Au café et au restaurant
Le français I
Chapitre 5
La différence entre un café et
un restaurant
• Pretty similar
• Un café - usually more informal. Can get just a coffee
or a meal. Usually has a more limited menu than a
restaurant.
• Usually a restaurant is more expensive.
• Check prices - in a café, where you eat determines the
price. If you eat outside, it is more expensive than
inside. If you buy a sandwich at the counter to go, you
don’t pay the “sitting fee.” Restaurants generally
charge the same inside or outside. (I learned the hard
way - At a café, I once paid €6 ($9) for 1 diet coke
because I sat outside on a popular plaza!!!)
Customs
• When ready to order, place your menu face down on
the table. It gives the waiter the signal that you are
ready to order.
• Call the waiter Monsieur, Madame, or Mademoiselle,
not Garçon.
• To get the bill at the end of the meal, ask “l’addition,
s’il vous plaît.” If the waiter is across the room, make
eye contact & make a hand motion like writing on
paper. Don’t get up & search for the waiter. You’ll wait
longer for your bill because it irritates them.
• Don’t be surprised to see a dog at an outside café.
They are completely welcome & very well-behaved.
Etiquette
• Arrive on time for a dinner date. (10 min late is rude.)
• Bread is torn by hand, not cut w/a knife. It is also
placed on the tablecloth, not a bread plate.
• Avoid adding salt, pepper, or ketchup to a dish. It
gives the impression that you don’t think the dish is
“good enough.”
• Don’t discuss business during dinner. Wait until
dessert for “shop talk.”
• Eat what you are served. Don’t ask for seconds and
try not to leave much on the plate.
• Rest your wrists on the edge of the table so that both
hands on the table, but not the elbows.
• In a restaurant, do not talk on your cell phone.
Food expressions
• J’ai une faim de loup! I’m as hungry as
a wolf.
• Elle mange comme un oiseau. She
eats like a bird (not much).
• Bon appétit! Enjoy your meal.
• Un déjeuner sur le pouce. - Lunch on
the run.
Les Deux Magots
http://www.lesdeuxmagots.fr/
• Started in 1813 as a
drapery store - the
name came from a play
called “the Two Magots
of China”
• Became a restaurant in
1914
• Famous writers & artists
came to “see and be
seen”
• Ernest Hemingway was
a regular
• Look at the menu on
the site
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Café de Flore
http://www.cafe-de-flore.com/indexa.htm
• Established 1887
• Famous writers & artists
also came here
regularly, sometimes
staying the entire day to
work, eat and socialize
• Click <<La Carte>> to
see the menu. Can
also look at pictures on
Historique & Albumdu
Flore
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Le Procope
http://www.procope.com/
• Oldest café in Paris founded in 1686
• Great French writers like
Victor Hugo, Voltaire, La
Fontaine, Balzac & Verlaine
all were regulars.
• Benjamin Franklin,
Robespierre, and Napoleon
Bonaparte also ate here.
• Reservations required
• Look at the photos on the
site
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Les serveurs
• Service for tourists really depends on your treatment
of the staff. If you use proper French, and are polite,
you’ll get better service. (RUDE - to start speaking
English & expect them to understand. How would you
feel???)
• Don’t expect smiles. Smiles are not considered
necessary to be polite. They are generally reserved
for friends and family and they are genuine smiles. If
the waiter doesn’t smile at you, don’t take it personally.
• The pace is leisurely, so don’t expect anything quickly.
• Good service is letting you enjoy your meal and
conversation, not checking on you constantly and
bringing you the bill quickly. You should feel welcome
to stay as long as you’d like.
Le pourboire - the tip
• The tip is already included in the bill. It will
say <<service compris>> on the bill, that is
the “tip/service included.” Usually it is 15% of
the total.
• Customers generally round up to the whole
euro when paying as a little bit of an extra tip.
Ex: My bill is €5,20. I’d leave € 6.
Une carte
• Menus are posted
outside of the
restaurant or café.
• Prices are listed so
that customers can
decide if they want
to eat there or not.
• The waiters also
give menus when
you sit down.
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Le petit-déjeuner
• Smaller than American
breakfast
• Typically coffee, juice, a
bread w/jam or butter.
• Fruit and/or yogurt are
common.
• Cereal is provided in hotels
that cater to Americans, but it
is eaten w/warm milk. (Milk is
usually not refrigerated in
France because it is
unpasturized.)
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Un croissant
•
•
•
•
Flaky crust
Airy inside
Buttery taste
Many find them
delicious
• Bakeries in France
prepare them fresh
daily
• They can be made
w/chocolate, almonds,
or fruit cooked inside.
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Des tartines de pain beurré
• Toast is usually
served at breakfast.
• Common toppings
for the toast are
jams and Nutella.
