10 French Dishes Served in Restaurants in Paris (EXPLAINED)

Ordering from a French menu can be intimidating. Like, there are things here that I don't know what they are, and I could end up getting something that I don't really want to eat. So in this video, we'll tell you about 10 main dish items you'll find on a French menu, like what's in a bouillabaisse, what is an andouillette, and what's actually in a bouffe bourguignon. So you can order with confidence and ease. Allez, on y va. One item that you'll see on a French menu is andouillette. Andouillette is a coarse-grained tripe sausage from the area of Troyes in France. It's made of pork meat, but stomachs and intestines, with onions and peppers and wine and seasonings. This is generally served with a salad. I ordered that one once, wasn't expecting it, and let's just say I didn't finish it. A couple of places where you'll find andouillette on the menu is Petit Vendôme, near Place Vendôme, or Bouillon Chartier with locations around Paris. Another dish that you'll often see in a French menu is a magret or a confit de canard. And a magret de canard is often a duck breast, and a confit de canard is often a duck leg or a thigh. The magret is generally pan-seared or grilled and cooked with duck fat and a variety of seasoning, like balsamic glaze, a cherry reduction, or an orange sauce. But the confit refers to a method of slow-cooking something in some liquid or fat. A confit de canard is a duck that is either cooked crispy on its own fat or slow-cooked in an aromatic sauce. Both are often served with potatoes, prepared with lots of different ways, and it's one of Colleen's favorite. You can find a magret or a confit de canard at Chez Savy near the Champs-Elysées or Chez Germaine in Saint-Germain. Another item you'll see on a French menu is moules frites. And moules frites is mussels with French fries. This is a Belgian dish, and it's common throughout Normandy and much of coastal France. The mussels are steamed and served swimming in a wine sauce, a broth, or a cream sauce with mustard and other flavors. And this is generally served with French fries and good French bread. One of my favorite places for moules frites is Solomancy in Saint-Germain, or you can get that at La Coupole by Montparnasse Tower. Another dish that you're going to see on menus in France is a boeuf bourguignon. And a boeuf bourguignon is basically a beef stew. It's made with braising pieces of beef and Burgundy wine and beef stock with onions, carrots, mushrooms, pearl onions, and lardons, which is bacon. And it's generally served with potatoes and a crusty bread. Top that with a pinot noir, and mwah, it's delicious. One of the best boeuf bourguignons I had in Paris was at Chironay in Saint-Germain, but you can also eat one at the Louge Bembe near Les Halles. Another item you'll see on a French menu is coq au vin. And coq au vin literally means rooster with wine or chicken with wine. And this is a dish that goes all the way back to the days of Julius Caesar and is one of the most iconic French dishes. It's made with braised pieces of chicken, legs, thighs, breast, an aromatic mix of wine, brandy, and chicken stock with mushrooms, onions, garlic, and lardons or bacon. And this is generally served with potatoes and crusty bread so you can soak up the juices. And our favorite place to get coq au vin is Jacobin in Saint-Germain. Another dish you'll see is lapin à la moutarde. Lapin à la moutarde is a dish that comes from Dijon, and it's basically a rabbit made in a mustard sauce. It literally means rabbit with mustard and is made with white wine, chicken stock, Dijon mustard, thyme, and creme fraiche. And it's commonly served with roasted potatoes. Now, if you're in the mood for a lapin à la moutarde, Aux Anisottiers du Roi on Ile de la Cité has a great one. Another item on a French menu is cassoulet. And cassoulet is a hearty stew from the Languedoc region of Southwest France. It's made with cuts of pork and sausage, white beans, flavorful herbs and vegetables, and is finished off with pieces of duck thigh. And this is generally served on its own, but with bread to sop up the juices and sauce. And you can get cassoulet Aux Anisottiers du Roi on Ile de Saint-Louis. Something you'll see more likely in the South of France is bouillabaisse. Now, bouillabaisse is a traditional fish dish that comes from Marseille. It is a fisherman's soup that takes two days to make. It is a slow-cooked broth with onions, leeks, celery, tomatoes, and potatoes, and several kinds of fish and shellfish. The bouillon of the bouillabaisse is typically served first with garlicky toast and a roux sauce, which is a flavored mayonnaise. The fish is served afterwards with potatoes, and the fish is often filleted table-side. There's not a lot of places to find a bouillabaisse in Paris, but we found an amazing one at Le Dôme near Montparnasse. Another item you'll see on the menu is a pavé de saumon or a pavé de thon, or a salmon steak or a tuna steak or fish filet. These would be grillé or grilled or poulet or pan-fried, and they're generally served with potatoes or rice. You can get the pavé de saumon at Les Antiquaires or Bistro de Paris in Saint-Germain. Another one that you'll see is noix de Saint-Jacques. Noix de Saint-Jacques is basically a giant scallop. They can be grilled, pan-seared, sautéed, or baked and served alone, or with a mustard or cheese sauce and stuffed back in the shell. And they are often served with rice, potatoes, or pasta. We've heard that Chez Mademoiselle in Le Marais has amazing noix de Saint-Jacques. We tried to fit it all into 10 items, but there's a few more you need to know about, so here you go. As a bonus, if you're in a French restaurant and you order a filet mignon and you're expecting the typical beef steak that you would find in the U.S., you may be disappointed. The filet mignon is referred to as the cut here, and it will generally be a pork filet mignon. So if you're ordering a filet mignon and it matters to you, make sure you ask whether that's beef or pork. You'll find a filet mignon de pork at Au Pied de Couchon by Les Halles. Something else that you'll see is a dish called poteau feu. Now, poteau feu is an iconic French peasant dish. The dish is slow-cooked meats, like beef chucks, shanks, oxtails, or short ribs with vegetables, like carrots, onion, leeks, celery, potatoes, turnips, and aromatic herbs. It is eaten in two separate courses with the broth served first, often with rice or pasta, and a platter of meat and vegetables served after. Now you want to eat this with crusty French bread. If you want to try a great poteau feu, I would go to Chironnais in Saint-Germain. Another item you'll see on a French menu is a côte de bœuf, a côte de veau, or an entrecôte de bœuf. And a côte is a chop, like a pork chop, a veal chop, and an entrecôte is a chop from the ribs, so think like a rib steak. These are also generally grilled or pan-seared and served with French fries or potatoes. You'll find the côte or entrecôte at Chez Savy near Champs-Élysées.