chochotte's Profile
Tipping
I wouldn't ever tip a bartender but definitely have noticed in the last few years that many swankier bars now automatically add a 12.5% percent service charge when they bring you the bill (you tend to run up a tab rather than pay for individual drinks). I'd pay that without questioning it but I wouldn't myself think to add a tip to a bar bill that didn't come with one. I DEFINITELY wouldn't tip in a pub! At the end of the night you might say to the person serving you to 'have one on me' but tipping in a pub would feel extremely odd!
Similarly more and more restaurants add a service charge, which I would almost always pay without question, so no personal tipping calculations needed; if no charge is added I'd tip about 10% unless things were particularly awful, yeah.
Traditional Scottish meal in Glasgow?
As far as I know there's nothing really around the airport. Obviously the airport has some of the usual food outlets but no decent restaurants as such! You'll have to hop in a cab (15-20 mins) and head to the city centre/West End. What kind of price are you looking at? You can't go too wrong with Stravaigin on Gibson Street, though, which I think is very representative of Scottish food in that it always has haggis, neeps and tatties and fish & chips on its all-day menu, but also lots of lovely curries and stuff like that (Glasgow being more famous for its Scottish-Indian food than perhaps any other!).
London - Solo dining near Piccadilly?
Thirded! Sit at the bar at Bocca di Lupo and enjoy the atmosphere, service and awesome food. I love doing this - never done it as a solo diner but imagine it would be great as we always end up chatting to the staff and our neighbours anyway!
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Bocca di Lupo
12 Archer St, London, England W1D 7, GB
Great meal near Picadilly undergroud line (London)?
Oooh yes, Bocca di Lupo is quite marvellous.
Cost of London dining
Personally, while I love the V&A café and definitely recommend it for tea and cake - and also rate the quality of the food - it's NOT cheap for what you get. A sandwich is about £5.
Can't afford River Cafe London, where should I go?
Zucca is a great modern Italian alternative to the River Café:
http://www.zuccalondon.com/
Post Theatre dining - celebrity status!
I find the atmosphere at Joe Allen's really unpleasant. It's underground, and looks dated, and ... yeah, I definitely wouldn't put it in this category. The Wolseley absolutely has the most 'star' factor out of all the places described in terms of the look and feel of the place, plus I've spotted celebs there more often than anywhere else, though I'm not really the most out-on-the-town person, so I'm not the best judge of these things.
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The Wolseley
160 Piccadilly, London, Greater London W1J 9EB, United Kingdom
Joe Allen
13 Exeter Street, London WC2E 7DT, GB
Andouille Sausage [London]
A bit o'Googling indicates that at least some regional versions of the andouille do involve smoking the intestines, etc. before making them into the sausage which is then boiled for 3-6 hrs (erk) before serving. (This is a Normandy kind, apparently. Who knows what other regional variants there are - or, possibly, it doesn't vary much by region. It's hard to tell.) Le TLF gives simply 'Boyau de porc rempli de tripes, de chair et de lard de ce même animal, hachés et assaisonnés' for andouille and 'Petite andouille dont le contenu est finement haché' for andouilette.
Andouille Sausage [London]
There are both French andouille and French andouillette (slightly different - as the names imply, the andouillette is a smaller version of the andouille) and then there's the Cajun andouille which is different again from both the two French sausages - spicier, for one, I believe, though I confess that I can't go within 3 metres of the French kinds even when given the chance, and that I've never been anywhere that's served or sold the Cajun kind.
Andouille Sausage [London]
Good point. Are we talking about French or Cajun andouilles?
a couscous question
Generally everyone has always ordered their own dish when I've eaten at Moroccan restaurants in France, be it a couscous, a tagine dish, or whatever. If more than one person orders a couscous then often a large communal bowl of sémoule will be put on the table rather than serving each of them an individual bowl - and because you get so many different bits and pieces as part of a couscous we always share between whoever wants a taste of it all. But basically it's one dish each, more the French way, I think than the Ethiopian.
Really it depends on the habits of your group and of each restaurant though doesn't it? At many of the Chinese restaurants that I go to, each person orders their own dish, aside from a bit of swapping and sampling, whereas obv that's not the case for you.
Need reccomendation for Indian restaurant (Glasgow and/or Edinburgh)
What kind of Indian? British-Indian, or a contemporary Indian cuisine proper, and if so, from what region?
