Saturday 14 January 2012

Feasts from the Past

I love browsing through old menu cards; here's a few I've found recently.

A menu card for lunch at Trinity College Cambridge, 30 January 1899, which I have vicariously enjoyed despite the years that have passed since its creation. The autumn of the same year saw the arrival of many of the students who were to form the Bloomsbury group: Leonard Woolf, Lytton Strachey, Thoby Stephens and others. Judging by the image of the exploding champagne bottle at the top, it looks as if it may have been a riotous affair.


1899 - Trinity College



                    MENU


                   Potages

         Consomme Jardiniere
              Bonne Femme

                   Poisson
     Filets de soles, sauce Tartare

                    Entree
          Caneton aux olives

                   Releve
           Selle de Mouton
       Croquettes de pommes
            Choux de mer

                   Roti
                Faisons
                 Salade

             Entrement
     Pudding au Caramel

       Becasse Ecossaise

             Dessert


In April 1921, the Royal College of Art Student Common Room offered a dinner at the Boulogne Restaurant in Gerard Street, with the French theme continued with an illustration of a buxom looking jolie femme by the sea side:

1921 - Royal College of Art


                 MENU

          Hors d'Oeuvre varies

            Creme Milanaise

      Filet de Hallibut Robert
            Pomme nature

    Quartier de mouton demi-glace
   Choux fleur    -    Pomme au Four

               Poulet au jus
                    Salade

      Glace Melba a la Student
     a dish we all like to feed upon

          fromage  - radis

               cafe noir


On Christmas Day 1950, the Cumberland Hotel offered its young diners a special menu, where the usual traditional fare was gratuitously linked with various nursery rhyme characters, all presented in the teeth of a friendly-looking giraffe:

 CHILDREN'S GALA LUNCHEON

               Creme Miss Muffett
          Veloute Three Blind Mice

             Turkey Jack and Jill
      Brussel Sprout Little Bo Peep
              Potatoes Peter Pan

           Pudding Tommy Tucker
        Mince Pie Humpty-Dumpty
       Yule Tide Log Queen of Hearts


1950 - Cumberland Hotel

























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