First trip to Paris--should I forget finding any menus in English
 

This will be our first time to Paris and from all the post I have read it seems as if we will have a hard time reading the menu--we speak no French. Also do most places only have the pre fix menu? We love to eat but like to decide ourself what we want. We will only be there for 5 days so I guess we can always go to the markets and buy food--we then go back to Italy and I know we will eat there.
Thanks--I worry a little as food is a big part of our trips
Thanks again

One thing to avoid are restaurants that provide menus in different languages: tourist traps. I suggest you review menu terms and get familiar with them. There is even a little menu book with photos available. Also the waiters are willing to translate as best they can if you have questions.

Hi,
Don't you have a pocket dictionary where you could find what sort of meat or vegetable you'll have in your plate?

I don't remember the link but I'm sure someone here will give you a link to a travel dictionary where you could copy a few words and sentences.
good luck et bon appétit :-)

You will not have a hard time reading the menu, really! If you go to more touristy restaurants, the menus will likely be in French and English (and other languages too). Very high-end restaurants also will have menus in English (or in both languages). You should have no problem.

Most places offer at least one prix fixe menu, but almost always there's also a regular menu with a la carte items.

Every restaurant is required to post menus outside, so you can look at the menu, decide if you like the a la carte items (or the prix fixe menus), and go in or not.

But the markets are good as well...

Most Paris restaurants, execept a few of the fancier ones, might not have menus in English. Fear not, however. If your menu ("carte" in French) doesn't have English, be assured your waiter can speak English well enough. Just be kind, say please, and ask if he would please speak to you in English. Waiters will also make suggestions if you ask them.

And don't worry so much about the prix fixe menus. Your choices are still usually pretty broad. There are almost always a number of different prix fixe menus, many at differing fixed prices.

Going to the markets is always fun if you either have a place to prepare meals, or simply want to buy stuff that is ready to eat. Personally, I would suggest you try out a few meals in some of the bistros around town, just for the experience. Good luck.

Once I was eating in a restaurant in Nimes and even with a food dictionary could not figure out what the day's special was. The waiter finally had to get the chef, who with a laugh lifted his leg, pulled up the cuff of his pants, and pointed to his ankle. OH! We couldn't figure out what "dinde" was either, and when the chef said it was "like chicken" we feared it might be frog's legs. Turned out to be turkey.

At another restaurant in Correns a group of my friends was missing the one person who usually helped us translate, and so everyone played it safe with the pasta dish -- except my husband. He looked up at the waitress and made a waving gesture with his hands in what he thought was an approximation of swimming, and sure enough she returned with a fantastic baked fish of the day.

The moral is, translate as best you can but take a chance and don't be scared to point, gesture, and ask. Also, even if you like to choose you might want to give the prix fixe menu a try -- I think often that's the same as the day's special, and the special in France usually really IS special! Plus, you might discover something that's surprisingly good.

Good luck!

I think many restaurants in central Paris have menus in various languages (English is a common one), and these are not necessarily tourist traps. A lot of restaurants do this because they have international clientele. If you know Italian, you shouldn't have that much trouble, I would think, as there are a lot of similarities in various Romance languages. I would also think a travel dictionary would serve the purpose of at least covering basic words so you know if you are ordering meat, poultry or fish. A lot of the words are very similar to English, also (ie, salade).

I've never been in a restaurant that only had a prix fixe menu, but I think there are a couple. It is not the norm.

In short, I would not worry that you will starve.

