In the Rue Port Mahon is Cerny’s Bar, which has taken the place of the Cabaret Lyonnais, a house where tench used to be cooked with cerny’s Bar, infinite skill, and where a still pink Rue Port Mahon champagne used to be the favourite wine. Cerny’s Bar is very central for the theatres. It is managed by two ladies. The clientele of the restaurant con- sists of racing men, young men and their lady friends, actors and butterfly ladies. Every one seems to know every one, conversation flies across the snug dining-room, and the diners throw poker dice to see who shall pay for the dinners. On this account it is rather embarrassing for a solitary stranger to visit ; but beyond an expression of surprise at seeing a strange face, he will not be disturbed. No a la carte dinner is served, only a six franc table d'hote meal which is always excellent and of reasonable length, and is served at lightning speed to any man who tells 36 T’he Gourmet's Guide to Europe the waiter he is in a hurry. The restaurant is closed in August, and during parts of July and September. A curiosity in restaurants is Blanc’s, in the Rue Favart, close to the Opera Comique. Its specialities Blanc’s, are the dishes of the Midi, and those Rue Favart who are curious in such matters can taste there the Brandade , and Aioli, and Bourride , and Bceuf en daube without making the railway journey to the land of Tartarin. In the Passage des Princes, but a stone’s throw from the boulevards, is Noel Peters’, an excellent specimen Noel Peters’, the bourgeois restaurant. I am 24 Passage des sorry, however, to find that Noel Princes Peters’ now describes itself as an American restaurant, hoping to draw into its net the thousands of Americans who drift through Paris, and who would sooner eat dry hash and crackers than the most elaborate dishes of the French cuisine. The rooms are decorated with reproductions of the tiles and stencilled patterns of the Alhambra at Granada, the colour of which is very gorgeous and very beautiful. A large sum of money was expended on this decora- tion, and it is well worth the while of any one lunching or dining at the house to walk round the rooms and to look at their adornment. The prices are reasonable, and the service quiet. The fish dishes at Noel Peters' are always excellent, and the sole of the house is to be warmly recommended. The sole of all soles is, however, to be found further up the boulevards, at the Restaurant Marguery. M. Marguery, who died in the winter 1 909-10, is mourned as a benefactor to Paris, for he it was who took a lead when the boulevards had to be decorated in honour of any great celebrity, and he was always to the fore in any big scheme of charity. If there were starving poor he fed them, and his name headed a list of subscribers on the occasion of any great catastrophe, such as a big (7) aris 37 fire or a flood. Marguery’s, which has banqueting rooms as well as public dining-rooms, is next door to the Gymnase Theatre, and is always crowded and bustling. The Sole Marguery, the secret MargUery of which is the very strong fish stock used 34 Boulevard in its preparation, is a noble dish, and so Bonne NouveUe is the Barbue Marguery , and there are a score of other creations of the house ; but it was on the back of his sole that M. Marguery ros6 to great wealth and eminence.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

In the Rue Port Mahon is Cerny’s Bar, which has taken the place of the Cabaret Lyonnais, a house where trench used to be cooked with cerny’s Bar, infinite skill, and where a still pink Rue Port Mahon champagne used to be the favourite wine. Cerny’s Bar is very central for the theatres. It is managed by two ladies. The clientele of the restaurant consists of racing men, young men and their lady friends, actors and butterfly ladies. Every one seems to know every one, conversation flies across the snug dining-room, and the diners throw poker dice to see who shall pay for the dinners. On this account it is rather embarrassing for a solitary stranger to visit ; but beyond an expression of surprise at seeing a strange face, he will not be disturbed. No a la carte dinner is served, only a six franc table d'hote meal which is always excellent and of reasonable length, and is served at lightning speed to any man who tells 36 T’he Gourmet's Guide to Europe the waiter he is in a hurry. The restaurant is closed in August, and during parts of July and September. A curiosity in restaurants is Blanc’s, in the Rue Favart, close to the Opera Comique. Its specialities Blanc’s, are the dishes of the Midi, and those Rue Favart who are curious in such matters can taste there the Brandade , and Aioli, and Bourride , and Bceuf en daube without making the railway journey to the land of Tartarin. In the Passage des Princes, but a stone’s throw from the boulevards, is Noel Peters’, an excellent specimen Noel Peters’, the bourgeois restaurant. I am 24 Passage des sorry, however, to find that Noel Princes Peters’ now describes itself as an American restaurant, hoping to draw into its net the thousands of Americans who drift through Paris, and who would sooner eat dry hash and crackers than the most elaborate dishes of the French cuisine. The rooms are decorated with reproductions of the tiles and stencilled patterns of the Alhambra at Granada, the colour of which is very gorgeous and very beautiful. A large sum of money was expended on this decoration, and it is well worth the while of any one lunching or dining at the house to walk round the rooms and to look at their adornment. The prices are reasonable, and the service quiet. The fish dishes at Noel Peters' are always excellent, and the sole of the house is to be warmly recommended. The sole of all soles is, however, to be found further up the boulevards, at the Restaurant Marguery. M. Marguery, who died in the winter 1 909-10, is mourned as a benefactor to Paris, for he it was who took a lead when the boulevards had to be decorated in honour of any great celebrity, and he was always to the fore in any big scheme of charity. If there were starving poor he fed them, and his name headed a list of subscribers on the occasion of any great catastrophe, such as a big (7) aris 37 fire or a flood. Marguery’s, which has banqueting rooms as well as public dining-rooms, is next door to the Gymnase Theatre, and is always crowded and bustling. The Sole Marguery, the secret MargUery of which is the very strong fish stock used 34 Boulevard in its preparation, is a noble dish, and so Bonne NouveUe is the Barbue Marguery , and there are a score of other creations of the house ; but it was on the back of his sole that M. Marguery ros6 to great wealth and eminence.

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