If you were looking for the best place to have lunch or tea in Dundee during the 1960s and ’70s, chances are you ended up in Cafe Val d’Or.
Located in City Square, Val d’Or was one of the city’s top restaurants with queues that often ended up at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the eatery.
Home to Christmas lunches, graduation parties, engagements and more, the Cafe Val d’Or became the backdrop to many people’s most special memories of Dundee.
With its stellar reputation, your first visit to this Dundee eatery was rarely your last.
Despite closing down in the 1980s, memories of Cafe Val d’Or live on.
Let’s go back to the start of the restaurant’s story.
Cafe Val d’Or was opened in 1930 by Joseph Campbell.
A Dundonian, Mr Campbell owned and ran several businesses in the city, although Cafe Val d’Or was his most successful.
Situated in the heart of Dundee on City Square, the cafe was convenient for workers and tourists alike.
With space for 180 customers at a time, it was open from 8.30am to 10.30pm and also treated its patrons to live music and soda streams.
The cafe’s live orchestra played every afternoon and was led by Arthur Paterson, the noted city violinist.
The cafe branded itself by its initials, CVD, which also stood for “Cuisine Very Delightful”.
Its three-course lunch was priced at 1/3 – coming to a total of about £3.40 in today’s money.
For about one pound a course, you were certainly getting your money’s worth!
The cafe’s “cheerful rooms” and “artistic decoration” were down to its oil and watercolour paintings, which were supplied by the Panmure Art Salon.
The Art Salon was “home to Scotland’s finest collection of high class art”.
So a case of only the finest for Dundee’s busiest cafe!
The Val d’Or kept carrying on and continued its success into the ’40s.
During the Second World War, the cafe placed an add in The Courier that read: “We are now in the fourth year of the Second World War.
“All businesses have suffered more or less, but at the Cafe Val d’Or the highest possible standard of cuisine and service is being maintained.”
It was a season of togetherness for the Cafe Val d’Or and its patrons, who often found themselves sharing tables with other couples or families in the days where social distancing wasn’t a thing.
Following the death of Mr Campbell in 1953, Cafe Val d’Or was bought over by RS McColl, the confectionery and catering company.
Anxious to preserve the tradition and character of the restaurant, the company assured its patrons that little would change.
Its popularity certainly didn’t.
Cafe Val d’Or was still the place to meet come the 1950s.
Friends would often gather there for a quick bite before heading to the Empress ballroom on Dock Street.
It was a place for wearing your Sunday best and minding your manners!
The Cafe Val d’Or waitresses were the epitome of class and style in the 1960s, with their distinctive black and white uniforms.
Its cake trolley with the three-tiered gateaux and fresh cream cakes was a rare Saturday treat.
Ice-cream served in small metal bowls added another layer of class to the popular Dundee establishment.
Eventually the cafe had outgrown itself and was extended with another dining area.
Now seating 220 patrons, the cafe was the place to be for dining before or after the evening’s entertainment.
Cafe Val d’Or closed down in the 1980s.
Shortly afterwards, it became the Cathay Palace Chinese restaurant and it’s now part of the Dundee City Council buildings.
While Cafe Val d’Or may no longer be on the menu, memories of its delicious food will live on for those who were lucky enough to dine there.
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