Vintage dining - Yesteryear was exciting, glamorous and exotic
Published:Sunday | October 7, 2012 | 12:00 AM
Sacha Walters-Gregory, Staff Reporter
Food, wonderful food! It can set the mood, bring back fond memories and keep people wanting more, especially when served in the right ambience. From back in the day to contemporary Jamaica, people opt to find that thrill.
Restaurants of the past have indeed laid the foundation for eateries today. Those places that not only made Jamaicans salivate, but were places with branded memories.
Do you remember when ... ?
- Mitsy Seaga: The Terra Nova Hotel
My favourite dinning experience was The Terra Nova Hotel in the 1960s. The maitre d' was the famous Rock Pavesi. My favourite meal was a cold potato soup with cream and chives vichyssoise, frog legs, crepes Suzette. Jamaica has not seen service and cuisine of that nature since those wonderful days of Rock Pavesi at The Terra Nova. Oh, for the return of those fabulous days!
Dairy products
"I lived at 1 Chelsea Avenue right across from Dairy Products on Half-Way Tree Road.
The building was a very old wooden structure painted green and white. There was no gate and one would drive in or just walk on an old asphalt driveway. At night, mostly lady waitresses would come out to your car and take the order, within minutes they returned with a tray full of all flavours of Dairy Products ice creams, jumbo malts, sundaes, banana splits or just a simple cone.
After you had dined in the car, they very efficiently returned and unhooked the metal tray from your window and off you would go, feeling very satisfied.
I fortunately lived across the road and was just about to enter my teenage years, so my mother would allow my sister and I to cross the street and go for a treat every now and then.
My favourite flavour was cherry, otherwise called strawberry. Those were some of the good old days when we were free to walk on the streets at night without fear."
- Paul Issa: Myrtle Bank Hotel
"I remember as a young boy in the late '50s and early '60s that having
lunch at the Myrtle Bank Hotel on Harbour Street was a very big deal. It
was the place to see and be seen in Kingston," said businessman and
actor Paul Issa.
"Every day, the Swiss chefs put on a fabulous
buffet, known in those days by the Swedish term
smorgasbord, consisting of a sumptuous array of hot
and cold foods, including lobster and roast beef and all sorts of salads
and desserts. All you could eat for 10 shillings and sixpence (which
later went up to £1 - then the equivalent of US$2.80. The
inflation-adjusted value would probably be something like J$3,000 in
today's money). Not cheap, but very good value for
money.
Jamaican ladies, wearing hats and gloves in
those pre-air-conditioning days, could often be seen having little
luncheon parties in the gazebos or summer houses as they were called
along the royal palm-lined promenade that led to the swimming pool at
the edge of the Kingston waterfront. On the terrace, men in dark suits
had business lunches. Hotel guests and cruise-ship passengers mingled
with the local gentry and those who aspired to it in a setting that was
always exciting, glamorous and exotic.
"The Crossroads
of the Caribbean, they called it - the world-famous Myrtle Bank Hotel.
If you drive by Harbour Street, not far from the Bank of Jamaica, you
can still see some of those tall royal palms standing in a straight line
in an overgrown empty lot, leading down to the
waterfront.
- Charles Hanna: Blue
Mountain Inn
"It would have been unthinkable to plan a
trip to Kingston without going to the legendary Blue Mountain Inn,
nestled along the Papine Road on the way to Newcastle," said Charles
Hanna. "However, it was not a long drive along the river's edge. Once
there, there was valet parking if desired and a long wooden walkway lead
into the charming white stucco house, which made up the formal
restaurant. It also had marvellous gardens which were lit by torches
which flamed in the
illuminating the winding river below. It was an atmosphere of old movies
from the 1930s; this was chic understated English
elegance.
The main rooms were the lounge and dining
room which were on a split level and covered with crimson wall-to-wall
carpeting. The tables were candle lit. The overstuffed chairs and
settees were also red velvet accentuated by the shining and freshly
polished mahogany furniture. You could not have been caught dead at the
inn unless you were attired in a dark dinner suit or tuxedo and long
dresses were the style for the evening.
You were
greeted at the door by Mr Black, who seemed to have been there for
centuries. Mr Black, many will recall, had a legendary wine shop on
North Odeon Avenue and sold
wines. Mr Black in his black tux would warmly welcome you to have a
cocktail in the exotic and well-maintained gardens. After that you were
summoned to the dining room for a sumptuous dinner.
My
favourite was the wonderful and huge chateaubriand with the special
béarnaise sauce. It was char grilled on the outside and blue inside.
Simply wonderful. Always served with fresh Jamaican vegetables and
beautiful soft and sweet plantains. Dessert would be a banana flambé
served and flamed at the table with choice old Jamaican rum. The waiters
were truly professional and so well trained in this fine
art.
The
cuisine was clean, uncomplicated and always fresh with a very old world
British touch, with some tasty Jamaican items as well. The waiters were
so well trained and wore jackets which were starched gleaming white and
they were always smiling and charming and called everyone 'my lady'.
Gone are those days for sure! The barman was a great old soul who
remembered everyone's name and could make any cocktail, even the most
rare and complicated drinks.
After dinner, you were
ushered to your seat by the roaring fireplace and you could all sit in
great comfort in plush chairs, coffee was freshly brewed and everyone
had a liquor served with delightful petits fours
served from a gleaming silver tray with fresh linen doilies. The
proprietor was the late Kingston attorney Robert Lake, who acquired it
in the late 1950s from its former owner. This was an evening to
remember, and I'm sure all old Kingstonians have many fond and
delightful memories of it. Many honeymoon nights were spent in these
exotic foothills of the Blue Mountains, as it also had a lovely
honeymoon suite attached. What a delightful and truly
elegant
was!
- Robert MacMillan: Bruce's
Patties
"Bruce's Patties had the reputation of making
not only the best patties in Jamaica, but in the entire universe,"
reminisced businessman Robert MacMillan, who was a regular customer, as
his father's cinema, The State, was the patty shop's
neighbour.
"Many was the returning traveller whose
first stop on arriving back home in Jamaica was a pilgrimage to Bruce's
to eat a patty, as if to confirm that they were, indeed, back in
town.
"It was there that my father introduced me to Mr
Norman Washington Manley, a family friend of the proprietors, the
Predergasts. I recall shaking his hand, and even as as a young child,
knowing that this was an important and respected person by the solemnity
of the introduction and the courtesy and intelligence reflected by his
demeanour.
Later on in life, me and some rambunctious
schoolmates from Wolmer's would "tief out" from school, back off our
epaulets, and enjoy an invented concoction of red peas soup - another
specialty of the house - mixed with a hot Red Stripe beer. We
christiened this brew 'Furmity', which was an ale which was featured in
the book we were studying in literature class, The Mayor of
Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. Bruce's, ahhhhh, sweet memories
of carefree days gone by."
- Ranny Bop: Winston
Sill
"There were also what we called cold supper shops
and they were opened all night, like Ranny Bop. People would come from
all over for seasonal Jamaican food like ackee and salt fish," said
photographer Winston Sill. Other laid-back eateries included Sombrero on
Molynes Road. "They had this fried chicken and a special sauce that
most people went for," he said.