Evian, the most French of all the French watering- places, depends on its hotel restaurants for its good meals. The terrace of Hotel Royal, high above the town and the lake, is a delightful open air dining-place in warm weather. M. Metivier, who came from the Esplanade Hotel, the hotel owned by the Ritz syndicate in Berlin, is the maitre chef and M. Ali, the clever Egyptian, well known as the maitre d'hotel of the Armenonville in Paris, occupies a like position at the Royal in the late summer. The cooking is good, and nowhere can one eat to better advantage the Ombre, the king of all fishes that swim in the Lake of Geneva. The Splendide and the Hermitage, the two other large hotels of Evian, are above the average in their cuisine. Ill BELGIAN T.OWNS The Food of the Country — Antwerp — Spa — Ostende — Bruges — Heyste — Blankenberghe — Nieuport. I cannot do better in commencing this chapter than to introduce you to Mr. Horace Lennard, litterateur and “fin gourmet,” who knows his Belgium better than most natives of that country, who has written the notes on “ the food of the country,” on several of the towns, and to whom I am indebted for the entire succeeding chapter on the Brussels restaurants. The Food of the Country The Belgian is a big eater and a bird-eater. As a rule, in Belgium the restaurant that can put forth the longest menu will attract the most customers. There are people in Brussels who regularly travel out to Tirlemont, a little Flemish town nearly twenty miles away, to partake of a famous table d'hote dinner to which the guests sit down at one o’clock, and from which they seldom rise before five. The following is a specimen carte of one of these gargantuan gorges served in December : — Huitres de Burnham. Potage Oxtail. Saumon de Hollande a la Russe. Bouchees a la Reine. 133 134 ^he Gourmet's Guide to Europe Chevreuil Diane Chasseresse. Becasses bardees sur Canape. Tete de veau en Tortue. Surprises Grazilla ( a sorbet). Pluviers dores poire au vin. Jambonneau au Madere. Petites feves de Marais a la Creme. Salmis de Caneton Sauvage. Faisan de Boheme. Salade de Saison. Dinde trufFee Mayonnaise. Glace Vanillee. Fruits. Gateaux. Dessert. All this for five francs ! with a bottle of burgundy to wash it down, at any price from a crown to a pound. One thing may safely be said about the Belgian restaurants ; a bottle of good, sound burgundy can almost always be bought in both town and country. It is often told that the best burgundy in the world is to be found in Belgian cellars. Whether this is a reputation maintained in honour of the Dukes of Burgundy who once ruled the land, or whether the good quality of the wine is due to the peculiar sandy soil, which permits of an unvarying temperature in the cellars, I will leave others to deter- mine, but the fact remains that from a Beaujolais at 2 francs 50 centimes to a Richebourg at 20 francs, the burgundy offered to the traveller in Belgium is generally unimpeachable. Ghent is another town famous for its big feasts. The market dinner on Friday at the Hotel de la Poste, which has just been rebuilt, is often quoted as a marvellous “spread,” but __ _ , „ ^ the best restaurant in Ghent is un- Mottez s, Ghent j , n , A doubtedly Mottez s, on the Avenue

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Evian, the most French of all the French wateringplaces, depends on its hotel restaurants for its good meals. The terrace of Hotel Royal, high above the town and the lake, is a delightful open air dining-place in warm weather. M. Metivier, who came from the Esplanade Hotel, the hotel owned by the Ritz syndicate in Berlin, is the maitre chef and M. Ali, the clever Egyptian, well known as the maitre d'hotel of the Armenonville in Paris, occupies a like position at the Royal in the late summer. The cooking is good, and nowhere can one eat to better advantage the Ombre, the king of all fishes that swim in the Lake of Geneva. The Splendide and the Hermitage, the two other large hotels of Evian, are above the average in their cuisine. BELGIAN TOWNS The Food of the Country — Antwerp — Spa — Ostende — Bruges — Heyste — Blankenberghe — Nieuport. I cannot do better in commencing this chapter than to introduce you to Mr. Horace Lennard, litterateur and “fin gourmet,” who knows his Belgium better than most natives of that country, who has written the notes on “ the food of the country,” on several of the towns, and to whom I am indebted for the entire succeeding chapter on the Brussels restaurants. The Food of the Country The Belgian is a big eater and a bird-eater. As a rule, in Belgium the restaurant that can put forth the longest menu will attract the most customers. There are people in Brussels who regularly travel out to Tirlemont, a little Flemish town nearly twenty miles away, to partake of a famous table d'hote dinner to which the guests sit down at one o’clock, and from which they seldom rise before five. The following is a specimen carte of one of these gargantuan gorges served in December : — Huitres de Burnham. Potage Oxtail. Saumon de Hollande a la Russe. Bouchees a la Reine. 134 ^he Gourmet's Guide to Europe Chevreuil Diane Chasseresse. Becasses bardees sur Canape. Tete de veau en Tortue. Surprises Grazilla ( a sorbet). Pluviers dores poire au vin. Jambonneau au Madere. Petites feves de Marais a la Creme. Salmis de Caneton Sauvage. Faisan de Boheme. Salade de Saison. Dinde trufFee Mayonnaise. Glace Vanillee. Fruits. Gateaux. Dessert. All this for five francs ! with a bottle of burgundy to wash it down, at any price from a crown to a pound. One thing may safely be said about the Belgian restaurants ; a bottle of good, sound burgundy can almost always be bought in both town and country. It is often told that the best burgundy in the world is to be found in Belgian cellars. Whether this is a reputation maintained in honour of the Dukes of Burgundy who once ruled the land, or whether the good quality of the wine is due to the peculiar sandy soil, which permits of an unvarying temperature in the cellars, I will leave others to determine, but the fact remains that from a Beaujolais at 2 francs 50 centimes to a Richebourg at 20 francs, the burgundy offered to the traveller in Belgium is generally unimpeachable. Ghent is another town famous for its big feasts. The market dinner on Friday at the Hotel de la Poste, which has just been rebuilt, is often quoted as a marvellous “spread,” but __ _ , „ ^ the best restaurant in Ghent is un- Mottez s, Ghent j , n , A doubtedly Mottez s, on the Avenue

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