Dr Suzanne Kobeisse
A French menu is not as mysterious as it can seem when you first encounter one. Most of the anxiety comes from a handful of unfamiliar words and structures that, once explained, repeat themselves across almost every restaurant in the country. Once you understand the underlying logic, you will find that menus are actually more transparent in French than they often are in English.
Let me take you through it section by section.
The structure: entrée, plat, dessert
This is the first thing to know. A standard French menu is structured in three courses:
- Entrée (starter): this is the first course. The word does not mean "main course" as it does in American English. In France, the entrée is the entry into the meal, which is to say, the beginning of it. This trips up a remarkable number of English-speakers.
- Plat or plat principal (main course): the central dish. Sometimes called plat du jour when it is the chef's daily special, which is almost always excellent value and very often the best thing on offer.
- Dessert: identical in meaning to English. Sometimes expanded to fromage ou dessert (cheese or dessert), because in France a cheese course is a serious and entirely respectable alternative to something sweet.
Many restaurants offer a formule or menu: a set-price deal for two or three courses. Menu deux plats means two courses; menu trois plats means three. This is almost always better value than ordering a la carte (individually), and it is how most French people eat at lunch.
Common dish structures
Once you understand the course structure, the next step is the dish names themselves. French menus use a fairly consistent set of structures. Here are the most common:
Suprême de followed by a bird: suprême de volaille is a supreme of chicken, which means a boneless breast, usually skin-on and often pan-roasted. Suprême de pintade is guinea fowl breast. The word suprême signals a refined preparation.
Filet de followed by a fish or meat: filet de bar is sea bass fillet; filet de boeuf is beef fillet. Straightforward once you know your fish and meat vocabulary.
Noisettes de followed by a meat: small round medallions, often of lamb (noisettes d'agneau). The word literally means "hazelnuts", describing the shape.
Confit de: a slow-cooked preparation, classically duck (confit de canard), where the meat is cooked and preserved in its own fat. Rich, tender, and very good.
Gratiné or au gratin: topped with cheese or breadcrumbs and browned under the grill. Gratin dauphinois is the classic potato version, essential at least once.
Sauce is almost always followed by the key ingredient or technique: sauce au vin rouge (red wine sauce), sauce hollandaise (butter and egg emulsion, the one on eggs Benedict), sauce vierge (fresh tomato and herb, typically with fish).
Useful vocabulary for navigating the menu
A few more words that appear regularly:
- Garni or accompagné de: served with, followed by the side dishes
- Maison: house-made or the restaurant's own version. Terrine maison is the restaurant's own terrine.
- Du jour: of the day. Soupe du jour is today's soup.
- Cru / cuit: raw / cooked. Important to know for dishes like poisson cru (raw fish).
- Bien cuit: well done (for meat). A point: medium. Saignant: rare. Bleu: very rare, almost raw in the centre.
How to order politely
Remember: bonjour first, before anything else. Then, when the waiter comes to take your order:
Je vais prendre... (I will have...): this is the natural, polite way to order. Not je veux (I want), which sounds slightly abrupt in a restaurant context.
Pour moi, ce sera... (For me, it will be...): slightly more elegant, often heard in bistros and brasseries.
If you are not sure about something, Qu'est-ce que c'est, exactement? (What is that, exactly?) is a perfectly reasonable question. Most waiters in good restaurants are pleased to explain a dish rather than have you guess.
And when the food arrives: merci beaucoup, not bon appetit to the waiter, which is actually the French phrase you say to your fellow diners. The waiter might say it to you; you respond with a smile and merci.
Menus in France reward curiosity. The vocabulary is learnable, the logic is consistent, and the food at the other end of the process is very often worth every moment of preparation.