Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Surviving Lunch
Warning! To indulge in a three- or four-course meal with wine at
lunch-time spells functional disaster for the remainder of the day.
Don't ask me how the French do it. Following a tiny breakfast of
un express
and
croissant
, they eat luxuriously at lunch and/or dinner,
yet still appear clear-headed. And they always keep trim. I need a nap
after a typical French midday meal. And I won't even start comparing
i gures. But it's worth it.
REFINED DINING AND THE FOOD MYSTIQUE
A lovely, almost holiday mood persists in good French
restaurants at lunch-time, with great conversation and
special dishes. A professional restaurateur treats you as a
discriminating guest and encourages you to linger, to feel 'at
home'. This is your table for today.
Service is purposely slow, allowing you to settle in, talk
to your friends, choose your dishes and enjoy each part of
your meal. Hurrying creates indigestion, as your mother
certainly told you. Take a table outside and enjoy one of the
great pleasures of being alive and in France.
How to Order a Fine Meal
Your best value is usually
le menu
or the
prix i xe
. This set
meal at a set price usually offers two or three choices for
every course (but no substitutions). It is either handwritten
on a sheet of paper inside the regular menu, or posted on a
chalkboard. Look around for it.
French handwriting is a bit l owery and will take some
getting used to. Even more ornate may be the restaurateur's
poetic imagination, exercised with abandon when
naming special dishes. Don't be embarrassed to ask for a
dish to be explained to you. Your waiter expects it. It is
part of his job to interpret the menu, to recommend certain
dishes, and in general to exhibit his command of the cuisine
he serves.
We're talking religion here. Nothing is more important to
a Frenchman than what he eats. You are in a temple and
your waiter is the cleric. A discussion of the menu sets the
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