Day 871 (Monday) 28^th October 2019

It was bright and sunny this morning but by lunchtime it had clouded over a bit, which was a bit sad for the passengers on the cruise ship.

We went to the mansion to get it ready to close up for the winter, which is such a shame – I really don’t understand why people don’t come here in the winter. This is the neighbour’s roof garden

and this is the hall – the whole house is rather splendid

I found a very interesting website about eating in France – it’s rather long so I will post it over a few days. I hope you enjoy it…

Eating out in France: how much does it cost?

Compared to the UK, French restaurants generally offer excellent value. When eating out, most people opt for a "menu", rather than choosing à la carte (dish by dish), though this is normally possible too. In 2019, average rates for a "Menu du jour" (menu of the day) in traditional restaurants tend to be normally in the range of 14 € to 20 €. That's for a three-course meal. Bread is always included as well. A menu du jour normally offers a limited choice.
In chain restaurants such as Flunch, Courtepaille or Buffalo Grill, the cheapest menus may start at under ten Euros for a meal including typically a side plate of salad, a main course such as steak and chips and a desert. A glass of wine or beer or a soft drink may be included too.
Average prices depend on local factors, including the competitive environment, and the neighbourhood. Many restaurants now offer an alternative and cheaper two-course option, "Entrée + plat" or "Plat + dessert" (starter and main course, or main course and dessert).
 In many restaurants, the menu du jour is only available for lunch: in the evening, it is necessary to choose a more expensive menu or choose à la carte. Most respectable restaurants offer a menu of some sort in the region of 20 €.
  In gourmet restaurants, menus can be quite a bit more expensive; but gourmet meals are often served at unbeatable prices in quite ordinary restaurants too, and there are plenty of "gastronomic" restaurants even in a city like Lyon, that offer a basic gourmet menu at lunchtime and maybe also for dinner too for between 20€ and 25 €.
"Menus” include bread, and restaurants are obliged by law to provide a tap water free of charge (une carafe d'eau du robinet) if requested. They may also include a small carafe of wine. Coffee is normally extra. Check the wine list carefully; restaurants make big mark-ups on the wine, but there are usually house wines available, if you go to the end of the wine list.

A sample menu to give you an idea...

Here is a sample three-course lunchtime menu as offered in a gourmet restaurant in a small French town in July 2018.  Each restaurant will, of course, be different.
Price: 22 €.
Entrées / Starters
Terrine du Chef, petite compotée d'oignons  (Home-made terrine with onion chutney)

or Bavarois d'asperges vertes sauce vinaigrette coriandre cumin façon mayonnaise, chips de jambon du pays (Asparagus mousse with a cumin and coriander mayonnaise and shards of local ham)

Plats principaux / Main courses
Suprême de Pintade Label Rouge du pays en Croûte Rouge, Gratin Dauphinois (Free range local guinea-fowl in pastry, with a potato gratin.)

 or  Jarret de Boeuf à façon du pays, haricots verts pommes vapeur (Shank of beef local style, French beans and steamed potatoes.)

 Desserts
Glace Melba vanille artisanale fruits de saison au romarin (Locally made vanilla ice cream melba with seasonal fruit, flavoured with rosemary)

or Crème Brulée à la confiture (caramel cream with jam)

What do people eat in France? When do people eat? What are the best French specialties? These are questions that hundreds of thousands of people ask each year. France is famed as a world leader when it comes to fine eating - known to the French as "gastronomy" and known the world over by the French expression "haute cuisine". The English translation of "haute cuisine", which might be "good cooking", somehow lacks the sophistication and je-ne-sais-quoi of the French expression.
This no doubt explains why the field of good cooking and eating is one of the few in which it is French terminology that conquered the world, not English words or Americanisms. But as you will see below, the English language has become firmly established in the terminology of everyday eating out, and visitors to France can go to "un snack" or "un fast food", to eat "un hot dog", pronounced [ern ot derg] or "des chips" [day sheeps] (which, in French, mean potato crisps, not French Fries)... 

Wining and dining - eating out in France 

Meals and meal times in France 

As in most countries, there are three meals in a normal working day in France. These are:
* Breakfast - le petit déjeuner [ler peutee day-zheu-nay]. In most cases (at home or in hotels), this will consist of bread, butter and jam, or croissants, perhaps some cereals and/or a glass of orange juice, and a cup of tea or a cup or bowl of coffee or hot chocolate.  Older generations often drink their breakfast coffee or chocolate from a bowl, younger generations (and hotels) tend to use cups or mugs.  At breakfast, coffee tends to be drunk as a long drink, often with milk, as café au lait, not as the small black espresso coffee that is preferred at other times of the day.

·      Lunch - le déjeuner. Many places open for lunch as from 11.30 a.m. and continue serving new customers until about 1 p.m. Travellers looking for lunch later than 1.15 p.m. may have to try several restaurants before finding one that will serve them, or else make do with a self-service restaurant, where times are generally more flexible.
A typical French lunch will consist of: a starter (une entrée), such as a mixed salad, soup, some terrine or paté.

A main course, (le plat principal), typically a choice of meat or fish, with potatoes, rice, pasta and/or vegetables; a cheese course (often a selection of local cheeses) and/or a dessert.

 Desserts are sometimes not detailed on the menu, so you have to listen to the waiter. Common choices include: fruit tart (such as apple tart, tarte aux pommes), crème caramel, ice cream (glaces). Coffee at the end of the meal is an optional extra.

  Many restaurants offer a special fixed lunchtime menu, with limited choice, called le menu du jour; some propose just a special day's main course, called "plat du jour" [plar dyu zhoor] in addition to the staple items offered on the menu. These are often worth choosing, as they frequently represent very good value.
 Almost all restaurants offer a choice between a free choice of things to eat (eating à la carte), and a choice of different menus; depending on the restaurant, the menus may include some very sophisticated dishes.

 * Dinner le diner. In a French home, dinner - which may or may not be the main meal of the day - is generally eaten between 7.30 p.m and 8.45 p.m. (The main French TV channels schedule their main evening programmes to start at 8.45, after dinner is finished). In town and city restaurants, dinner service often does not start until 8 p.m.; however some restaurants such as self-service restaurants, and restaurants in small towns or the country, start serving earlier.