Off the top of my head I love the Pakistani Café (on the southside) and Banana Leaf (only the West End one - the other's apparently far less good and much more expensive, but the West End one is one of my all-time favourite places to get great, cheap food).
Calling all CAKE EXPERTS; is GENOISE the same as sponge cake?
Yup, a genoise is considered a variety of sponge.
[London] Les Deux Salons
I think the dessert menu is spot on in terms of the theme and feel they're going for, though - all solid brasserie/bistro classics, reading it made me feel like I was back in France! Anything fancier or more innovative wouldn't fit.
Super excited- but don't read or speak French - Am I in trouble?
I appreciate your point about WR forums! - I agree. Anyway, don't want to derail this board further into (admittedly fascinating, to me) sociolinguistics. I think patronising was too strong a word on my part; I wouldn't really be offended very much but I would be slightly - hmm. I am simply not entirely happy with that usage; I have friends who find it far more offensive than me on political/feminist grounds, and there are equally many who have no problem being called mademoiselle if they look relatively young (and surely others who'd love to be called it more often!). It's complicated and there's no definitive answer. The actress thing's interesting because it parallels the use of the word 'actress' (now no longer used by many publications/media outlets) in English. But that's a discussion for another time and place!
Super excited- but don't read or speak French - Am I in trouble?
I am indeed not French, but have lived there a lot - cannot claim to know all the nuances of the language and culture by any means, but I do know many French women of my age who feel the same.
"Mademoiselle in France is over, except for actresses. Madame is used for any woman." "A mon avis, on dit Madame pratiquement dans tous les cas, et on réserve Mademoiselle pour les très jeunes filles - ou les très vieilles filles, qui y tiennent souvent - ou pour les actrices de la Comédie Française." Just two examples from native French speakers over on the WordReference boards, and certainly not proof of correct or blanket usage - but at least proof that I'm not totally alone in my opinion, or that it's entirely due to my non-native-French-speaker status.
So, I think I can only conclude that the issue is extremely confused! Especially so because in Quebecois French I am pretty sure that mademoiselle is definitely no longer widely used.
Super excited- but don't read or speak French - Am I in trouble?
I'm 25 and I wouldn't be wildly insulted if someone called me mademoiselle but it could potentially feel rather patronising. Depends on the context, but I am usually called madame. If I went, say, into a smart boutique and was called mademoiselle when I walked in, I'd feel that the staff were patronising me, for sure.
Best restaurant in Paris open on Sunday night
Menu du marché (market menu) served at both lunch and dinner, includes 3 courses. Without drinks it's €65, or if you pay €85 you get a glass of wine with the starter, another with the main (chosen for you; you don't get to pick which!), mineral water, coffee and petits-fours.
Menu découverte (discovery menu) has to be served to the entire table and costs €135. Again, if you want to have the dishes accompanied by wines, add €45.
Menu dégustation (tasting menu) is €185 (again must be taken by the whole party at your table) and is an extra €69 if you want accompanying drinks.
All prices include taxes and service charges, so no tips necessary. And finally they are very clear that they don't take cheques! Hope that helps.
Pastry Shops / Bakeries Not To Be Missed in London?
They're all ok, but as with any chain bakery stuff is mostly brought in frozen/ready prepared from somewhere off-site, so they're not really 'must-visit' type places in my book.
Paula's English Pea recipe = what's wrong with Food Network
Nope, in traditional culinary terminology, 'à l'anglaise' is the term used to refer to a preparation that involves boiling and then tossing with butter. So while it sounds funny when it's translated into English, 'petits pois à l'anglaise' is exactly this, boiled peas tossed with butter. Pommes de terre à l'anglaise would mean boiled potatoes with butter, etc. Obv. mushy peas are a traditional English food but they're not strictly speaking 'à l'anglaise'.
Super excited- but don't read or speak French - Am I in trouble?
Duly noted... thanks!
Constant restaurants - which one?
I agree: I don't think there's a strong movement for formally enforced dress codes in France. Yes, there is an implicit dress code in the sense that you will be able to make superficial, broad but probably reasonably accurate inferences as to people's backgrounds, class, etc based on what they are wearing. But I don't think that it is as clear-cut as 'what you have to wear where' in France. Clearly going to a nice restaurant in your gym clothes would not be on. But the whole ties and jackets thing is more a matter of personal choice. I just wear what I will feel comfortable in, in terms of feeling good about how I look (as a woman, though, I'll admit it's more vague).
