French-Style Research to Find a Restaurant
France is famous for its rich gastronomy and offers a wide variety of restaurants. On one hand, among French meals, you already have a very broad selection. Indeed, each region has culinary specialities which are served in restaurants all over the country; such as the famous crêpes from Brittany, the fondue Savoyarde from Savoie, or the Boeuf Bourguignon from Burgundy. On the other hand, there are a superfluous amount of foreign cooking restaurants, as well as, innovative chefs that mix local and international savours. That is why choosing a restaurant in France is not so simple! Here are some tricks to find a restaurant as many French would do.
First of all, it is necessary to know what your budget is and what kind of food you are looking for whether it is French specialities or other types of cooking. In both cases, the choice result is difficult due to the huge offer of restaurants. In France a restaurant’s reputation is mainly built by word of mouth. If you have already followed some basic conversations between French people, you have probably noticed that the favorite basic topic is generally about food! They like sharing their experience and feedback about restaurants they have tried. So, if you have French friends, they should be delighted to recommend some places to you. If you do not know anybody, you can still find a good restaurant by popular internet websites like La fourchette which is available in English, or Cityvox. These websites are directories of restaurants which classify them according to the prices, the feedback and marks left by customers, the speciality, or even the services provided (access for disabled people, Wi-Fi, air conditioning, pets allowed, etc.) For the marks left by the customers, the more numerous the people who gave their feedback, the more reliable the mark is, exactly like a “virtual” word of mouth!
After this step, you can compare the different menus offered by the selection of restaurants you have. Regarding the menu, it varies and really depends on the restaurant. Most often you can choose to eat a la carte or order an entire meal. The meal is composed of three courses (starter, main course, and dessert,) but can be well composed of only two courses: a starter with a main course or a main course with dessert. All depends of your hunger and your budget! A menu can sometimes also include a glass of wine or any drink. Before beginning to eat, French are used to order an Apéritif, i.e. an alcoholic drink with eventually aperitif biscuits.
Now enjoy!