: Dinners and Diners: Where and How to Dine in London by Newnham Davis Lieut Col Nathaniel - Restaurants England London Guidebooks

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FOREWORD Page

The Difficulties of Dining xvii

FOREWORD

THE DIFFICULTIES OF DINING

It requires a certain amount of bravery, a little consciousness of knowledge, for the ordinary man looking down a list of dishes to put his finger on every third one and ask, "What is that?" He is much more likely, the head waiter, who has summed him up, prompting him, to order very much the dinner that he would have eaten in his suburban home had he been dining there that night.

Mr. Echenard, late of the Savoy, in chatting over the vagaries of diners, shook his head over the want of knowledge of the wines that should be drunk with the various kinds of food. No man knows better what goes to make a perfect dinner than Mr. Echenard does, and as to the sinfulness of Britons in this particular, I quite agreed with him. In Paris no man dreams of drinking champagne, and nothing but champagne, for dinner; but in London the climate and the taste of the fair sex go before orthodox rules. A tired man in our heavy atmosphere feels often that champagne is the one wine that will give him life again; and as the ladies as a rule would think a dinner at a restaurant incomplete without champagne, ninety-nine out of a hundred Englishmen, in ordering a little dinner for two, turn instinctively to the champagne page of the wine-card. It is wrong, but until we get a new atmosphere and give up taking ladies out to dinner, champagne will be practically the only wine drunk at restaurants.

On the subject of tips it is difficult to write. I have always found that a shilling for every pound or part of a pound, or a shilling for each member of a party brings a "thank you" from the waiter at any first-class restaurant. I should be inclined to err a little on the liberal side of this scale; for waiters do not have an easy life, are mainly dependent on the tips they get, and have it in their power to greatly add to, or detract from, the pleasure of a dinner. I always find that the man who talks about "spoiling the market," in this respect is thinking of protecting his own pocket and not his neighbour's.

The following little essay on the duties of a ma?tre d'h?tel which Mons. Joseph has sent me speaks most eloquently for itself:

MON CHER COLONEL--

Vous me demandez pour votre nouveau livre des recettes. M?fiez-vous des recettes. Depuis la cuisini?re bourgeoise et le Baron Brisse on a chant? la chanson sur tous les airs et sur tous les tons. Et qu'en reste-t'il; qui s'en souvient? Je veux dire dans le public aristocratique pour qui vous ?crivez, et que vous comptez int?resser avec votre nouvelle publication, cherchez le nouveau dans les ? propos de table, donnez des conseils aux ma?tresses de maison, qui d?pensent beaucoup d'argent pour donner des d?ners fatiguants, trop longs, trop compliqu?s; d?tes leur qu'un bon d?ner doit ?tre court, que les convives doivent manger et non go?ter, qu'elles exigent de leur cuisinier ou cuisini?re de n'?tre pas trop savants, qu'ils respectent avant tout le go?t que le bon Dieu a donn? ? toutes choses de ne pas les d?naturer par des combinaisons, qui ? force d'?tre raffin?es deviennent barbares.

On a beaucoup parl? du cuisinier. Si nous exposions un peu ce que doit ?tre le Ma?tre d'H?tel.

LE MA?TRE D'H?TEL FRAN?AIS

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