Old Orleans is a unique dining experience, offering an authentic taste of the Deep South. The fantastic culinary heritage of Louisiana and the South is reflected in our food and drink menus and our décor is inspired by classic Crescent City style. Our menu features classic Louisiana and Cajun recipes such as Jambalaya and Gumbo­ as well as more well known Southern dishes. Our chefs create occasional surprises and opportunities for customers to try out new additions to the menu.

With our inspiration firmly in New Orleans, we thought we'd tell you a little about it. It is an American city — just a very different place with a very peculiar history. New Orleans is a place where Africans, both slave and free, and American Indians shared their cultures and intermingled with European settlers. Encouraged by the French government, this strategy for producing a durable culture in a difficult place marked New Orleans as different and special from its inception and continues to distinguish New Orleans today. From neworleansonline.com

Birthplace of Jazz
Originating in the late 1890 in New Orleans, Jazz incorporated elements of marching band music, Blues and Ragtime. Often referred to as Dixieland Jazz, it soon spread to Chicago and New York, with Louis Armstrong one of its most famous musicians. A key part of New Orleans culture is the jazz funeral, with slow, sad melodies played on the way to the funeral, and faster, 'hot jazz' played on the way back.

Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras translates as 'Fat Tuesday' and falls on the day we have Shrove Tuesday. It is the culmination of the celebration season starting on the 6th January. According to economic reports Mardi Gras generates over £1 billion dollars of spending. The 2001 carnival season included 53 parades, featuring 1061 floats, 588 marching bands, 3750 total parade units and more than 135,000 participants. From www.mardigrasguide.com

Creole and Cajun Cooking
Creole cooking has its routes in French and Spanish food, mixed with local New Orleans ingredients. Cajun cooking is more basic country food cooked in one pot - strong and spicy. Below is an extract from an article written by written by Malcolm Hébert. You can read the full article here on gumbopages.com

The best way to know the cooking of New Orleans is to be raised there. My mother and father, who were born nearby, were proud of their heritage. Every year my parents drove "south" to visit my relatives, to feast on crabs, crawfish, gumbos, bisques, grits, preserved figs, salt pork, black-eyed peas, smothered chicken, oysters, shrimp, redfish, speckled trout, pain perdu, etc. From three years old until today, my greatest food memories were of the cooking of Louisiana.

I consider myself fortunate to have Creole parents raised in Cajun country so that I have been privileged to sample both cuisines. Obviously, both the Creole and Cajuns take food as seriously as they take anything on earth, more so than the Chinese. The latter greet people with "Have you eaten well today?" Creoles and Cajuns not only want to know what you have eaten, but what are you planning to eat for the remainder of the day as well as for tomorrow? Then they will tell you what they have eaten, will eat today and what's on the menu for tomorrow.

Creoles and Cajuns live to eat. Their very existence is food, more food and still more food. They are not greedy and certainly not selfish. They will gladly share a meal with you, offering the choicest morsels for your pleasure. They have adopted the Spanish "my house is your house" philosophy and are happy to make sure your stomach is full.