#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. What a dining room it was! Norilsk, which had become a city only a year before, was resolutely moving away from huts and trailers. Therefore, the interior of the new catering point on the central street was not worse than the Taimyr restaurant, which had opened in the neighborhood not long before. High ceilings, columns, stucco moldings, parquet floors, undulating curtains.
There were no waiters yet – only a rack with distribution for trays. Tablecloths and silverware were also not relying on status. But the visitors were already in jackets and shoes, bread on plates – under starch napkins, and in the hall – fashionable lightweight duralumin furniture.
By the early 1960s, the canteen No. 32 was flourishing. Through the efforts of its head Klavdia Popova, a culinary store was opened in it, where they sold semi-finished products and pastries, as well as a cafeteria, where the last word in cooking technology was installed – a donut machine. Pastry lovers rushed to the canteen from all over the city to buy hot, fragrant donuts.
On November 15, 1963, after reconstruction, instead of the canteen No. 32, the cafe Lama was opened – in honor of the unique Taimyr lake. Maybe because of the name, the menu included many northern fish dishes: Norilsk uha (fish soup), stuffed fish. And also fish cakes, fishballs, fried, boiled, baked fish. Just sagudai was not on the menu: raw fish did not meet the sanitary standards.
Lama was especially appreciated by the Norilsk youth. Especially when in the 1970s the cafe grew in status again and became a restaurant.
The Lama restaurant also had the first bar in the city: with two counters, high bar stools and upholstered furniture. Cocktails were served there, a live orchestra played and, in general, bright, alien chic reigned there.
In the last issue of the History Spot photo project, we told about November parades in Norilsk.
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Text: Svetlana Samohina, Photo: Nornickel Polar Division archive
