French Menu Words For Foods And Wines And Their Meaning

Problem
How to translate a French menu?

Answers
1 Read the menu on the restaurant's website in advance and translate it.
2 List any dishes or ingredients you like, don't like or are allergic to and check the translations in
Google translate. Print off the list and put it in your bag.
3 Ask the restaurant if they have a menu with English translations. They often have one but forget to give it to you.
4 Arrive early and grab the menu from the store. Translate the words in Google translate.
5 Remember to ask about dish of the day which may be written on an overhead board in spidery writing. Check the price and decide if it is in your budget or your host's budget.

If you have only one menu in English between four of you, photograph it with your phone and share your screen with the person sitting next to you.

Find out if the restaurant has wifi and get their password (providing you trust them or don't worry about security on shared networks). Log onto google translate.

Easily Understood French - English
aperitif - alcoholic drinks before a meal to whet your appetite
blanc - white
digestif - alcoholic drink after the meal, to help you digest, supposedly
(le) menu - (the) menu
hors d'ouvres - starter(s) - literally outside of (the main) work(s)
entree - same as our word enter, so it could be starters - but sometimes main courses, depending how large the menu is, so if you have hors d'ouvres (outside dishes, first), or soup, entree is the next course, which we think of as the main course.

 Wiki explains, or confuses!
FRANCE/FRENCH RESTAURANTS
An entrée (/ˈɒ̃treɪ/, US also /ɒnˈtreɪ/; French: [ɑ̃tʁe]) in modern French table service and that of much of the English-speaking world (apart from the United States and parts of Canada) is a dish served before the main course of a meal. (Outside North America,) it is generally synonymous with the terms hors d'oeuvre, appetizer or starter. 

USA
It may be the first dish served, or it may follow a soup or other small dish or dishes. In the United States and parts of Canada, the term entrée refers to the main dish or the only dish of the meal.^[a]

matinée - after lunch, mid afternoon
rouge - red
sud de France - south of France
vin - wine

The waiters may say: (in alphabetical order)
au revoir - goodbye / literally see (you) again
asseyez-vous - (please) sit down
bon jour - good day
de rien - not at all (response to thank you, equivalent of my pleasure)
Madame - madam (a polite term used liberally)
mademoiselle (miss)
merci - thank you (sometimes no thank you or thank you but no)
monsieur - sir
non - no
oui - yes
s'il v o u s plait - please (literally if it pleases you)

Pick some dishes which are your favourites, easy to pronounce, find on a menu, and ask for.
My favourite starter is French onion soup.




Wikipedia says 
French onion soup (French: soupe à l’oignon [sup a lɔɲɔ̃]) is a type of soup usually based on meat stock and onions, and often served gratinéed with croutons and cheese on top of a large piece of bread. Although ancient in origin, the dish underwent a resurgence of popularity in the 1960s in the United States due to a greater interest in French cuisine. French onion soup is usually served as a starter.

Your first thought might be, obviously French onion soup is a starter. But the Chinese eat soup last, after the main meat dish.

Special Dishes
au gratin - with cheese (I think of grated cheese to remember)
Coq au vin - cock (male chicken) in wine
pot de chocolat - chocolate pot (ask about the consistency - usually thick and sticky)
escargot - snails
Fromage - cheese

Wines And Wine Names
If in doubt, look for a reasonably priced glass of Champagne. Champagne is a region.

Dessert Wines
France does not label grape variety but place name. So you have to know.
Alsace has semi sweet wines, such a Riesling or Pinot Gris or a blend which might include Muscat.
Could be a sweet Sauternes.Sauternes is a region. (From a blend of two grapes, semillon and a little sauvignon blanc.)
Sweet fortified wines from Roussillon and elsewhere such as Beame de Venise, both Muscat grapes..

vin de table - old name for table wine (names are now regulated) or house wine - cheap and cheerful - no longer an official name
Vin ordinaire - (again an old name for ordinary wine)
vin de France - wine of France - the new regulations say the basic wine which does not satisfy a regional name, for example because it is a blend, lowest level of name, but could be a new brilliant wine, but not yet regulated in a category

Wines are in hierarchy of styles and places
For example
top level of control would be from a specific chateau and vineyard
AC The appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC;  "protected designation of origin")- controlled name (like a brand - has to be made by these people in this place).

