WHEN YOU DINE IN PARIS

There aren’t many brasseries in Paris that I don’t love. I could sit in one all day. In the cozy Café de Flore or lovely Café Charlot. Seriously, I can sit there for hours on end just watching Parisiennes. How they dress, how they eat, how they speak…sigh… everything really. These are the days I wished I lived in Paris. One day it will happen though and it won’t be forever, just for a while.

If you want to dine like a Parisienne there are quite a few rules that apply in restaurants I’ll share them with you and add the odd tip or two. Maybe you have your own live-in-Paris-one-day dream. How about we go together?

Always wait until the waiter shows you to your spot. That’s just the way it works. On the terrace it’s different, just take a seat at an empty table.

Watch out, not all waiters are always nice. It’s not you that’s just the way Parisian waiters are.

When coming to the table for dinner it’s customary to take an aperitif instead of ordering a bottle of wine straight away. A Kir Royal for example (champagne with a drop crème de cassis). That’s doing it the Parisian way.

Drinking beer at dinner is kind of not done. Take one before or afterwards preferably in a café.

Ladies always eat small portions. It may even be four portions but they’re all small. A main course, something in between, some cheese and then desert. All nibbles, not the piled up plates we’re used to.

If the waiter asks you how you like your steak, here’s what you say:

By the way, steak tartare is RAW meat. No grilling involved.

Cheese. Paris loves cheese (thank goodness!). You order it in between the main and desert, not after desert. And you don’t have to eat the whole menu. If you go for the cheese leave out the desert. Makes sense, right?

It’s also very normal to stare at the desert menu for half hour and still choose to skip desert.

A Parisienne doesn’t order a cappuccino or a latte, she orders a petit café or a café gourmand. The latter comes with a little extra sweet.

Paris lunches don’t include sandwiches like we know them; it’s usually a hot meal. If you do want a sandwich pick a brasserie that serves tartines. Tartines are thinly sliced sourdough slices, delicious.

Oh, it’s good to know that the further you are positioned from the bar, the more expensive your glass of wine will be. It’s cheapest at the bar and becomes more expensive when seated at a table in the restaurant and becomes even more expensive when seated outside on the terrace. This rule applies to most of the brasseries in Paris.