Super excited- but don't read or speak French - Am I in trouble?
Absolutely not. Anglophone tourism is big business in Paris and most of the time, businesses are very much prepared for this kind of situation. Also, 'menu French' is a language all its own and I've found that even native speakers sometimes struggle to make out exactly what is being described - so do not be afraid to ask for explanations! If you don't have any knowledge of any Romance languages/Latin, and so really will struggle even to get basic ideas about what's on menus, you might want to invest in a little English-French dictionary specifically aimed at diners, which would prevent you having to ask repeatedly for word-for-word translation (it would at least enable you to identify the main meat/fish/veg in a dish and the ways in which they were cooked, to whittle things down before asking your waiter/waitress for more detailed info). Something like this?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gastronomic-Dictionary-French-English-Thomas-Harmsworth/dp/0948807539/ref=pd_sim_b_1
But if you speak Spanish, Italian, or Portuguese etc. then you can probably make out enough to get by.
Young, bustling, foodie dinner spots in Paris
I like my green beans cooked really soft, and lots of chefs I've heard mention it say they always deliberately cook them till they're good and floppy, so it may have been deliberate.
Young, bustling, foodie dinner spots in Paris
Merci pour vos conseils!
I think ZK is a little bit too fussy in its presentation and modern in its feel for what we're looking for, though I always meant to go before because the food looks nice (lots of seafood, miam miam).
All the things you mentioned about cafés, nice areas to stroll and your input on the restaurants is very much appreciated.
Young, bustling, foodie dinner spots in Paris
I am really interested in natural wines, so Saturne is almost certainly on my list. It sounds like excellent value. Do I need to book ages and ages ahead?
Oxford area recs.
One of the main arguments I am familiar with in this area is based on the fact that Britain industrialised much earlier and much faster than any other country in the world, so it lost its food traditions much earlier. It's really remarkable to compare rural-urban population distributions and their shifting over time in, say, England and France.
Anyway- I love all that old fashioned food. I love steamed puddings and steak and kidney pudding and rice pudding and trifle. I'm glad we can take the good bits, done well, and have them served up at St John's, and leave 30-minute cabbage and bread and milk behind!
Oxford area recs.
It's statistically been proven that the British populace was better nourished under rationing than it was before to it. Not being a specialist in social history of that period I don't recall all the mechanisms and details that made it so but I think that's the accepted argument. Perhaps because certain groups ie children did have special provisions made for them and because rationing curbed the British's natural sweet tooth! Rationing forced people to distribute whatever money they did have along lines drawn up by nutritionists and not according to their preferences, I suppose.
Paula's English Pea recipe = what's wrong with Food Network
This is indeed the literal definition of the dish that used to be called petits pois à l'anglaise even in Anglophone countries back when menus had to be in French or they weren't considered classy! "à l'anglaise" just means that a dish has been boiled in salted water. Not sure it counts as a recipe rather than a description... This dish is still (obviously) called that in France and Googling the phrase will bring up lots of French recipe sites that basically have the same info as Paula's - so she isn't the only one.
Oxford area recs.
I don't know... when you look at the kind of things included in even Victorian cookbooks, while some are nice, there's still a lot of boiling cabbages for 30 minutes and all that awful stuff. I think the industrial revolution, which concentrated people in cities and helped develop new means of processing food, has a lot to do with it. Poor people in urban environments had even less access to decent fresh food than poor rural people. Add to this the development of a large and aspirational middle-class, who were keen to adopt what they saw as more urban and sophisticated habits and therefore to reject their rural family food traditions (which we'd probably now see as comprising the admirable and venerable English culinary tradition) and you have a bad combination.
Re: the war - I think it divides along class lines. Working-class people actually ate better during the war than before: their rations gave them a better diet than their incomes had allowed them to access. Richer people, conversely, certainly found themselves eating far fewer of their favourite things. I always think of Virginia Woolf's letter to Vita Sackville-West in which she rhapsodizes over the butter Vita has sent her from her farm, and thinks about all the ways she's going to enjoy the butter she's so missed because of rationing. Most poor people would have been on margarine to begin with, so even rations of butter were more than they were used to!
