15 French Menu Terms Every Tourist Should Know

French menus look elegant and they sound elegant when the waiter reads them out. They're also full of small words that change everything about a dish — and most of those words won't appear in your phrasebook.

Here are 15 terms that show up on almost every French menu, and what they actually mean.

1. Entrée

Not the main course. In French, entrée is the starter. The main course is plat principal or just plat. This single false friend trips up more travellers than any other word on the menu.

2. Plat du jour

The "dish of the day". Often the best value on the menu and frequently the dish the chef most wants to cook that day. If you don't know what to order, this is rarely a bad choice.

3. Formule and menu

A formule is a fixed-price set: usually 2 or 3 courses chosen from a small list. The word menu in French often means the same thing — a fixed-price meal — not the printed list of dishes (which is la carte).

So when a sign says "Menu 24€", it means a 3-course meal for €24, not the menu prices.

"À la carte" means ordering individual dishes off the printed list, usually at higher cost.

4. Cuisson

The level of cooking, almost always referring to meat. The waiter will ask "Quelle cuisson?" when you order a steak. Your options:

• Bleu — barely seared, raw inside
• Saignant — rare
• À point — medium-rare (this is what French people order; it is not "medium" the way Americans use it)
• Bien cuit — well-done. Be warned: the kitchen will judge you. Quietly. But they will.

5. Garniture

The accompaniment to the main dish — vegetables, potatoes, rice. In casual restaurants this comes with the dish; in some bistros, you order it separately at extra cost. Always check.

6. Tartare

Raw. Beef tartare is finely chopped raw beef with capers, mustard, egg yolk. Tartare de saumon is raw salmon. If you don't want it raw, don't order it.

7. Rillettes

Slow-cooked, shredded meat (usually pork, sometimes duck) preserved in fat. Spread on bread. Rich, salty, served cold as a starter.

8. Charcuterie

A board of cured meats — pâtés, terrines, dry-cured sausages, ham. Often paired with cornichons and pickled onions.

9. Confit

Cooked slowly in its own fat. Confit de canard (duck leg confit) is the famous one. Tender, fall-off-the-bone, very rich.

10. Magret

The breast of a duck that has been raised for foie gras. Cooked rare, sliced thick. Different from regular duck breast (filet de canard) — richer and more flavourful.

11. Andouillette

Important to recognise. A coarse sausage made from pig intestines, with a strong, distinctive smell. Loved by some, hated by many. Visiting tourists who order it expecting "another sausage" are often unprepared. The sausage is good — but go in knowing what it is.

12. Tripes

Tripe — the lining of a cow's stomach. Tripes à la mode de Caen is the famous Norman version. Another classic that travellers occasionally order by accident.

13. Crudités

Raw vegetables, served as a starter. Not a salad in the American sense — usually grated carrot, sliced cucumber, tomato, sometimes celeriac, dressed with vinaigrette.

14. Plateau de fruits de mer

A seafood platter — typically oysters, mussels, clams, prawns, sea snails (bulots), and sometimes a small lobster or crab. Built for two or more people.

15. Service compris

"Service included." French restaurants include service in the price, by law. You don't need to tip. Leaving a few euros for very good service is appreciated, but the 15-20% American norm is not expected and can feel awkward.

A few bonus phrases

• Bistronomique — bistro food made with fine-dining technique. The good middle ground.
• Brasserie — large, often brassy restaurant serving classic French dishes all day.
• Maison — house-made. Tarte maison is the kitchen's own tart, not bought in.
• Origine — origin. "Bœuf, origine France" tells you where the beef is from. Increasingly common labelling.
• Sans alcool — non-alcoholic. Useful for cocktails sans alcool.
• L'addition, s'il vous plaît — "the bill, please". The single most useful sentence at the end of a meal.

When the menu still defeats you

Even with the vocabulary above, French menus are dense with regional dishes (aligot, garbure, bouillabaisse, cassoulet) that no list of 15 terms will cover.

That's where pointing your camera at the menu helps. Menufy gives you each French dish translated with a description of what it actually is — aligot explained as "mashed potatoes whipped with melted Tomme cheese and garlic from the Aubrac region", not just "potato dish".

It's the missing context that turns a menu from a guess into a meal.