WATSON BROTHERS’ NEW RESTAURANT.

Evening Star, Issue 3765, 18 March 1875, Page 2

WATSON BROTHERS’ NEW RESTAURANT.

_ Having demonstrated to their own satisfaction that a substantial or, to use the synonymous slang term which is equally well if not better understood, “good square meal” can with imperfect and rather antiquated appliances be produced for what is accepted as a million price, Messrs Watson Bros., the wellknown restauraateurs of Princes street, determined to conduct their operations on a larger scale, and in order to do this have erected and fitted in a most complete manner the threestoreyed building in High street which was opened to-day, and henceforth be' known as Watson’s Commercial Dining-rooms. As a description of the exterior of the building was published when it was in course of erection our remarks will now be confined to the interior. There are four flats, and-on the basement, which runs the entire length of the building and is 116 ft long and is 35ft wide, are an immensestoreroom, scullery, boiler, whichfurnishes the steam with which the whole of the culinary processes are completed, and hot water for baths, &c. on the fourth floor, a laundry, and servants’ apartments. The entrance to the main Building is by a tesselated pavemented passage Bft wide, opening to 12ft at the foot of the staircase leading to the other flats. On either side of this passage are lavatories, offices, and waiting-rooms, and at the foot of it a well-proportioned, welllighted, airy, and comfortable room 40ft by 35ft, intended to be converted into a cafd and lounge, which, fitted up as it will be in the best style and combining the advantages of a read-ing-room, is sure to become a favorite resort Between the foot of the staircase and offices la • a space of about 10ft square, which is to be occupied by a fountain. A very handsome staircase lighted from a well in the roof loads to the second floor, at the head of which is the dining hall, the handsomest room of its in t 9^. C ° lo , nieß - .» “ 55ft long, 35ft wide, and 20ft lugh, and is lighted by three plate glass circmar-headed windows, each 14ft by 16ft and the heads of these windows acting os slides supply additional ventilation. At night, when lighted by two of Burt’s twelve-burner enamelled sunlights, the room is seen to much advantage. The wainscoting of this room, and of the passages and caf<s, is a frame panelling of red and white pine, and has a fine appearance. The dinjngreom, used as a restaurant, is capable of accommodating 120 persons at a time, and for banquets, for which it has been specially designed and is admirably suited, will seat 200. With the dining-room are connected a servants’ pantry and serving-room 15ft by lift, and the kitchen, of which more anon. On landing on the second floor and turning to the right one enters suite of apartments specially provided for ladies. Theseqomprise a dining-room 24ft to 16ft, a private sitting-room 16ft square, a cloak-room, and other conveniences. The great height of the dining-room allows of a third or intermediate floor, on which are nine bed-rooms, each 15ft by Bft. We now come to the third or top flat, and on gaining it are struck with the splendid corridor, nearly 9ft wide, and running the entire length of the building, Xl6ft. On this floor are two compact sitting-rooms, twenty-three well appomted bed-rooms 15ft by Bft, two bath-rooms, fitted with hot, cold, and shower baths, and other conveniences. Steam having been got up while the tour of the building was being made we repaired to the kitchen, where we found things m such a state of preparedness that with very little trouble a meal could have been ’ ? ot * 011 hand, let into benches, w a series of jacketted steam E' quarts, to fifteen : plums each. Fitting into the larger coppers t !? ned a “three-decker steamer” ntteu with perforated divisions, and as its implies capable of keeping warm large quanti-

ties of cooked food. Then there are an immense grill, so weighty that it has to be worked by a lever, a large copper for boilingdown purposes, and a novel contrivance for baking by gas. With the exception of the baking apparatus the whole of the cooking is done by steam, which is conveyed by pipes from the boiler in the basement. In fourteen minutes the forty-gallon tank can be brought to boiling point; an operation that by ordinary -process would occupy six hours. As each of the numerous pipes in the room is fitted with a safety valve, a novice, incautiously or improperly handling any of the taps or wheels, is warned of his danger. The gas cooking apparatus deserves almost a chapter to itself. The experienced chef who presides over this department declares that for baking purposes gas cannot be excelled. The intense heat that will be proiected into the lower chamber of this large lorizontal oven will serve to roast joints in it, and to bake pastry in the upper one. As gas cooking is now no novelty we need hardlyassure our readers that no unpleasant taste or smell is communicated to food subjected to this process. Nothing capable of utilisation is allowed to waste; therefore the condensed steam is carried by pipes to the basement, into a 400gallon tank in the scullery, and is used for washing-up purposes, &c. Everything connected with the kitchen is in apple-pie condition, and not the least satisfactory part of it is the excellent ventilation afforded by a large ventilating shaft. A further use to which the steam-boilers wity be put is to serve in the laundry, which will form a noteworthy feature of the establishment. As iu the large American hostelries, all a lodger will have to do will be to ticket the clothes he wants washed, and in a couple of hours they will be returned to him in a state of almost pristine cleanness. There is also a hydraulic lift, which will do all the haulage between the basement, second, and third floors. Last, but not least, is the work of Mr Leves, the decorator, which is displayed in various parts of the building. . The faschia ” over the entrance to the building is something new to Dunedin, and its brillnant scroll-work will last twenty years. On the doors of the principal passage, on the cafe doors, and some of the other glass-work on the lower floor, are some fine specimens of embossed, gilded, and decorated work. _ In the central doors are seven pieces, comprising two centre panels, with embossed ground, gilded and colored in relief, and sideslips of ornamented glass. Mr Leves’s best effort is displayed on the doors of the large dining-room, where he has embossed on the glass, with surprising fidelity, a bunch of game, comprising the pheasant, hare, See. Messrs Mason and Wales were the architects of the which has occupied hardly twelve months in erection, and Mr James Gore its builder, while the gas and other fittings were supplied by Messrs A. and T. Burt. The description we have now given will enable our readers to believe that the Messrs Watson have (for the expenditure of the L 8,090 they have gone to) not only added to the substantial edifices of the City, but provided Dunedin with ,the best fitted and handsomest restaurant in the Colony. Such enterprise as this deserves enconragem ent.