Rick Steins Seafood Restaurant. Padstow.

Celebratory seafood chef Rick Stein has created an array of seafood oulets in Padstow, Cornwall, Merryn and Falmouth. He has even opened a restaurant called Bannisters in New South Wales in Australia. Reknown for his passion for fresh seafood, he has featured in many television series which has made him well known world-wide.

In Padstow, on the Cornish coast he has 4 establishments: The Seafood Restaurant, St. Petroc's Bistro, Rick Stein's Cafe and Stein's Fish and Chips. A chef friend of mine recently worked a couple of shifts in the restaurant whilst on a working holiday in England and described the amount of chips made each day as just "bloödy" prodigious. This menu is a tasting or degustation menu from the Seafood Restaurant and looks amazing and delectable. Perhaps the Pavlova listed for dessert indicates his love of Australia?

The Greenhouse Restaurant . London

This menu is from 1991 and is unfortunately 23 years old and obviously long before it  achieved the fame and acclaim it now attracts. The 19 items on the wine list bears no resemblance to the wine list which has won so many awards lately, so I will just have to be patient to get a more modern menu. The restaurant is in Hay's Mews, Mayfair. At least the photo of the dining room is a current picture.

Cafe Royal. London

This establishment has a tremendous history with a list of clients unsurpassed by any other. Built in 1865 by Daniel Nicholas Thevenon, a French wine merchant, it was set in fashionable Regent Street ( named after the Prince Regent who later became George IV). Their son, also a Daniel took the family restaurant to new heights. I will list just some of its famous clients: Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, Rudyard Kipling, D.H. Lawrence, Winston Churchill, Noel Coward plus Royalty such as Edward the VIII, George VI and even Diana, Princess of Wales.

In the 1950's it became the home of the National Sporting Club and many Black Tie dinners were followed by bouts of boxing. In the 60's it was rediscovered by the avante garde set like Mick Jagger, Elizabeth Taylor and Muhammed Ali. It closed in 2008 and many of its unique artefacts were put up for auction; it remained closed for 3 years before it was radically restored and is now emerging in stages during 2012. The menu I have is from the 1950's and is extensive in its breadth., notice the peculiar English course of Savouries served after desserts.

Gemini 7. Spacecraft

This menu is definately unusual......It is the 14 day cycle menu for Nasa's Gemini 7 manned spaceflight in 1965. The crew of Frank Borman and James Lovell spent 14 days in orbit making a total of 206 orbits and were joined by Gemini-6A which performed the first rendezvous maneuver of manned spacecraft. The menu looks like it was typed on my grandmothers typewriter and you would think of the billions of dollars spent on this trip, they could afford a more glamorous menu but I guess they had more important things on their mind and it was 47 years ago.

The Society Restaurant. Melbourne

This famous Italian restaurant was started by Guiseppe Codognotto in 1932 at 23 Bourke Street Melbourne. Guiseppi'sson Rino and daughter Rina later took over the running of the restaurant and Rino quickly became known as the face of the "spaghetti mafia", the Italian food culture of the city. Rino retired in 1984 and the restaurant went through various name changes and ownerships until the reknown Dimattina family obtained control and returned it to its former glory in 2007. This famous Italian food culture group named the "spaghetti mafia"included such culinary luminaries as David Triaca (The Latin), Lou and Joe Molina ( The Imperial Hotel), Leon Massoni (Florentino's), Mario Virgona's (Virgona's), Ferdie Virgona (Mario's). Ferdie Virgona was also the father of Melbourne Food Legend Mietta O'Donnell.

Southern Cross Hotel. Melbourne

This was Melbourne's earliest modern hotels, built in 1962, the property was owned by the Nauru Government.At its time it had the largest modern function room, which was used extensively for all the big televised events and its Grill Room was equally famous. Notable guests include the Beatles ( who waved to their fans from the balcony of their room), Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Rock Hudson etc. The housemaids reputedly sold strips of the bed linen off the beds that the Beatles had slept in but journalists calculated the number of strips sold would have covered 100's of beds... The hotel waskncked down in 1999 to enable apartments to be erected but the site lay undeveloped for many years. This menu is from the Coolibah Room and dates from 1964.

Cipriani Restaurant. Venice

This elegant and luxurious hotel overlooks the Grand Canal of Venice, an Italian city of indescribable beauty and history. Seafood is its speciality of course and the whole hotel gives an air of opulence and luxury. 

Moulin Rouge. Paris

This world famous cabaret opened in 1889 (same year as the Eiffel Tower) in a period known as the Belle Epoque. Toulose-Lautrec designed many posters for the show which are instantly recognisable around the world. Originally constructed with a huge dance floor it provided a venue for the wealthy to mingle with the beautiful and perhaps ladies of easy virtue of the time, in a fun dance hall atmosphere. Singers and dancers from Edith Piaf to Bing Crosby have performed here with many others too numerous to mention. Search Wikipedia for Moulin Rouge to read its wonderful history and fabulous guests and guest stars. Many of its beautiful show girls are actually Australian believe it or not. As you can see from the menu, the dinners are of a high standard and together with the show (held twice per night) attract tourists from the four corners of the world.

Mirabelle. London

A classy and popular restaurant in Mayfair during the 60's and 70's with guests like Winston Churchill and Orson Welles, it then became even more famous when purchased by celebrity chef Marco Pierre White in 1998. Tim Zagat of the Zagat restaurant guide was summarily ejected by White due to a bad review at one of his previous restaurants. According to Wikipedia, the restaurant attracted enormous press because of its clientele i.e. Russel Crowe was said to have had a heated discussion with the sommelier about a 3,500 pound bottle of Grange Hermitage which he claimed was "corked". It was replaced. Johnny Depp spent 11,000 pounds on a bottle of French Burgundy. Madonna , Leonardo Dicaprio and Kylie Minogue are other celebrities known to have dined there. It closed in 2007 with new owners for refurbishment but I believe it has not reopened yet..

House of Lords UK

The State Opening of Parliament in 2007 by Her Majesty Queen Eliazabeth II. The menu is well designed but I am not absolutely sure in which restaurant this menu is from. I believe it is the House of Lords Bar and River Restaurant given its exclusivity and up-market menu. Staff may take up to two guests into this restaurant on provide photo I.D.

Southern Aurora Train

This famous train ran Melbourne to Sydney and back fron 1962 until 1987. Prior to this passengers had to change trains at Albury (at the state borders of New South Wales and Victoria) because the two states had different gauge train lines. It was quite a glamerous train for its time with dining cars, lounge cars and all-sleeper accommodation. As flying became cheaper, patronage declined through the 80's and was finally combined with the "Spirit of Progress". The last run of the Southern Aurora was in 1986 but sometimes there are heritage runs as in April 2012.

The first menu is from 1967 and I think far more attractive thn the second menu from 1986.