Bon Voyage

Bon Voyage is the ideal size for everyday use in restaurants, shops and market places. Use the Glossary of Menu Terms; refer to the lists of cheeses and specialities detailed in each region; study the wine notes in each regional chapter; and capitalise both the Index of Wines and the Index of Cheeses - in France and at home.

Try to study a menu before you enter a dining room (if you are staying overnight ask for a menu long before you go down to the restaurant); this will allow you as much time as possible to do any translation work beforehand. (See page 15 for the phrase you need.) If you are unable to do this do not feel you have to rush to order: take your time and only order when you have translated everything!

Read the introductory chapters before you start your holiday: Enjoying the best of French cuisine explains the various types of French cooking; Wines of France offers an easy-to-understand analysis of the many hundreds of French wines; Specimen Letters of Reservation & Useful Phrases will help you time after time in hotels and restaurants; and, finally, read A day in the life of a chef and his wife - it brings to your notice facets of the day- to-day life of hardworking French chefs and their wives which you, the reader, may never have considered before.

I suggest, too, you study So you think you know that road sign? (pages 94/95) - it’s full of surprises; make profitable use of What Wines with What Food (pages 86/87); and read French Leave Cocktails on page 85. Page 57 provides you with helpful advice on making phone calls, the best maps and guides to use, and lists addresses of the more important French Tourist Offices. See also page 31 - Entente Cordiale - Dead or Alive?; page 53- Tears of Glory; page 39-Books to take to Paris; page 47-Other Chiltern House publications; and page 61 - Pen Pictures - some of the great names of French gastronomy.