For example:
Top Category
Pauillac (Pauillac is an area Lafitte - is a chateau)
premier grand cru classe
premier is first
classe is class or classification
cru literally means brew or tank for wine, it could be a varietal or one grape wine, but more often the general meaning is a blend of wine from different tanks over years or types of wine to get a consistent style, like a cake recipe.

Premier cru in each region may be different
Ask your sommelier
He or she will be glad to show off their knowledge and help you - that's their job. You are not being a nuisance by asking. On the contrary, your sommelier is a wine expert - nowadays sommeliers can get training and a qualification.

Margaux is a commune
Chateau Margaux (under French rules if it has the name and photo of a specific famous building, it has to come from there, not just an amusing name the maker or marketing man likes.)
Vin de Medoc - might satisfy some of the rules, such as spacing of vines, or which kind of grape, but not all of them, so can be named for the area
Vin de Bourgogne - could be from a bigger area, encompassing more growers and styles of wine

To make it easier to understand
Compared to chocolate
Cadbury's chocolate
English chocolate
British chocolate
chocolate

After that you get chocolate covered, chocolate flavoured and so on and maybe imitations or confusing similar names such as Cad's chocolate.

table d'hote - table of the host means set meal, no choice (the accent on the o reminds you of the missing letter s which is kept in English)
a la carte - from the card, in other words, your choice from the menu
pommes de terre (literally apples of the ground - potato (remember POmmes de terre POtato)
pomme - apple



Tarte Tatin - neatly alliterative name for a tart supposedly invented by the Tatin sisters, one of whom reputedly, forgetfully turned the apple pie upside down so the crust was underneath making an apple tart. Usually sliced apple in a neat circle with apricot colour glaze

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_French_dishes

For free learning and brushing up your French
duolingo.com


Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I teach English and French and other languages on request as a home tutor, and in workshops. I have also translated French and Spanish for websites and packaging.
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The Huge Moose and the Huge Chateau Hotel In Canada

What else could I do in Canada?

What More Weird Or Wonderful Sights Could I see.
Montreal botanical gardens, topiary shaped like people.

West Coast
Vancouver then the Pedestrian Suspension Bridge
(Side trip from Vancouver.)
Fabulous scenic Lake Banff with snow-capped mountains reflected in crystal water. I went there with my husband and son. They went skiing.
You could drive up there. Winter ski or summer hike. Photography, sports, countryside. Watch out for bears and moose!

Story Of My Moose
I was careful. I vowed not to go walking in the woods alone.
However, on arrival at a grand hotel for dinner

Before going into the hotel I was trapped in a grand chateau hotel car park for fifteen minutes by a moose blocking the entrance. I tried phoning my husband. Poor reception. Eventually, I got through, and darling, helpful husband, told me, unhelpfully, "I can't help. I've just been served a drink. Just walk around it."



Do I walk around the spiky antler end or the kill you with a kick end?

I walk towards it. But it turns and stares at me. It's bigger than I am. It's the size of a bull. With antlers like an eagle.

I retreat. Slowly. I think I'll stay crouched hidden behind somebody else's four by four. I hope it can't see me. I can see its feet.

Will it stay there all night? Better it stays there, then walks towards me. The wall is behind me.

Eventually another car tries to drive in or out and the friendly moose, the size of a minivan, moves off.

The chateau hotel and restaurant were both fully booked, fortunately because it was too expensive, so we settled for drinks and peanuts at the bar. Fine.

