I mentioned in an earlier post that on our first night in St. Germain en Laye, Steve and I had a late and enjoyable dinner at Brasserie Du Theatre.
What I didn't mention was that when I had some questions about the menu the server, whose English was about as limited as my French, had a hard time explaining some of the nuances to me and when I sort of filled in asking "do you mean like this", he joked and said that I should translate the menu for them. So, guess what? I did.
All together I probably spent a day between translating and formulating a lay-out that was comparable to the one used for the French menu. I had a great time doing it and it re-enforced my language skills and taught me new words. The main part of the menu, the meat, fish and foul was no problem but the tricky part was the raw bar part of the menu. The brasserie serves 6 plus types of oysters and 4 or 5 types of clams and several shrimps and more; it tested my abilities.
I felt like I needed to go back to the brasserie and order the "Fruits of the Sea" platter so that I could identify each of the different types of shellfish, especially try to tell the difference between the clams.
Here is a picture of the incredible plate of fruits of the sea that we enjoyed.
The plate contained about 5 different Atlantic oysters (about 8 or 10 for each Steve and me), 4 large, cooked and chilled langoustines, a large crab, about a dozen and a half of sea snails, same for grey shrimp, 6 amazing huge,pink shrimp that had the most amazing mustard I've ever had in a shrimp, mussels on the half shell and three different clams on the half shell. It was heaven!
That night I took copies of the menu that I had translated to ask a few questions as to preparations. Needless to say, the folks at the restaurant were tickled to see that I had taken them up on their suggestion to translate the menu. So, there's a little claim to fame. If you are ever in St. Germain en Laye and you dine at The Brasserie du Theatre and you request an English version of the menu, that menu was translated by yours truly.
I am officially jealous.
ReplyDeleteThey gave you citron and you made lemonade out of it.
Between your mega-awesome French to English translating skills and wicked powerful deodorant, girl, you are unstoppable.
I am THE GIRL!
ReplyDeleteI could not have done the translations without the help of the web and Babelfish. It was great fun to do the menu and a hoot to see how pleased the folks were at the restaurant.
well well well... funny as I was actually brought up very close to St Germain en Laye, and my parents now live there. The Brasserie du Theatre has been my family's canteen for ever. I actually came accross your blog when double checking to see whether they were open Mondays... I now live in Vancouver, and recently brought my Canadian girlfriend back to France. Obviously we went to the Brasserie with my parents and did indeed ask whether they happened to have a menu in English, as this is always more accurate than translating the catering terms to her myself. The waiter knew instantly where to find one, and this made my girlfriend's evening much easier!! So thank you!
ReplyDeleteMichael, Vancouver.
Oh my gosh, I love it! What a great story and thank you for sharing it, Michael!
ReplyDelete