from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
bryangnewman@gmail.com
The word menu in French indicates a fixed-price meal of two or three courses.
The word menu in English indicates a list of all the dishes that are available with separate prices for each item.
The full French wording is: "Menu à Prix-Fixe" and is customarily abbreviated to the single word "Menu" or the word "Formule." A menu typically includes two or three courses; water (tap water) is free. Unless very clearly stated, a glass of wine, a beer, a soft drink, or coffee will be charged for. A full English-style menu with each item priced separately is called an à la carte menu.
Menus and French laws
Displaying menus and à la carte menus
outside restaurants.
Restaurants must, by law, display their menus with prices outside their entrance. That means their full “à la carte” menu as well as any fixed-price menus they offer. However, limited space outside the restaurant often means you really need to enter the restaurant to see everything. Prices must include all taxes and service charges.
Daily specials in bistros, brasseries, and similar restaurants are often written on a blackboard or whiteboard, in French called an ”ardoise,” a slate. The ardoise may be inside on a wall or outside the restaurant in the street. In large restaurants, daily specials may be on a card attached to the printed menu. Smaller restaurants may not offer any printed menus at all; their ardoise is their complete menu.
A bistro’s weekly menu showing the main courses.
Lundi- Monday:
Roast ham with orange sauce
Fixed price menus were created for the French, not tourists.
Fixed-price menus were conceived with the local citizenry in mind. They began as light lunchtime menus in business districts. A fixed-price menu of two or three courses allowed a good restaurant to offer a full meal at a competitive price and serve it in less than one hour. These “menus” are usually good options compared to the cost of the same dishes offered on a full à la carte menu. Today, fixed-price lunchtime menus are often available in restaurants with Michelin stars; sadly, that usually does not include any discounts on their wines! Fixed-price menus have become so popular that many restaurants now offer fixed-price menus in the evening; that is in addition to their full à la carte menu. (The word formule may be used interchangeably with the word menu).
Formule
Photograph courtesy of Café de Ternes
Requesting changes in a fixed-price menu
It is acceptable to ask for a change in a fixed-price menu. In larger restaurants that have two or three fixed-price menus for that day, most can accept a change of the entrée, the French starter, or the dessert. The main course may prove more difficult. Most will make the changes with a smile, and changes taken from a more expensive menu will come with a surcharge. NB: Small restaurants that offer a single fixed-price menu may be unable to change anything.
Your table awaits you.
Photograph
courtesy of torbakhopper
www.flickr.com/photos/gazeronly/14183798916/
All menus and formules (by law) include all taxes and
service charges.
There are many types of
fixed-price menus in France, and it is worthwhile noting some of the
differences. However, all French restaurant menus must include all
taxes and service charges. For more about tipping in French restaurants and
cafes, see the post: Tipping
in French Restaurants and Asking for French Sales Tax to be Returned.
Three key words to look out for on fixed price menus:
Choix
Choix -
Choice. Pronounced shwa.
Hormis
Hormis – Apart from, except or excluding. Pronounced or-mi.
Hormis is the word that indicates items that are not included in a particular menu. Hormis may also indicate the times when hotels or restaurants do not offer special rates, or the restaurant/hotel is closed.
Sauf
Sauf - Except.
Pronounced as it reads, sauf.
Three examples of fixed-price menus or Formules:
Menu 1
Menu Avec une Entrée, un Plat, un Dessert pour Euro € 20.00 - An "entrée," the French starter, a "plat," the main course, and a dessert for 20 Euros.
Menu 2
Menu à 30
Euros: 1 Entrée, 1 Plat au Choix dans La Carte, 1 Dessert. 1 Boisson au Choix - The entrée, the starter, and the dessert are
noted without any qualifications; that indicates that no choices are offered
for these courses. The plat, the main course may be chosen from their
full " à la carte menu,” their full
menu. 1 Boisson au Choix indicates you may choose your
beverage, a soft drink, or coffee; wine or beer would be extra.
Menu 3
La Formule à 31 € - 2 Plats au Choix dans la Carte. (Formule valable uniquement le midi, hormis les dimanches et jours fériés) - Two dishes are included in this formule/menu. You may choose a starter, and the main course or if you prefer, the main course and a dessert. All choices are from their full à la carte menu. The price is 31 Euros. In brackets, the restaurant advises that this formule is for lunchtime only, "hormis," apart from Sundays and Holidays when it is not available.
When planning a trip to France,
do take the French
National Holidays into account. Restaurants may have
special menus, and for sightseeing not all attractions are open every day of
the year, and many are closed on national holidays.
Once the words choix, hormis,
and sauf are part of your personal French-English dictionary, you
will have few problems ordering from fixed-price menus.
