France is famous for its delicious and varied cuisine. There are a lot of different bistro, restaurant and cafes along the streets of any city in France, especially in resort areas. All these places are made in such a style by which we can easily distinguish that we travel France. There is several rules of eating in French restaurants. Each restaurant offers two types of meal according to your preferences and the sum of money you are going to spend on it. These types are a la carte which offer you wide range of meal usually more expensive than food from the other one - le menu. Le menu provide dishes selected from the full a la carte menu. The waiter won't present a bill (l’addition) till you ask for it, even if you finish your meal for an hour or so, and just sit and talk for all this time. It's required to check that the restaurant is open beforehand, especially on Sunday. Because the most part of the restaurants close for a month in summer and for one day a week throughout the rest of the year.
You may meet various names of the dishes that you have never meet before and don't know how they tasted or just look. In different regions of the country, according to vicinity to the sea different types of dishes are distinguished. Among them the most wide spread Ratatouille nicoise (stew of courgettes, tomatoes and aubergines, braised with garlic in olive oil). In the regions of France that are located near the sea fish and shellfish are the star features in menus – oysters, moules (mussels), coques (cockles) and crevettes (shrimps). Alsace and Lorraine are the lands of choucroute (sauerkraut) and kugelhof (a special cake), quiche lorraine and tarte flambee (onion tart). Some of the better known cheeses are camembert, brie, roquefort, reblochon and blue cheeses from Auvergne and Bresse. Desserts include: souffle grand-marnier; oeufs a la neige (meringues floating on custard); mille feuilles (layers of flaky pastry and custard cream); Paris-Brest (a large puff-pastry with hazelnut cream); ganache (chocolate cream biscuit); and fruit tarts and flans. The prices are varied from 8$ to 24 $ for the salads and soups, and from 16 $ to 24 $ for different desserts.
The national drinks of France are wine and wide range of different liquors. France is famous for its world known wine-producing regions, such as Bordeaux, Burgundy, Loire, Rhone an Champagne. There is always a sommelier in expensive restaurants, who helps you to choose among great variety of alcoholic drinks.
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