So asked Victoria Wood in her famous sketch. But, who actually remembers the sweet trolley?
I certainly do. Puts me in mind of all the holidays we spent in Trust House Forte hotels in Devon and Cornwall when I was a child. As I recall the menus always looked like this:
Starter
Chilled juice - orange, grapefruit or tomato
Soup of the day
Prawn cocktail
Farmhouse Pate
Egg Mayonnaise (with a little bit of paprika sprinkled on top!)
Main
Steak Diane
Rainbow Trout with almonds
Coq au vin
Rack of lamb (wearing those little fluffy chef's hats at the end of each bone)
Something veggie, but I never remember what it was.
And then the sweet trolley. This is where the meal really came into its own. There were trifles, profiteroles, black forest gateaux, a very sad looking fruit salad and pavlova. Cream was queen and you could finish off with a rather lacklustre cheeseboard.
Even today, my favourite meal consists of prawn cocktail, steak Diane and sherry trifle. Although today I use quality ingredients dahhhhling! What are your retro food memories?
2 comments:
Ahhhh, now there's a trip down memory lane.... I can picture it now... We're talking c.1979-1983, old-fashioned hotels of Torbay, three course Sunday dinners with my parents and sisters. You're recall of the menu is stunningly accurate! Mine would usually be soup of the day (nothing too adventurous here... tomato or minestrone), the roast and then being invited to go and choose dessert from the trolley. Nearly always the black forest gateaux. "Can you point to it?" Classic! Thanks for bringing it all flooding back.
P.S. If you really like your retro, you'd probably still find a menu just like this in some of our less up-to-date hotels around Torbay!
Enjoying the blog girls!
I recall a OAP restaurant in Bognor Regis having a very similar menu. Must be something about being by the sea?
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