13 ≥Tim Hayward spoons up a decade’s worth of fun Theme restaurants
Rock ’n’ roll diner, Tex-Mex cantina, Cajun rib-shack or Teppan-yaki in-the-round,
if your restaurant didn’t have some sort of theme in the
80s you were going nowhere – and getting there fast. They might have spawned some of the franchises and the awful,
soulless chains we have today, but back then they made eating out fun for a younger
generation. Now we’ve grown up we’ve lost some of the
joy of food with a sparkler in it, delivered by a girl on roller skates with a scrunchie in her hair.
International ‘classics’ If we were Italians we’d get
misty-eyed over Mama’s ragu, if we were French it would be Maman’s pot-au-feu that made us well up. Why, then, should
those of us who grew up in the 80s in the UK not be equally moved by what our Mums cooked for us: spag bol, chilli
con carne, coq-au-vin, lasagne and moussaka? The classics might not be British in origin,
but as the food of our childhood they mean everything to our food culture.
What makes Tim smile?
‘My beautiful bicycle, Ignacio, makes me smile. Sometimes I smile so much I arrive at my destination with fl ies in my teeth.’
TIM’S 80s HIGHLIGHTS Films: Jeez! Was there
a better time to be at the movies? Here are my favourites: 1. Blade Runner 2. Blue Velvet 3. Dangerous Liaisons 4. Broadway Danny Rose 5.Hairspray 6.Raising Arizona
7.Rumble Fish 8. Withnail & I Dexy’s Midnight
Runners: Looking back, the clothes, the hair, the ludicrous dancing and the appalling earnestness are cringe-inducing,
NOUVELLE CUISINE Already on its last legs by the mid-80s, history has reduced nouvelle cuisine to a series of poor gags about tiny, tall portions and smears of coulis. In fact, it was just the latest in a series of laudable attempts to throw off the yoke of French culinary tradition in favour of modern aesthetic and nutritional thought. In a sense it was like our own, modern and much less ridiculous, molecular gastronomy movement – which as we know, is all about tiny, tall portions and smears of foam.
A MADELEINE MOMENT
For instant playground recall, try Hope and Greenwood’s retro sweeties. Flying Saucers, Love Hearts, Dip Dabs and Mega Double Lollies, to name a few, are all available
fromocado.com
EIGHTIES DINNER PARTY
Try Heston Blumenthal’s range of reinvented classics at
ocado.com. We love lobster bisque, £3.49, duck sausage with cherries, £2.99, and Black Forest buche, £12.99
BE KIND, REWIND
In August 2012, Rewind will stage its second Eighties Festival at Henley-on-Thames. Last year’s line-up included Village People and UB40, and a similarly nostalgic list of acts is promised for this year…
POP ON DEMAND
Enjoy hours of fi zzy fl avoured fun with a SodaStream (it’s back!). Dandelion and burdock and cola are just some of the sparkling fl avours available at ocado. com; SodaStream, £79.99; fl avours, £3.29 each
but Come On Eileen is still the purest piece of timeless happy party music I can think of Seminal moment:
I hate to admit it, but the thing that made the biggest diff erence to my working life was probably the launch of the Apple Macintosh in 1984 High point: Sigourney
Weaver as Lt Ripley Low point:
Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister
Classics: I still love
Ray-Bans. I still can’t understand video games. I’d still love a DeLorean if you’re giving them away. I′d like the Katherine Hamnett workshirts back but I′m trying to forget I ever wore pixie boots. I’d still wear my fi rst classic Paul Smith suit today if I could get the trousers past my thighs. And how your girlfriend looks wearing your 501s is still sublime
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What makes me
smile about the 80s: The memory of myself as a skinny art student wearing an army surplus fl ying suit, a dangly earring and a ponytail. I was pretentious, neurotic and terrifi ed in equal measure
Ocado readers can take advantage of 25% off a one-year subscription to Tim Hayward’s brilliant quarterly food journal
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£26.25 (plus P+P). Go to fi
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ILLUSTRATIONS: ARMY OF TROLLS
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