Fail’s famous fish menus continue

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34151, 12 May 1976, Page 14

Fail’s famous fish menus continue

Fail’s Cafe, at 82 Cashel Street, continues to hold its premier place as a restaurant for seafood. Its port-hole windows on the street frontage still suggest the delights of fish dishes just as much as at any time in the past. The past for Fail’s Cafe means about half a century and this restaurant, in spite of (or, perhaps, because of) its unpretentious title is the traditional seafood restaurant for many inhabitants of Christchurch and visitors as well. The Twiss family took over Fail’s almost 13 years ago and have ran it with such success that they have seen the turnover double in their time. And business is still increasing. In an ordinary week Fail’s serves about 1200 meals; in special weeks, such as when the farmers come to town for the Cup, the place is as busy as a deepsea fisherman playing a marlin. The father of the family, Brian Twiss, is dropping out of the running of the business now in favour of his son, Geoffrey. It is perhaps no accident that the elder Twiss now spends his time fishing. Although not for the restaurant. Some other members of the family who have also been stalwarts over the years are now loosening their day-to-day interest, so that Geoffrey will soon be the sole representative and leader. He is 28. With 120 seats in the restaurant, Fail’s is a busy place for staff on a peak day. Four waitresses are normally employed in the morning session and three in the evening. On Fridays the number will rise to seven. At the same time there wil be six, including the chef (Geoffrey), occupied in‘the kitchen. The Fail’s restaurant of today is im-

proving its menu with a quite enormous range of fish dishes. It is looking for the customer who wants to get away from just the ordinary fillet of flounder—although this is still a big line and is expected to remain so. Continuing to be watched over, then, by the “Old Man and the Sea” mural diners are offered superlative seafood at Fail’s from 11.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m., and 4.30 p.m. to 8 p.m., Monday to Thursday, and Fridays to 9 p.m. Appetisers cost 30c and soups average 50c. A huge list of entrees has mussels (not always available) fried, curried, and mornay at an average price of about SI, groper 80c, fillet of flounder 90c. A crayfish cocktail is $1.15, curried crayfish $1.25, and crayfish mornay $1.35. Whitebait fried and grilled is about 90c, and oyster and scallop dishes run from $1.15 to $1.35. Included in entrees are shrimps and kippers. The main dishes have even a longer list of seafoods and include baked crayfish with mushrooms and cheese for $4.50 and a whole crayfish salad from $5. The dishes run from about $2.30 to $3.40, in general. Extras such as mushrooms, chips, eggs, onions, tomatoes, bacon, and so on cost about 30c to 40c. A whitebait patty is $1.20. Fail’s also have grills and chicken, but the main excitement is in the range of seafood. The grilled meats represent about onequarter of the business, and takeaways continue to be in good demand. Drinks are. of course, no stronger than coffee and chocolate.