The first trap on a French menu is a word you think you already know: entrée. In English, an entrée is a main course. In French, it is a starter. Ordering two starters and wondering where your main went is a rite of passage for many anglophone visitors. This guide prevents that — and a dozen other moments of expensive confusion.
The Two Types of Menu: La Carte vs Le Menu
The most fundamental thing to understand is that “menu” in French does not mean what it means in English.
- La carte — the full list of all dishes available, with individual prices. What an English speaker calls “the menu.” Ordering à la carte means choosing individual dishes at individual prices.
- Le menu — a fixed-price set meal, typically offering choices within each course for a single price. Often excellent value. Also called la formule in more casual restaurants.
When a French waiter asks “Vous prenez le menu ou vous choisissez à la carte ?”, they are asking whether you want the set meal or individual dishes — not whether you want to see the menu. The set menu (le menu) usually represents the best value and often features the restaurant’s specialities.
A typical set menu might be:
- Formule entrée + plat : 15€
- Formule plat + dessert : 15€
- Menu complet (entrée + plat + dessert) : 20€
The Structure of a French Menu: Section by Section
Les amuse-bouches / amuse-gueules
Small bites brought to the table before your starter — not listed on the menu and usually not charged separately. Amuse-bouche is the polite term (bouche = mouth); amuse-gueule is more casual (gueule is the word for an animal’s mouth, used informally). Accept them. Do not ask to skip them.
Les entrées (starters)
The first course. Common entrées include:
- une soupe — soup
- une salade composée — a composed salad with several elements
- une terrine de campagne — a rustic meat pâté, served with cornichons and bread
- des escargots — snails, typically in garlic butter
- une assiette de charcuterie — a plate of cured meats
- des œufs mimosa — devilled eggs
Les plats (main courses)
The main course. This section may be divided into viandes (meats), poissons (fish), and sometimes végétarien in more modern restaurants.
Le fromage (cheese)
In traditional restaurants, cheese comes before dessert. You will often be offered a cheese board (le plateau de fromages) and you select two or three pieces. This is not a replacement for dessert — you can have both.
Les desserts
Common desserts you will encounter:
- la mousse au chocolat — chocolate mousse
- la tarte tatin — upside-down caramelised apple tart
- la crème brûlée — vanilla custard with a caramelised sugar top
- le fondant au chocolat — warm chocolate cake with a liquid centre
- la île flottante — soft meringue floating on vanilla custard
Key Cooking Vocabulary on French Menus
Much of the confusion on French menus comes from preparation and cooking terms. Here are the most common.
| French term | What it means |
|---|---|
| grillé(e) | grilled |
| rôti(e) | roasted |
| poêlé(e) | pan-fried |
| braisé(e) | braised (slow-cooked in liquid) |
| mijoté(e) | simmered, slow-cooked |
| fumé(e) | smoked |
| cru(e) | raw |
| mariné(e) | marinated |
| au four | oven-baked |
| en croûte | in pastry crust |
| à la vapeur | steamed |
| confit(e) | slow-cooked in fat (duck confit is the classic); also means preserved |
| farci(e) | stuffed |
| nappé(e) de… | coated with / covered in (a sauce) |
| accompagné(e) de… | served with / accompanied by |
Meat Doneness: How to Order Your Steak
This is one of the most practically important vocabulary sets for any meat-eater in France. The French have specific terms for steak doneness that do not map exactly onto English equivalents — and the defaults are very different. A French steak served à point is pinker than what most Americans would call medium.
| French | English equivalent | What it actually looks like |
|---|---|---|
| bleu | very rare | Barely seared, cool red centre |
| saignant | rare | Warm red centre |
| à point | medium | Pink throughout — closer to medium-rare by American standards |
| bien cuit | well done | Cooked through; some chefs will try to talk you out of this |
In a traditional French restaurant, ordering bien cuit for a quality piece of meat may earn you a slight pause from the waiter. This is normal. You are entitled to your preference.
Wine on the Menu
Wine lists (la carte des vins) in French restaurants can be extensive. A few orientating terms:
- vin rouge / blanc / rosé — red / white / rosé wine
- un verre de vin — a glass of wine
- une carafe de vin — a carafe of house wine (often better value)
- le vin de la maison — house wine
- une bouteille — a bottle
- pétillant / effervescent — sparkling
- AOC / AOP — protected regional designation (quality indicator)
Do not feel obliged to order wine. Asking for une carafe d’eau (a jug of tap water) is completely standard. Tap water is free in all French restaurants by law.
For the broader cultural context of eating out in France, including market vocabulary and meal rituals, see the guide to French food culture.
Ordering Phrases You Will Actually Need
- Nous sommes combien ? Quatre. — There are four of us. (When you arrive)
- Vous avez une table pour deux ? — Do you have a table for two?
- Nous allons prendre le menu à vingt euros. — We’ll have the set menu at twenty euros.
- Je voudrais la terrine en entrée et le canard comme plat. — I’d like the terrine to start and the duck as my main.
- Et pour moi, la même chose. — And for me, the same thing.
- C’est quoi exactement le plat du jour ? — What exactly is today’s special?
- Est-ce que c’est sans gluten ? — Is this gluten-free?
- L’addition, s’il vous plaît. — The bill, please.
These phrases, combined with the vocabulary in this guide, are enough for a confident meal in any French restaurant. If you want to build these into your broader daily French phrase repertoire, that article has a much wider set of practical expressions.
Things You Will See on Menus That Are Not Food
Some items on French menus cause confusion because they are not dishes but descriptions or conditions:
- Sauf le dimanche — not available on Sundays (usually referring to the set menu)
- Midi uniquement — lunchtime only
- Service non compris — service charge not included (rare in France, but it happens)
- Supplément — extra charge (often for certain cheese or wine pairings)
- Fait maison — made in-house (a legally regulated label in France since 2014; it means prepared on the premises from raw ingredients)
- Suggestions du chef — chef’s suggestions / recommendations
Conclusion
Reading a French menu fluently takes about 30 minutes of focused study — once you know the structural vocabulary, the cooking terms, and the key traps. After that, you will be more confident ordering in French than many tourists who have visited France for years. The menu is also a window into French food culture more broadly: the premium placed on technique (braisé, confit, poêlé), provenance (AOC, fait maison), and sequence (starter before main, cheese before dessert) all reflect the values that make French food culture distinctive.
Next step: Explore the full guide to French food culture, vocabulary and customs to understand the rituals and social expectations that sit around the meal itself.