A RESTAURANT is offering credit crunching lunches by going back to 1998 pricing.
Maison Bleue, in Edinburgh, is marking its 15th anniversary by offering customers lunch time meals for only a fiver – pricing that was last seen when the restaurant first opened its doors in August 1998.
Dean Gassabi, who owns the restaurant in Edinburgh’s Old Town has launched the offer which will see customers pay just £5 for their lunch.
Mr Gassabi said: “It’s certainly been a rollercoaster 15 years and few of the restaurants which opened around the same time as Maison Bleue are still around today. So we are delighted to be reaching this anniversary.
“We’ve gone from strength to strength in that time and we wanted to say a big thank-you to all those loyal customers who have helped Maison Bleue to become something of an Edinburgh institution.
“We racked our brains to think of a way to celebrate and make sure our customers got something out of.
“So our lunch for £5 deal is perfect. It lets us look back fondly at where we’ve come from while also looking forward – very much a case of back to the future.”
Since opening the restaurant which blends French, Scottish and North African cuisine has proved a huge success – with venison and Haggis Balls among their most popular dishes.
To mark the launch of the £5 offer, which will run until August 1, the pair joined some of the restaurant’s staff to pose with a vintage DeLorean car, which transported Marty McFly through time in the Back to the Future movies.
As credit crunch continues to bite, diners at Maison Bleue may well be wishing they could turn the clock back on other prices too.
In 1998 a pint of beer cost an average of just £1.20 (now £3.80), a cinema ticket would set you back £3.30 ((£8.80), while a gallon of petrol cost just £2.77 (£6.31).
When Maison Bleue first opened its doors Tony Blair was in his first year as Prime Minister, and it was also the year when Scotland last appeared in the World Cup, playing in the tournament opener against Brazil.
In 1998 work was also just starting on the highly controversial Millennium dome while Google was founded in California’s Silicon Valley.
