At around the same time that Canadian Pacific introduced its palace menus, it also began using menus featuring inns and pubs. While the palace menus had color illustrations on the covers and were used for dinners, the inn menus had black-and-white sketches and were used for lunches.

Click image to view and download a 1.9-MB PDF of this menu from the Chung collection.

This menu, featuring an inn called the Lion, was used on the same eastbound sailing as the two palace menus shown here yesterday. The Lion Hotel is still operating, though it appears to have been thoroughly remodeled and modernized since 1953. Continue reading →

Here are three menus used in Canadian Pacific hotels in the early 1940s. First up is a 1940 dinner menu from the Royal Alexandra in Winnipeg. The menu offers table d’hôte dinners for $1, $1.25, and $1.50 — multiply by 15 to get today’s US dollars. All of the table d’hôte dinners include hors d’oeuvres, soup, entrée, veggies, dessert, and beverage. The $1.50 meal also includes fish and salad courses. The main difference between the $1.25 and $1.00 meals is the entrées, which is strange because on the a la carte side the price difference between some of the entrées is as little as 5¢.

Click image to view and download a 8.4-MB PDF of this menu from the Chung collection.

The rather small photo on the front cover depicts Lower Fort Garry, which was built by Hudson’ Bay Company in 1831 after Upper Fort Garry was destroyed by a flood. Upper Fort Garry was located where downtown Winnipeg now stands, but Lower Fort Garry has been preserved as a national historic site. Continue reading →

These two beverage menus were used in the bars of Canadian Pacific’s steamships. The first is dated August 1934 and someone has helpfully written that it was from the Empress of Britain. The second is dated July, 1936 and was used on the Montcalm. Since they are both from the summer, they would have been used on trans-Atlantic voyages, not on cruises.

Click image to view and download a PDF of this menu from the University of British Columbia Chung collection.

The painting on this menu is signed “A.E. Bestall” (1892-1986), which refers to English painter and illustrator Alfred Bestall. Bestall was most famous for having drawn the Rupert Bear comic strip from 1935 to 1965. Continue reading →

These Pacific empress menus were used on the Empress of Japan in 1934 and 1935. First is one featuring an illustration of the port of Montreal. The tourist-class lunch menu lists 31 items, plus cheese, biscuits, and coffee.

Click image to view and download a 991-KB PDF of this menu from the Chung collection.

A hungry diner could make this a ten-course menu: hors d’oeuvres; soup; fish; noodles; entrée (spaghetti, curried vegetables, sausage, corned beef dumplings); Welsh rarebit; a main course (lobster salad, sausage, raised pie, ox tongue, capon, or head cheese) served with potatoes and vegetables; followed by a salad; sweet dessert; biscuits and cheese; and coffee. Yee-Foo Mein, the noodles with pork and vegetables, and curried vegetables are only Asian dishes on the menu, and since one of the entrées was spaghetti many people would skip the noodles. Continue reading →