Read Ebook: The Gourmet's Guide to Europe by Bastard Algernon Newnham Davis Lieut Col Nathaniel

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Ebook has 841 lines and 61425 words, and 17 pages

? ? la Parisienne. Ailerons de Volaille ? la Tzar. Cailles ? la Lucullus. Salade Durand. Ecrevisses de la Meuse ? la nage. Cr?pes Suzette. Dessert. Champagnes. Clicquot Brut, Pommery Drapeau Am?ricain. Gde Fine Napol?on.

Caviar. Consomm? Viveni. Mousseline de Soles au vin du Rhin. Queues d'Ecrevisses ? l'Am?ricaine. Escalopes de Riz de veau Favorite. Perdreaux Truff?s. Salade. Asperges vertes en branches. Coupes aux Marrons. Friandises.

In the afternoon the long passage with its chairs, carpets, and hangings all of crushed strawberry colour is filled with tea-drinkers, for the "5 o'clock" is very popular in Paris, and the Ritz is one of the smartest if not the smartest place at which to drink tea. In the evening the big restaurant, with its ceiling painted to represent the sky and its mirrors latticed to represent windows, is always full, the contrast to a smart English restaurant being that three-quarters of the ladies dine in their hats. Sometimes very elaborate entertainments are given in the Ritz, and I can recall one occasion on a hot summer night, when the garden was tented over and turned into a gorge apparently somewhere near the North Pole, there being blocks and pillars of ice everywhere. The anteroom was a mass of palms, and the idea of the assemblage of the guests in the tropics and their sudden transference to the land of ice was excellently carried out. I give the menu of another great dinner at the Ritz because, not only has it some of the specialities of the house embodied in it, but that it is a good specimen of what a great dinner should be, being important but not heavy:--

Caviar frais. Hors-d'oeuvre. Royal Tortue Claire. Cr?me d'Artichauts. Mousseline d'Eperlans aux Ecrevisses ? l'Am?ricaine. Noisettes de Ris de Veau au fumet de Champignons. Selle de Chevreuil Grand Veneur. Pur?e de Marrons. Poularde de Houdan Vend?me. Sorbets au Kirsch. Ortolans aux Cro?tons. Coeurs de Laitues. Asperges vertes en branches. Sauce Mousseline. Ananas voil? ? l'Orientale. Friandises. Corbeilles de Fruits.

VINS.

Ch?teau Caillou 1888. Ch?teau L?oville Lascases 1878 . Lanson Brut 1892 . Ch?teau Yquem 1869. Grande Fine Champagne 1790 .

I am told that Sylvain's remains a good dining place, but I have not been within its doors since the days when it attained celebrity as a supper place in favour with the butterfly ladies of Paris.

Across the River

Summer Restaurants

The Bouillon Riche, just behind the Alcazar, with its girl waiters I have generally found even more haphazard than Ledoyen's. Its food is neither noticeably good nor is it indifferent.

This is the menu:--

Melon. Potage Ambassadeurs. Hors-d'oeuvre. Truite Gel?e M?connaise. Ris de Veau Financi?re. Demi-Vierge en Chaud-Froid. Poulets de Grain R?tis. Salade de Romaine. Asperges Froides. Coupes Jacques. Dessert. Petites Fraises.

The cold trout was excellent, and the wine was De St-Marceaux '89.

The Alcazar has a restaurant somewhat similar to that of the Ambassadeurs.

Chevillard's, at the Rond Point des Champs Elys?es, is not an out-of-doors restaurant, but it is a favourite place to breakfast at on the way out to the races. The cooking is good. Sometimes the restaurant is crowded, and it is as well to secure a table in advance.

There are half-a-dozen caf?s, farms where milk is sold, and other refreshment places in the Bois; but the two restaurants which the travelling gourmet is likely to dine at are the Pavillion d'Armenonville and the Ch?teau de Madrid. The first is very "smart," and the glass shelter which runs round the little house is filled on a summer night with men, all in dress-clothes, and ladies in flowered or feathered hats. The world and the half-world dine at adjacent tables, and neither section of Paris objects. The tables are decorated with flowers, and two bands, which play alternately, make music so softly that it does not interfere with conversation. The cooking is good, and the prices are rather high. There are tables under the trees surrounding the building, and some people dine at these; but "all Paris" seems to prefer to be squeezed into the least possible space under the glass verandah.

At the Ch?teau de Madrid the tables are set under the trees in the courtyard of the building, and the effect of the dimly seen buildings, the dark foliage, and the lights is very striking. The Madrid has always been an expensive place to dine at, but its reputation for cookery is good. Last year I dined at the Ch?teau one hot summer's night and found there M. Aubanel, who had left his little hotel at Monte Carlo, during the great heats, to take temporary command at the Madrid, striving to serve a great crowd of diners with an insufficient staff of waiters. I trust that the proprietors have made better arrangements since to meet any sudden inrush of guests. The Madrid has a capital cellar of wine.

On a race-morning I have eaten a little breakfast, well enough served, at the restaurant of the Caf? de la Cascade.

