ONE

of the great treats when dining out in the Seventies was the Steak Diane, a piece of meat battered into submission and then flamed in cream and brandy at your table.

I’ve haven’t seen Steak Diane on a menu for years, assuming that it had simply fallen out of fashion during the nouvelle cuisine years.

Now I’m not so sure. The Flaming Sambuca used to be another staple of restaurants and cocktail bars.

For the uninitiated, this involves adding a couple of coffee beans to the Sambuca ( an anise-flavoured liqueur) and setting fire to the fumes. In recent years, when Sambuca is drunk, it is over ice.

Again, I thought this was down to fashion.

But reader Frank le Duc offers a more plausible explanation. A new bistro in Brighton, an offshoot of a popular London celebrity haunt, is refusing to sell Flaming Sambucas in case diners burn their lips.

I knew elf ’n’ safety would have something to do with it. Perhaps in future this policy could be reconsidered, provided all diners wear flame-retardant hi-viz jackets and gas masks.

You never know, Steak Diane might even make a comeback.