Menu de la journée Sarah Bernhardt, le 9 décembre 1896
Photograph
courtesy of Double-M.
www.flickr.com/photos/double-m2/5563640808/
Asking for the
fixed-price menus and or an à la carte menu:
To request a restaurant's fixed-price
menu/s say: La menu/s a prix-fixe s'il vous plaît. Pronounced: la
menu/s a pree fix sil voo play. ("S'il vous plait" means, please)
To request a full à la
carte menu, say: La carte, s’il vous plaît. Pronounced: la
kart sil voo play.
N.B. In a busy restaurant, at
lunchtime, do not be surprised if their â la carte menu is not
available.
Want to practice your pronunciation?
Use this excellent free program, I do.
https://forvo.com/languages/fr/
(Best for single words)
Different types of fixed-price menus:
Menu
"Buffet" le Dimanche – A Sunday buffet menu. The French version of a Sunday brunch; not the same, but
close. A French Sunday buffet is an enjoyable and a relatively
inexpensive way of dining with the whole family.
Menu d'Affaires – A fixed price business lunch.
Menu Dégustation - A tasting menu; this may be anywhere from four
to seven, or even more, small servings.
A menu dégustation is
intended to show off the abilities of the chef. Menus of this type will only be
offered in the evening. Traditionally, in France, a menu dégustation has
to be chosen by a minimum number of diners and in many restaurants by everyone
at the same table. The reason for having all the diners choose the
same meal is to allow for timed service, with all the diners being served each
course simultaneously.
French diners accept the rule
that timing is an integral part of a great meal. Diners do not wish to be
rushed or left for half an hour waiting for the next course. For the staff,
timing is just as important; having different guests, at the same table, eating
different courses can drive even a saintly Maitre D' to distraction.
Tasting menus often include
seven or more small courses. Some extraordinary Menus de Dégustation
offering paired wines that will be changed with every course; tasting menus are
rarely inexpensive. Tasting menus are usually only offered when chosen by
all the diners at a particular table. There are two reasons for this; the
first, and the one that is always stated, is to allow a French chef to
concentrate on his or her unique dishes and their correctly timed preparation;
there will be no dishes held back under a heat lamp or on a warming-pan while
other dishes are still being prepared. The second reason, equally valid but
undisclosed, is so the meal may be served in an orderly manner. The way a
meal is served is fundamental to French cuisine. Having one diner waiting
for his or her dessert while other diners are still only halfway through their
meal would drive even the most saintly of Maitre D's mad.
Menu de Midi – A fixed price lunch menu.
Menu du Terroir – A fixed price menu with an emphasis on local
products and recipes.
Menu du Jour - The fixed price menu of the day. This menu is
often a handwritten list on an ardoise, the blackboard on the wall, or on a separate
card inside the printed menu.
Menu en Anglais – An English language menu is
available.
Menu Gastronomique – A Menu Gastronomique will offer
unique and different recipes, dishes that are not seen, tasted, or served every
day. When the restaurant offers a bona fide menu gastronomique, you may
have a chance to try unique dishes. Unfortunately, on occasion, a menu
gastronomique may sometimes be just a name the chef has allocated to a
group of the restaurant's most expensive options on its à la carte menu.
combined into six or seven or more small courses. In that case, look
for other options.
Menu pour Enfants,
Menu Pinocchio or Menu des Bambins, etc. – A child's menu. Many children's menus have cute names, even though
their intended diners may not be able to read! These menus, with low
prices, may include chicken or turkey schnitzel, hamburgers, hot dog type
sausages, and French fries, chips. Today, many restaurants will
offer children tomato ketchup.
Menu Servi Tous Les
Jours Midi et Soir Sauf Samedi Soir et Jours Féries – A fixed-price set menu that will be
offered for lunch and dinner every day sauf, except Saturday
evenings and Holidays.
Menu Suivant La
Saison - A menu that
changes with the season. The title implies that the menu offers
seasonal specialties. I always ask what these
are. Certain wild mushrooms or berries may only be in season for two
or three weeks in a year, and I don’t want to miss out.
Menu Touristique – A tourist menu. For years, the French Ministry of Tourism has
encouraged restaurants to offer fixed-price menus especially for
tourists. Caveat Emptor: Before entering a restaurant that provides
a Menu Touristique, look inside. If the restaurant is busy, with diners
enjoying themselves, then enter. If the restaurant is serving greasy hamburgers
to a nearly empty hall, go elsewhere.
Menu Végétarien – A vegetarian menu.
The wine list is La carte des Vins.
Photograph
courtesy of Hotel Le Cygne, Perigord.
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Connected posts:
Bistros
- French Bistro Menus. The History of the French Bistro.
French
National Holidays, their Jours Fériés, and More. A Short Guide.
Ordering
Coffee in France. The A - Z of Ordering Coffee in France.
Tipping
in French Restaurants and Asking for French Sales Tax to be Returned.
Water
in French Restaurants. Free or to be Paid For? Water - Eau. Eau on French
Menus
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
bryangnewman@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2012, 2014, 2020, 2025
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Very useful and thorough post, thank you!
ReplyDeleteMay I suggest that an ardoise is better translated as a blackboard.
Bon appetit!