations in the city square are up as well.

Across the road you can see the main entrance to newsagent R.S.McColl. This is where, in 1984, I started to indulge in a magazine called "The Great Artists". It was one of those which built up into an encyclopedic collection, featuring a different artist each week. I was on the dole during this period so it was a bit of a luxury item for me! I did, after nearly 2 years, complete the set, and surprise surprise, I still have all 96 of the magazines, a sample of which can be seen above.

Nowadays I can afford proper books!!

Reform St photo by Neale Elder

WILSON & GORDON RESTAURANTS

The original Restaurant Wilson in Union Street was destroyed by a fire in 1956 - and so this picture here is how it looked after it was restored and modernised for the 60's.
Restaurant Wilson is listed in my 1966 Dundee Directory, however, by the time the 1970 Dundee Directory had been published, it had changed into the Gordon Restaurant.
The ad above is dated March 1977 and as you can see there was wining, dining & dancing - and on this occasion the music was supplied by an act called Pastel Colours.

DUNDEE'S CONTINENTAL CUISINE - 80'S

2 restaurant ads from the mid 80's featuring the Mediterranean flavours of Italy and Spain.

Easy to figure out which one is which by their names - Bruno's, in Meadowside, being Italian and Miguel's in the Ferry, the Spanish one.

The images were taken at the opening of Miguel's in the mid 80's, with local celeb, George Duffus, doing the ribbon cutting honours.

Photos by The Bear.

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 RESTAURANT - REFORM STREET

The not very imaginatively named, "Restaurant", was on the corner of Reform Street and Bank Street.
You may remember it was next door to Betty White's fruit shop.
Although this photo of the Restaurant was taken in the early 70's, by 1974 it had changed into the Corner Coffee House.

THE UNICORN - REFORM STREET

The Unicorn in Reform Street was part of the DPM (Dundee Pasteurised Milk) Company who had quite a few dairy's scattered around town in the 60's/early 70's.
This restaurant was located across the road from Bank Street, approximately.
When the Unicorn/DPM closed down in the early 70's, the premises became Cathie McCabe's record shop.

THE HOWFF RESTAURANT

The Howff Restaurant was part of the Breadalbane Arms in Constitution Road. The Howff at #33 and the Bread/Bothy at #35.
I'm sure there was a door inside that connected the 2, to enable you to have a wee drink at the bar before nipping through for some nosh. The restaurant was quite a popular place to have a work's do.
Although the Bread is still there today, the Howff has since disappeared.
The illustration dates from the 70's.

THE AULD DUNDEE PIE SHOP

I'm gonna have a food theme running over the next few days featuring local cuisine and restaurants galore - and so where better to start than with one of the city's most famous names - Wallace's.

These 2 ads from the 60's are for The Auld Dundee Pie Shop (Wallace's) in Castle Street, now no longer with us.

In the top ad it mentions that the original shop was situated in the Vault area of town before moving to it's permanent location in Castle Street, a shop I'm sure every Dundonian our age has been to.

Now I'm no expert, but I would mark their pie and bridie pastry 10 out of 10, but would only give them 1 out of 10 for the peely-wally clump of gristle inside!

Hope that doesn't make me seem disloyal, because I did feast on them for many years.
Then in December 1977, Reo Stakis stepped in and bought the lot for £75,000.

Below is a short clip of local celeb, Frank Gilfeather, indulging...!!

HOSIKAI RESTAURANT - ST.ANDREWS ST

This 1985 ad for the Hosikai in St Andrews St, claims to be the first traditional Cantonese restaurant in Dundee. Not knowing the difference between Cantonese cooking and Chinese, I did some research, and there is indeed a difference in the "regional" foods and ingredients used. Apparently there was a surge of "new" Cantonese restaurants sprang up in the UK in the 80's as a large influx of people from Hong Kong came over to settle during that period and brought their dishes with them!
So that ties in nicely with the ad.
If anyone knows what "Hosikai" means, or can read the 3 Chinese symbols (is it Ho-Si-Kai?), feel free to pass it on in the comments.

SHISH MAHAL ADVERT - 1979

This ad for the Shish Mahal Tandoori Restaurant in Commercial Street is from 1979.

Not sure whether the sales pitch in it is supposed to be tongue in cheek or if it's a result of an over the top translation, but it makes pretty funny reading.

Click on the image to enlarge if needed.