Proper Way Of Understanding A French Menu
Picture this. You along with your date or with some friends ended up eating in a French restaurant. When you were given the menu, you perspired profusely and you did not know what to get because you do not know what those terms stated in the menu meant? In the end, your date or friends where the ones who chose your order for you and you felt ashamed. This scenario can possibly happen to anyone who wants to eat in a French restaurant but does not know his way around a French menu.
Do not worry though. Through this article, you will find out about the common terms used in a French menu. Let us start first with the types of menus. There are 4 general types of menus, namely the Le menu and la formule, la carte, la carte de vins and une degustation.
The Le menu and la formule is the menu with fixed pricing. It has two more courses that have foods that are limited for each course. This is where people who want to save money resort to because it is cheaper. The la carte is the menu handed by the waiter. The foods in this type of menu come from the a la carte. The la carte de vins is the menu where there is a selection of different wines or simply the “wine menu.” Lastly, the une degustation menu, derived from the French word “deguster” which means “to taste”, is the tasting menu that includes small portions of numerous dishes.
Now that you know the kinds of menus, you should now learn the different courses. French meals usually have multiple courses, starting from the aperitif or the appetizer wine, amuse-bousche, which is a small snack, entrée or starter, plat principal or the main course, fromage, which is cheese, dessert, café or the coffee and digestif, which is the after-dinner drink.
Other terms in a menu are le plat du jour, gratuity, offert, ardoise, petit and other French terms which you would see and hear. Once you learn the basics of the French menu, you would be ready to eat at a French restaurant anytime and enjoy the food French people has to offer.
