referred me to the _chef_, and between us we drew up this menu, which
certainly has something of the sunny south about it:--

Hors-d'oeuvre et Caviar frais.
Creme de Langoustines.
Friture de Nonnats.
Selle d'Agneau aux Primeurs.
Becassines roties.
Salade Nicoise.
Asperges de Genes.
Sauce Mousseline.
Dessert.

VINS.

1 bottle Barsac.
3 bottles Pommery Vin Nature 1892.

To crown this feast we had some of the very old brandy, a treasure of
the house, which added 60 francs to the bill. The total was 363 francs
10 centimes.

In this dinner the _Creme de Langoustines_ was excellent, a most
delightful _bisque_. The _nonnats_ are the small fry of the bay, smaller
far than whitebait, and are delicious to eat. They are perhaps more
suitable for breakfast than for a dinner of ceremony, and had I not
yearned for local colour I should have ordered the _Filets de Sole
Egyptiennes_ in little paper coffins which look like mummy cases, a dish
which is one of the specialities of the house.

Dining at the Hotel de Paris one pays in comfort for its popularity, for
on a crowded night the tables in the big dining-room are put so close
together that there is hardly room for the waiters to move between them,
and the noise of the conversation rises to a roar through which the
violins of the band outside the door can barely be heard. Bachelier, the
_maitre-d'hotel_ at the Francais, a disciple of Francois, is quite one
of the foremost men of his calling.

The restaurant of the Grand Hotel, where MM. Noel and Pattard themselves
see to the comfort of their guests, is also a fashionable dining place.
I first tasted the _Sole Waleska_, with its delicate flavouring of
Parmesan, at the Grand Hotel many years ago, and it has always been one
of the special dishes of the house. _Poularde a la Santos Dumont_ is
another speciality. This is a menu of a dinner for six given at the
Grand, as a return for the one quoted above as a product of the Hotel de
Paris:--

Creme Livonienne.
Filets de Sole Waleska.
Baron de Pauillac a la Broche.
Puree de Champignons.
Petits Pois Nouveaux.
Merles de Corse.
Salade.
Asperges. Sauce Mousseline.
Souffle du Parmesan.
Friandises.

The Hermitage, in which MM. Benoit and Fourault are interested, shares
the rush of fashionab