The closets we got to the Ritz was a cheese cracker by the same name. Because of the lack of finances and eating out was not such a popular sport as it is these days, we very rarely ate out. But what a treat it was when we did. Nothing fancy, but a meal out is a meal out, even if it was a take out of some kind.
ivor dewdney's pasties
A staple of any Cornishman's diet is the pasty, as it is for anyone from Devon. My mother made the best pasties, the recipe for which I will post later in my blog. But for a quick meal, pasties from Ivor Dewdney's was the bees knees growing up.
A company that started in 1930 and is not only still going strong (with shops now all over the South West) but also still baking and selling out of the same establishment in Plymouth's city centre.
omelets - al fresco style
Along from Dewdney's shop on the opposite side of the road was a Greek restaurant/cafe called Al Fresco's. My older sister; Michelle, as a teenager got a part time job there waitressing and washing dishes. From time to time, we got a rare treat of going in there for lunch on a weekend (I suspect because we got a huge staff discount). We only ever had one thing, one dish; cheese omelet (for another budgetry reason me thinks, it was the cheapest thing on the menu) ........ not that we cared. We got a huge oval plate piled with chips and an immense omelet, filled with a lava of molten, melted cheese. AMAZING!!
perilla's fish & chips
Fish and chips again? Get over it, they are much a staple of the British diet as a curry is to Indians and a hot dog is to Americans, and trust me they are likely to pop up again at some stage!
Perilla's (pronounced purr-rel-ees) was an iconic fish and chip cafe in Plymouth, and for good reason, they were cheap, had the best fish & chips in town and the cafe was immaculate. We would be taken there for a treat from time to time, either on a Saturday or during the holidays when mum went into town shopping. A child's portion of fish, chips and peas and a bottle of pop (soda). Great!
Long before sports drinks, in the UK we had Lucozade, a glucose based drink often given to the sick. We always wanted some when we visited Perilla's, but more often than not were left dissapointed because they didn't have any. This clear, orange coloured drink came in a bottle wrapped in orange cellophane twisted at the top, heaven knows why, it just did.
cawardines coffee
Caradine's Coffee on Cornwall Street. I am sure this place holds special memories for most Plymouthians. Who could forget approaching it or walking away from it? Each time your nostrils getting violently atatcked by that all too familiar deep aroma of roasting coffee beans. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
supermarket restaurants
I don't remember eating in these much, apart from the occasional visit to the Woolworth's cafe. All supermarkets and major stores; BHS, Co-op, Debenhams, Woolworth's and the likes all had their own in house cafes. All serving pretty much the same fare as each other. Having returned to the UK, 30+ years on, I find the same menu on offer as when I first left I think.
Not that, that is a bad thing because it means you can still get good ole British fare; as opposed to all these restaurants where the Chef has created some monstrosity composed of just about every unusual ingredient known to man on one plate. with no rhyme or reason or thought to its flavour combination.
This unusual looking cafe, was situated up on Plymouth Hoe. I don't ever remember going in there. Always longed to, but never did as I recall. My younger sister however worked there for a summer season.
kentucky fried chicken
Once every few months when mum was feeling flush, she would send me in on my bicycle to get some for dinner. Of course KFC then still used the original recipe, it was tasty, it had a good hit of spiciness of chilli, the current version seems to a diluted version of the Colonel's original recipe. And who can forget their famous moist towelletes; infused with a hint of lemon as I recall? Famous? Well no one else did them.
That was a cycle trip was a four mile round cycle trip, that I did without a blink of any eye. I was a young teenager, loved to cycle, loved Kentucky Fried Chicken (as it was known then, not KFC) and maybe more to the point, I did as I was told and back then cycling and walking everywhere were the norm. Mum loved KFC, well up until she had a bad experience with it in the 1990's. After getting food poisoning from an outlet in Paignton, Devon, I don't think she ever ate it again.
king wa's
Just down the road from where we lived in Plymouth, sometime in the early 70's (maybe late 60's) a Chinese takeaway opened. King Wa's was a real eye opener for me in regards to foods. I had never experienced Chinese foods before. It was something though I had to wait until I was earning my own pocket money to buy though. For one it was too expensive for mum, and secondly she never did like foreign foods. Well not until maybe the last couple of years of her life when she discovered spare ribs.
King Wa's opened my taste buds up to new dishes and new foods; bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, water chestnuts to name a few. Dishes like sweet and sour, chop suey, kung pow chicken, Asian currys and egg foo yung. From there on in, I have always had a passion for Chinese foods and spent many a memorable time in Hing Kong and mainland China indulging in that passion. Often wondering if I was ever walking passed, sitting with relations of the owners of King Wa.
wimpy
Wimpy's must surely have been the first franchise restaurant chain in the UK? I don't actually remember ever going to Wimpy's as a child, I know we did, but I don't actually recall a trip. I am almost sure it here I was introduced to the infamous knickerbockerglory (see chapter on XIIII - 'Ice Treats')
But I do remember the food, or to be more precise the Wimpy sausage. It was a frankfurter style, with a lovely smokey flavour that was scored so that it curled when it was cooked.
I have recently rediscovered Wimpy, as in discovered they are still around and 'treated'? my good lady to a trip down memory lane by going there for lunch. Some memories are best left as memories ....
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