Supping-Places

Miscellaneous

In the Quartier, Thurion's in the Boulevard St-Germain is an interesting restaurant for a wandering Anglo-Saxon to become acquainted with, for there he will see most of the young Americans and English who are climbing up the ladder of pictorial fame. It is a Parisian "Cheshire Cheese." The floors are sawdusted, the waiters rush about in hot haste, and the chickens stray in from the courtyard at the back and pick up the crumbs round the tables. The place has its traditions, and you can hear tales of Dickens and Thackeray from the plump lady who makes up the bills.

Good Cheap Restaurants

St-Germain

St-Cloud

The Pavillion Bleu at St-Cloud, the proprietor of which, M. Moreaux, bought the greater portion of the "grands vins" of the Maison d'Or, deserves a special word of commendation.

N.N.-D.

FRENCH PROVINCIAL TOWNS

The northern ports--Norman and Breton towns--The west coast and Bordeaux--Marseilles and the Riviera--The Pyrenees--Provence--Aix-les-Bains and other "cure" places.

I propose to take you, my gastronomic reader, first on a little tour round the coast of France from north-east round to south-east, pausing at any port or any watering-place where there is any restaurant of any mark, and then to make a few incursions inland.

Calais is, of course, our starting-place, and here my experience of leaving the buffet at the Terminus and exploring in the town is that one goes farther and does not fare so well. The buffet at Calais always has had the reputation of being one of the best in Europe, and though the Englishman new landed after a rough passage generally selects clear soup and stewed chicken as his meal, it is quite possible to obtain an admirably cooked lunch or dinner in the room off the restaurant; and the cold viands, the cream cheese, the vegetables and fruit are all worthy of attention. The "wagons-restaurants" which are attached now to most of the express trains, no doubt have cut into the business of the buffet restaurant; but as a contrast to the ordinary British station refreshment- and dining-room the Calais buffet deserves to be mentioned.

Boulogne

Dieppe

is a place of importance, and in the days of the Second Empire Lafosse's Restaurant in the Grande Rue used to be one of the very best dining places in the provinces of France. Good cooking is now to be looked for from Cabois, 74 Grande Rue, from Beaufils, Rue de la Barre, and from Lefebvre, Rue de l'H?tel de Ville. M. Ducordet, the proprietor of the Grand Hotel, who was the happy man chosen to supply M. F?lix Faure with a banquet when he visited Dieppe, caters for the Casino and the Golf Club. The Casino restaurant is worthy of all commendation. The buffet at the Gare Maritime is above the average of buffets in its cookery.

The restaurant of the H?tel Ch?teau at Puys, a mile and a half from Dieppe, is owned by Mons. Pelettier of local celebrity, who has collected an excellent cellar of wine.

Havre

So much from my own experience. Other people with larger knowledge all have a good word to say for Frascati's, but all a word of caution as to its prices. It is wise to look at the price of the champagnes, for instance, before giving an order. The official dinners at Havre are always given at Frascati's, and it is here that the British colony holds its annual banquet on the King's birthday. I append a menu of a dinner of ceremony at Frascati's which, though it is miles too long, is a very noble feast:--

Tortue claire ? la Fran?aise. Cr?me Du Barry. Rissoles Lucullus. Caisses de laitances Dieppoise. Barbues dor?es ? la Vatel. Selle de Chevreuil Nemrod. Poularde du Mans Cambac?r?s. Terrines d'Hu?tres ? la Joinville. Cailles de vigne brais?es Parisienne. Granit?s ? l'Armagnac. Faisans de Compi?gne r?tis. Truffes au Champagne. Salade Chrysanth?me. Pains de pointes d'Asperges ? la Cr?me. Turbans d'Ananas. Glace Frascati. Dessert.

Bisque d'Ecrevisses. Reine Christine. Filets de Soles Normandy. Nouillettes Napolitaine en Caisse. Saumon de la Loire Tartare. Sorbets Supr?me F?camp. Coquille de Homard ? l'Am?ricaine. Sarcelles sur Canap?. Salade panach?e. Asperges d'Argenteuil Mousseline. Petits Pois au Sucre. Glace Quo Vadis. Petits Fours. Corbeille de Fruits. Dessert.

The cooking at the Continental Hotel is reported as being good, but its wine-list does not meet with so much praise. The Burgundies, red and white, at the H?tel du Bordeaux are highly praised.

Of caf?s in Havre, the Caf? Prader, near the theatre, and the Paris are the two where the drinkables are sure to be of good quality.

Rouen

Trouville Deauville

Caen

Cherbourg

This calling-place for Atlantic steamers is a very likely place for the earnest gourmet to find himself stranded in for a day, and I regret that there is no gastronomic find to report there. A most competent authority writes thus to me on the capabilities of the place:--

"There are no restaurants, in the true sense of the word, in Cherbourg.

"The H?tel de France, another fair-sized hotel, is the one patronised mostly by the naval and military authorities of the town, but is not so amusing a place for the traveller to stay at or dine at; though I understand that the dinner to be obtained there is in every way satisfactory.

"Finally, I might mention two other hotels at which one can dine comfortably; these are the H?tel d'Amiraut? and the H?tel d'Angleterre, at both of which a good plain dinner is served.

M. Roche, who made a little fortune in London in Old Compton Street, has taken a little hotel near Granville, and as he learned cooking under Frederic of the Tour d'Argent, he may be depended upon for an excellent meal.

Breton Resorts

Here is a typical Breton menu, one of the meals at the H?tel des Bains de Mer, Roscoff:--

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