Cheese and biscuits in Paris restaurants
 

Am I correct in thinking the cheese is done before dessert in paris or is it the other way round? Also if you were to recommend cheese and biscuits in any of the following, which would it be... Laperouse, Tour D'argent or jules verne?

Thanks people.

In some restaurants, cheese is the desert.

In better restaurants there is often a cheese course before dessert--but you ar unlikely to be served biscuits with the cheese. In France it's bread, sometimes different kinds; walnut is popular with blue cheeses.

The three restaurants you name will undoubtedly have excellent cheese trays. Your waiter will push up a cart of bring a tray of cheeses to your table and ask you which ones you would like. The big problem is getting small slices.

In that category of restaurant, there will almost certainly be a cheese course with the trolley of at least 10 varieties, before dessert.

You will not have biscuits.

You may get biscuits with ice cream or sherbet but not with cheese

Thanks everyone, we opted for cheese in Tour D'argent. They looked very confused when we requested biscuits (silly me) but the bread did not dissapoint. It was quite fruity and very moorish.

Before dessert but never had the cheese served with biscuits except in the USA.

suz214 - thanking you for getting back so quickly letting us know what transpired. So often posters ask for advise and are given numerous recommendtion and they we never hear from the again.

So glad that your lunch went well even though you didn't get your biscuits. Just proves how adaptable you are in a tough situation :-))

Nina

ooooops, meant advice not advise .. it was a typo - not a mispeling (like this is) :-))

Nina

Chigalechanta: &quot;<i>Before dessert but never had the cheese served with biscuits except in the USA.</i>&quot;

Biscuits in this context is not what you are thinking about in the States. Biscuits are either savory - crackers in USA-speak, or sweet - cookies in USA-speak.

Cheese and biscuits simply means cheese and crackers.

Yes I know and what I meant :)

Then I'm confused - what did you mean not ever having cheese and biscuits anywhere but in the States??

Meaning cheese in France was only served with bread, not crackers. At Times,
I serve cheese with rice crackers when a friend visits as she cannot eat wheat.

OK- so you mean you've ONLY had cheese courses in France or the States - now I understand -- duh :)

Where else than USA/Canada and (sometimes) UK can you get &quot;biscuits' with cheese ?

I've gotten &quot;biscuits&quot; or crackers with cheese courses a number of places -- certainly all over Scandinavia, in the Netherlands, and even in Spain and in Italy. I'm still trying to think if I've ever been served crackers of some type with cheese in France. It really seems I have, but admittedly bread is more common.
I nearly always substitute cheese for dessert if possible, so trust me -- I've had a LOT of cheese courses in Europe.

Want to do something fun? Google &quot;Cheese and biscuits - Paris&quot;. You'll love the first hit there!

Meanwhile there are a number of others including a major food course in Paris in which every menu includes &quot;cheese and biscuits&quot;.

...&quot;Want to do something fun? Google &quot;Cheese and biscuits - Paris&quot;. You'll love the first hit there!...

Fantastic neopolitan LOL! I feel famous!

I've never had crackers in France, period, with anything.

Even in the US, I don't think one is served crackers/biscuits with cheese in a fine restaurant when cheese is a dessert course. Serving crackers with cheese is for a snack or hors d'ouevres, isn't it? At least, I've never seen crackers served with cheese as a dessert course anywhere.

I don't usually eat cheese as a dessert, but I think in the restaurants where I tend to go in Paris, you are usually offered one or the other (if it's a prix fixe), not both.

In all of the years that I have lived in France, I have never seen cheese served with crackers, either in a restaurant or a private home.
It is quite possible that Air France served crackers on the meal tray with the cheese, but I definitely know that they regularly come through the cabin with more bread, as the majority of the French passengers will require it.

PLEASE PASS THE BISKITS!
Like most have never seen cheese and biscuits in France. My French inlaw family always offers cheese after the last course, with of course, French bread. They however, serve dessert after the cheese plate comes around.

I'm often in Italy and Spain, i'm a cheese eater and the only time i saw crackers with cheese was in Marbella (in a place where 50% or more of the guests were Brits)

Cheese and crackers as a dinner course would be very unusual even in a USA restaurant. Cheese and crackers would normally be something you'd get just with drinks or maybe a light lunch in some places.

Rufus; I'm sure they serve cheese as a dessert in the USA?
Anyway, as I understand it, in France they have cheese, then dessert, so you can finish up your red wine with your cheese, before moving on to a dessert wine (Chateau d'Yquem would do!), which makes sense to me. In the UK you get pudding first, then cheese. I love the British oat biscuits with cheese (the ones from Duchy of Cornwall).

Cheese as a dessert? Only if it has plenty of sugar in it.

Both my grandmothers (English and Scots) would refer to cheese and biscuits or pudding as options for what they referred to as &quot;afters&quot;. I don't believe they would have used the word &quot;dessert&quot;.

BTW, they do have crackers, or savoury biscuits if you prefer ,on offer in contemporary Italian households, but tend to think of that as breakfast offering and which is found mostly in areas where German tourism is abundant.

I think it is true that in restaurants where I live in the US, some have a cheese course you can order, and it can be after dinner, but they may not specifically call that &quot;dessert&quot;. It's just dessert in the sense that it is after the meal, and some people who don't want to eat too much (like me) may order only one or the other.

Not always, though, in some places cheeses are just listed under the &quot;dessert&quot; section of the menu. I just looked at the menu of one fancy schmancy French restaurant in DC (Citronelle), and they definitely list cheeses on the menu under &quot;desserts&quot;. In their 3 course prix fixe, you are allowed an entree, a main dish, and something under the &quot;dessert&quot; course list, which is either cheese or sweets. HOwever, if you look at the regular menu, you don't see cheese under the desserts heading. That's probably where I've gotten the idea of calling it dessert, from a limited prix fixe menu in France where you are allowed to choose one item under that course section.

Now I was served crackers all the time when in Spain with dinner or tapas, at least in Seville. They were very small tasteless snack-type crackers, cylindrically-shaped. I think in Seville they were called cannules or something that indicated their small cannon-like shape. They were usually served with ham. They would serve that either with tapas, or as an appetizer for regular dinner. I really didn't like them, they were totally tasteless (they were basically unleavened bread crackers). I think in Jerez they were called picos.

In France, most standard restaurants have the choice of &quot;fromage ou dessert&quot; for the final course of . When you go up in price, it becomes &quot;fromage et dessert.&quot;

...&quot;for the final course of a set price meal&quot;... is what I was trying to add when my finger strayed.