French Menu Words And Words For Travel Trips

 French menus need not be a mystery. You already know many French words. You can pick up a newspaper in a cafe or restaurant and spot a matinee of a ballet. Here are some handy words.


French flag

B

ballet

bon - good, used in bonjour, good day, bonsoir, good evening, and bon-bon the sweet

boulevard - wide street

bouquet - bunch of flowers

brasserie - eatery

brassiere - bra, item of women's clothing also called soutien gorge which means lift neck which is a euphemism or polite word

C

cafe - both the coffee and the coffee shop

cafetiere - utensil for making coffee by pressing down a plunger

centre - centre

chateau - castle or grand house, mansion, often surrounded by vineyards, sometimes a hotel. The plural is chateaux.

chauffeur - driver, usually a paid employee in smart uniform of braided jacket and matching hat, dressed like a hotel porter at the door

chocolat - chocolate, as in pain au chocolat, breakfast bun with oozing soft chocolate centre, called chocolatine in other parts of France, in southwestern France (Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie) and in Quebec. 

coiffeur - hair style

corps - body, corps de ballet

croissant - crescent shaped breakfast pastry, flaky, highly calorific

E

et - and , as in son et lumiere

fumer - to smoke, as in pas de fumer, no smoking, no fumes. De means of. ne - pas is no.

L

lait - milk, cafe au lait is coffee with milk, au is at 

lumiere, as in son et lumiere, light

M

madame - madam

matinee - afternoon performance, matin is morning

menu - le menu is the menu

mortgage - literally dead hand

moulin - mill or windmill as in Moulin Rouge, red windmill, a London landmark

N

naive

ne - no, don't 

noir - black, as in film noir which is a gloomy or sad film

Nom de plume - pen name, literally name of pen

P

President

R

regrette - regret, as in the Edith Piaf song, je ne regrette rien, I don't regret nothing (anything) 

renaissance - rebirth, art era, newspaper name

republique - republic (newspaper name and street name)

Restaurant

Reunion - meeting

rouge - red, as in the cosmetic, also as in moulin rouge, red windmill, adjective second after the noun

S

servis - service, as in servis compris means service included

son et lumiere - sound and light

T

train - train (written the same way, pronounced tran, just the same without the letter i)

V

Ville - town, centre ville means centre of the town

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wine Companies Tantalizing Tastes And Vineyard Visits Revealed At The London Wine Fair

Image
The London Wine Fair dates for 2004 - May 20 22 2024. -Not only wine companies from the UK. Also the Ukraine, France, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Japan, the USA and all over the world.  Who is there? Sommeliers. Wine educators. Wines whose businesses seek distribution in the UK. Major distributors such as wine shops. Promoters of wines, spirits, sakes, soft drinks, low and no alchohol, magazines on wines and the drinks trade, trade associations. I met port wine makers and chocolate makers.  PRACTICAL DETAILS Dates for 2025 are May 19-21.  The location is Olympia, just next to Olympia station.  Other stations on the line include Willesden Junction. See Londonwinefair.com
Read more

Italian restaurant with home made pasta - Vasco & Piero's Pavilion Restaurant

Image
  Vasco & Piero's Pavilion Italian Restaurant has been our family's favourite in Central London for a long time. It's always a delightful surprise because the menu changes twice daily. The restaurant is clean, white bright and fresh with white linen table cloths. We went there again in November 2024. You can sit at small square tables for two, oblong tables for four, large round tables, or bar stools, or in a private room behind glass walls at the back. My companions chose a glass of red chianti to match the colour and intensity of their red meat dishes. I opted for Prosecco, sparkling white as a starter and to go with my white meat main course, chicken. Good enough. My husband, who is a wine educator, approved of the label credentials, the region and grape variety, and the taste. The restaurant has Umbrian items.  A member of our family from overseas wanted soup, which was not on the menu. They immediately offered to make one specially for her, a 'simple' mixed...
Read more

Civil Service Club Decor and Food

Image
Members & Guests of the Civil Service Club, London  If you have ever worked in the Civil Service you may be eligible to join the Civil Service Club, which is between Embankment station and Charing Cross station by Trafalgar Square.  You might go there if you have a friend who is a member, or who belongs to a club which meets there, such as the Central London Wine Society (several Wednesday evenings each year). Walking up to it, or past it, you will notice that it has a front open air courtyard where members and guests can take their food and drink from the downstairs bar and indoor eating area. It is a bit like a pub, with interesting pictures of London. Bar Ground Floor Food from the bar area can be ordered if you are in a meeting upstairs and they will bring it up to your meeting room. Reception Decor The reception hall desk where you sign in has flowers and a picture of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the late queen. Upstairs Restaurant Upstairs restaurant, decorated fo...
Read more