Thank you for your answers. I have a French food dictionary I bought the first time we went to Nice years ago but could never find a word on the menue that matched the word in the dictionary--now we know where to go in Nice so we have no problem any where on that whole coast. But there is always some place that serves food from Italy. We are trying to expand out travels the last few years.We always go to Italy every May--two years ago first went to Munich--then Back to Italy--last year Prague-then Italy. This year Paris-then------.
When my husband plans the trip to Italy is is not the city or hotel it is what he wants to eat. That is why Paris was making me alittle nervous. Finding our way around is no problem. My husband can put a map in front of him look at it then put it away and when we reach that city he can walk right to any place we want to go.
Thank again.I am trying to learn some things but I find French hard to figure out--it took me time to figure out how to say "Champs"

When I went to restaurants described in a guidebook (even the sort of guidebook that prides itself on staying away from tourist traps), they tended to have English menus. Not positive of what was the chicken and what was the egg in this phenomenon, but a phenomenon it was. Also, through a link on this forum, I printed out a very extensive French food dictionary before I left--it was quite detailed and much more helpful than the average page or two of food terms in the back of a guidebook.

When my three boys determined, after some experimentation, what French dishes they liked, it was impossible for Mme. Robespierre and me to pry them loose and try anything else.

We started calling it their <i>id&eacute;e fixe</i> menu.

I can only speak from personal experience. We were 15 days in Paris in October/November, and we had no trouble whatever with menus. Our French is sketchy, but the waiters/waitresses were most helpful. Just smile and say, &quot;Montrez moi, s'il vous plait.&quot; This only means &quot;please show me.&quot; They instantly knew (1) that we were not French, and (2) had a genuine interest in what they served. Your fears have no basis in fact, based on our experience.

I've found that if I ask for the English menu, I may find terms that are more foreign to me than the French (or Spanish or Italian) would be.
I can't think of an example in French right now, but here's one for Italian: if the menu were translated into British English, Americans might not recognize &quot;courgette&quot; but they would have no trouble with the original -- zucchini.

We use lots of French food terms every day so you may be surprised at how much you recognize.

Anyway, I ask for menus in both the local language and English to get the best idea of what I am ordering.

bon appetit

Don't worry about the menus, bring a good food book with you. I have used a menu translator for many years and rarely have not been able to figure out what was on the menu. There are a few but this is the one I have used:
Eating and Drinking in France: French Menu Reader and Restaurant Guide by Andy Herbach and Michael Dillon . They also have one for Italy.
Have a fun trip!

I'm no foodie. In fact, I'm a very picky eater. But, even if you have nothing more than a rudimentary list of basic French food items, you can get an idea of what's on the menu. My exerience is that it's the sauces and the like which don't immeidately translate, but some of those you'll be familiar with anyway. Rather than have the waiter translate large portions of the menu, you can ask about one or two items that you have some idea what they are (always intresting to find out if your conception as to what they were was right).

&quot;Eating and Drinking in Paris&quot;--inexpensive, handy little book. Lots of restaurant info plus a menu translator.

Don't worry about it. Many restaurants have English menus. I found that in alot of restaurants if they didnt have an English menu, the waiter was usually happy to help. I also disagee with the person above who said that good restaurants don't have English menus.

My wife &amp; I spend 2 months in France most years, and we still find some dishes that are unfamiliar to us (wife speaks French). The best menu translator we've ever found is by Patricia Wells. You can even download it from her web site:

http://www.patriciawells.com/

Stu Dudley

Yes, &quot;Eating and Drinking in Paris&quot; is a super book. I speak quite a lot of French, but I find that menu terms are a specialized vocabulary. If you really care about food you want to know details, more than just &quot;fish&quot; or &quot;asparagus&quot;. This book does it for you in a way that I find really easy to use.

See http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34408526

By the way, when are you going? Think how many English words you would &quot;expect&quot; a French visitor to have learned before going to dinner in a restaurant in your town? You CAN learn 5 to 10 words per day; 150 to 300 a month. Today would be a good day to start.

Best wishes,

Rex

I got a food glossary and first learned words for foods I most definitely did NOT want to eat (eels, entrails, tongue, etc).

Then I learned the basic kinds of meats (poulet, boeuf, veau, etc) and then there are the 'typical' traditional dishes that I know we'd like (bourgignon, coq au vin, escargot, haricots vert, etc).