I got a good look around, getting not quite deliberately lost.
"Looking for the Ladies. So sorry!" (British accent!)
"Come this way, Madam ..."
"Looking for my husband, in the bar."
"Come this way, Madam ..."
"Looking for the exit."
 "Come this way, Madam ..."
"Not this one, I need the car park."
"Come this way, Madam ..."

https://www.banfflakelouise.com
https://www.tourismvancouver.com
http://wikitravel.org/en/Canada
https://web.archive.org/web/20100113230143/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Wine Regions and Bottle Label Glossary

Glossary:
Alsace region
anything in quotes is a brand name
1er cru - higher quality (depending on region - on Bordeau it is top level but in most other regions it's below grand cru as in Burgundy
Bandol a place in south of Brance in Provence which makes rose wine, dry. French rose is dry. (Mateus from Portugal is sweet.)
Banyuls - a region
Beaune - a region of Burgundy
Beaumes de venise - an appellation, a defined geographical region with regulations about wine appellation control, meaning controlled production
beaujolais -
blanc - white
Bordeaux - region literally border of water, meaning the sea coast, South West coast and further inland region of France
Bordeaux superieur - better quality than plain Bordeaux
cabernet - grape variety - several similar sounding names such as cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon
brut - dry - used for Champagne
Champagne - region of France
chateau (castle or mansion house - under French rules if you put a picture of a castle or palatial mansion on the label that must be a real place, and the place where you wine is grown or bottled)
Chateux Neuf du Pape makes red and white wine, famous, in southern Rhone near the towns of Avignon and Orange
clos - enclosed or walled vineyard originally although nowadays the walls have fallen but the name survives
Condrieu grows Viognier grape
cote - slope (where wine grows)
coteaux - side (area)
cotes - side (area, slope)
cremant - literally creamy - similar to sparkling but with smaller bubbles made like champagne in the same way but not allowed to be called Champagne which is a region
cru bourgeois - next level up in Bordeau above Bordeau superior (above that are named regions, above those are specifically named villages such as Margaux)
cuvee - a particular wine, might have another brand name for this blend or grape
de - of
du - of the
dom. - domaine
domaine - same as domain or place in English - maker or wine estate (every chateau is a domain but not every domaine has a chateau - it could be farmland without a farmhouse)
fils - son
Jurancon - a pretty town
La - the
La tour vieille - the old tower (adjective after the noun in French)
moulleux - off dry, slightly semi sweet
mousseux -
muscat - a grape variety
muscadet - appelation controlle name of a place - particular stye of wine from a particular grape
NV non vintage  no year specified, a blend to ensure consistent quality over the variable years
pays - country
reserva - not part of quality control in France, (but it is in Spain where the terms reserve and grand reserve are for white and reds, which refers to age their rather than the quality although you would not bother to mature it for ages unless it was good quality)
Riesling - a grape variety
rose - pink
rouge - red
sec - dry
sylvaner - a white grape
superieur -
tour - tower
vin - wine
vin de pays - wine of the country of France, in the French control system, the lowest level of quality, not tied to a specific local control, can be sourced from grapes anywhere, used to be called vin de France, now just vin de pays, we would call it table wine or in French vin de table
vieux - old
vielle - old (spelled this way to match a feminine word)
fumee - smoky - gives flint in wine taste
pouilly fuisse is a white wine from south Burgundy, Chardonnay is a grape used in this region where wine is nearly always Chardonnay (unless the small amount of nasty Aligote which is mixed with Cassis to make the mixed drink Kir, named after Canon Kir who is credited with mixing local fruit juice with the nasty wine to make it more palatable - why would you buy Aligote? Because you need it as the mixer. A sweeter wine mixed with the fruit juice is horrid but a kir is wonderful.)

Bordeaux Château Helicopter Crash

Bad news - dreadful death of Bordeaux Chateau and vineyard's new owner and former owner in a helicopter crash just after the celebrations and press conference.
The new owner, now deceased, was Lam Kok. The previous owner was piloting the helicopter.
I have now found out that the lost son was not the only son. An older brother survives as well as the wife. This must be some comfort to the family. I first read the story in the mail on line. The South China Press has more. The widow is a powerful entrepreneur and I am glad to hear the large company will continue plans to expand the estate with a hotel so more people can enjoy the wines and the area.
On a lighter note, I looked with surprise at the dates of newspaper articles to find the latest. Then I noticed a couple dated 24th - tomorrow! Of course, it's tomorrow already as you travel further east.