(Nutella is a
chocolate-hazelnut
spread. Yummy!)
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Confiture de fraise et Nutella
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Des omelettes
• Une omlette nature
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• Une omlette aux
fines herbes
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Crêpes
• Very thin pancakes
• Can be eaten at any time of
day, but often considered
breakfast food.
• Different ways to fold them
• Can be filled w/fruit, cheese,
meat, anything
• Une crêperie is a restaurant
that specializes in crêpes.
Sometimes they are even
little stands like our hot dog
stands in cities.
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Un jus d’orange
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Un jus de pomme
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Un café
• Un express - dark,
rich, strong coffee
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• Un crème - coffee
w/cream (sugar
optional)
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Le déjeuner
• Un club sandwich au
poulet et une salade
• Served between 12-2pm
• Lunch is typically a
sandwich, soup or
quiche with a salad and
drink. Bread & water are
always served.
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Un croque-monsieur
• “Mr. Crunchy”
• A toasted ham & cheese
sandwich
• Has Gruyère cheese melted
on top and between slices of
bread.
• Sauce underneath the ham
has butter, parmesan, flour,
salt & pepper.
• My favorite lunch at a café!
It is on every café menu.
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Un croque-madame
• Same as a croquemonsieur, but with
an egg on top.
• Also on every menu
at a café.
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Un sandwich au jambon
• Usually the bread is a
baguette - hard, crunchy
crust, soft inside
• Ham, cheese (often
melted), lettuce, tomato,
mayo
• Can be purchased “to
go” at many delis.
People walk down the
street eating it rolled up
in the paper.
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Un sandwich au fromage et
tomate
• Baguette, melted
mozarella cheese &
tomato
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Une salade verte
• 3-4 types of lettuce
• May have tomato
and/or olives
• Usually has a
dressing w/an olive
oil & vinegar base
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Une soupe à l’oignon
•
•
•
•
Beef or chicken stock
Red onions
Garlic
Bay leaf, thyme, salt
& peper
• Gruyère cheese
• Parmesan cheese
• Always served
w/bread
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Quiche Lorraine
• Crust - Butter, egg,
flour, salt
• Filling - ham, eggs,
cream, cheese, salt
& pepper
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Une saucisse de Francfort
Un hot-dog
• Not eaten often like
in the US
• Usually served in a
toasted buttered bun
• Can buy one at a
sporting event like
we do.
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Des frites
• Taste the same as
ours
• Eaten w/salt &
ketchup
• Sometimes served
in a paper cone
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Poutine
• Only in Canada
• A specialty in Quebec
& has spread across
Canada
• French fries w/brown
gravy & cheese curds
on top.
• Some love it, some
hate it.
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Le dîner
• Served 7:30pm-10pm
• Usually 3 courses: hors
d’oeuvre/entrée, plat
principal, fromage ou
déssert
• The main course is
usually meat w/pasta or
rice and vegetables.
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Des escargots
• Snails
• Typically served w/a
butter/garlic sauce
(that’s what is
stuffed into the shell
on top of the snail)
• Chewy texture
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Poulet Provençal
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/CHICKENBREASTS-PROVEN-AL-242287
• Chicken with
tomatoes, garlic,
black olives, basil
• Potatoes
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Du poisson avec Ratatouille
• Fish w/ratatouille
• Ratatouille - eggplant,
zucchini, bell pepper,
onion, olive oil, garlic,
basil, thyme
• http://www.epicurious.c
om/recipes/food/views/
MONKFISH-WITHRATATOUILLE-241466
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Boeuf Bourguignon
•
•
•
•
Beef
Carrots
Potatoes
Onions
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Le dessert
• Typically, fruit is a
common daily dessert at
home.
• French desserts are
beautiful creations.
• They are sweet, but not
as sugary sweet as our
desserts.
• Many desserts include
cream, a pastry dough,
and fruit.
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Une glace au chocolat
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Un gâteau
glacé au
chocolat
Une glace à la vanille
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Profiterole
• A puff pastry w/
vanilla pudding or
ice cream between
the layers of pastry
• Topped w/melted
chocolate
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Almond Tuiles
• Sugar cookies
w/almonds
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Une tarte aux fraises
• Strawberry tarte
• Tartes are common
cakes. They have a
thick, sweet crust.
• They often have fruit on
top, like strawberries,
raspberries, apples, or a
mix of blueberries,
strawberries & kiwi.
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Sites
• http://www.francemo
nthly.com/recipes.ph
p
• http://images.google
.fr/
• http://www.kwintess
ential.co.uk/articles/
article/France/Frenc
h-MealEtiquette/586
• http://www.secretsof
paris.com/diningetiquette/
• http://gofrance.about
.com/od/culture/a/ta
blemanners.htm