The best thing is you can stand outside a likely looking restaurant and review the posted menu, identifying in advance 'choice A', 'choice B', etc.

We liberally intermix other cuisines, since we aren't very educated on French cooking, ie. Italian, Chinese, and so on...

minellac: I'm happy for you both. I'm sure you'll have a great time.

When you wrote this:

I am trying to learn some things but I find French hard to figure out--it took me time to figure out how to say &quot;Champs&quot;

I thought, &quot;She should go to her library and borrow the Pimsleur French tapes.&quot;

I speak Spanish and Italian, but French was a puzzle. I tried at least 3 different CD's over the last several years. Nothing worked until I got the Pimsleur tapes. I walk almost everday and so I'd listen during my walks. Now I can't wait to go back to France and practice. haha. Because I speak Spanish and Italian, I was actually able to pick it up rather quickly......I just needed the right teacher! I think learning the language a little will enrich your experience. Plus it's fun to learn this language. Bon Voyage!

Thank you all. I will try a new book on food. Rex---I will learn words in French before we go.
You asked how many English words I would &quot;expect&quot; a French vistor to have learned before he goes to dinner in my town-----none--I live in Miami and no one will understand if he asks in English.
Thanks again.

When English translations will not help:

Fancifully named items. What the heck is it when the chef makes up the name himself? &quot;Visions of the Meadow&quot; won't help you. Things like this are found in neomodern cutting edge places.

Translations of dishes you wish you had known what that really meant before you ordered: Examples: &quot;Tartar Steak&quot; or &quot;American Steak&quot; (&quot;Steak tartare&quot; is raw chopped meat with a raw egg and various accompaniments, &quot;Steak a la Americain&quot; is cooked, at least, but the American part is a fried egg on top.) (This can also happen with pizzas. Beware!)

Poorly made or ordinary food, no matter how it is translated: Usually found at tourist restaurants displaying five or more translated menus with flags of the country being tanslated for. Especially if the menu is sealed in plastic. Very especially if a nice man at the door urges you to try his restaurant. Just say &quot;Non.&quot;

Remember the first rule of strange things on the menu: If they are serving it, it is edible.

For the record, 40 years ago I discovered that tartar steak is quite good. The traveler sitting next to me was horrified by the fried egg on his steak and threw it away. His loss.

AJPeabody
I enjoyed your answer--20 times to Italy and the first time I had a egg on my pizza was in Prague.

Plenty of restaurants in Paris offer English menus. Just ask.

If you want to hear some basic French phrases to get some idea of pronounciation you can use www.travlang.com for free.

I speak virtually no French - just the requisite bonjour, merci, au revoir, sil vous plait and a few other polite phrases. But I have very little trouble deciphering most French menus. Many US restaurants (at least where I live) have menus totally full of French terms so you should already be familiar w/ a lot of them. W/ just a little study of French words for different foods and cooking styles you will be fine. I do have a small menu master but I forgot and left it home last trip and survived to tell the tale.

If anyone needs help translating menus, I can recommend my free online culinary dictionary:

http://www.pjkhospitality.com/index....tion=glossaire

It works on hand held devices if you've got wifi access.

Might help!

PjK

I'm with Kayd. Sometimes the English translation is harder to interpret than the original French. Just get a menu translator.

mimar: This thread is more than 2 years old. pkirrage registered just so he could top it and post a link to his website.

(Pkirrage: advertising is not allowed on Fodors)

Hi J,

check out his website.

It seems to be commercial free.

((I))

I eat pretty simply when I'm in Paris, usually the cafe's and brasseries. I have had some very good meals and I have found many of them have english menus posted, and while sitting and eating, I have heard a lot of french being spoken. I can only assume that these were tourists practicing their french. :D

Don't worry about it, you will be fine.

ira: Nope - if you notice, the site even has a &quot;PJK Boutique&quot; where he is selling all sorts of things. The &quot;dictionnaire&quot; is just one of many pages on his site and it is definitely a commercial venture.