Spotted Dick S'il Vous Plait: An English Restaurant in France

by Tom Higgins

When Tom Higgins, a translator, and his wife, Sue, a physician, decided to set up an English restaurant in Lyon, France (the country's capital of fine dining), they had no idea what they were getting into. In this delightful memoir of their first eight years in business, Higgins recounts all--from the amused disbelief of their neighbors who regard English food as a joke, to the frustrating impenetrability of the French licensing bureaucracy, from the positive delight in choosing wines and creating menus, to, ultimately, the extraordinary feeling of running a good restaurant that pleases the most fussy diners in the world.

Included in this charming tale are twelve typically English recipes that anyone can make!

Genres: France, Travel, Cooking

256 pages, Paperback

First published July 23, 1996

Reviews

[Cameron Toney · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is, by and large, one that passes through ones possession, rather than staying any lenth of time. It does it's job, without particular flair, perhaps, but without any problems, and then moves along.
The stories of an English restaurant in France could be rich and funny and nuanced, I would think. This book tells stories of the restaurant business, certainly, and but spends more time on builders than of the variances of cuisine.
I shall continue what I consider to be the life cycle of this book- I've read it, and now I shall pass it along.

[keith koenigsberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was somewhat entertaining, but never lived up to its title. It concerns a couple who open a British restaurant in France. Unfortunately, it was a little long on descriptions of the process of opening a restaurant (we bought a counter, we bought tables....), and short on the quirky and fun stories and characters you might expect, given the subject matter. In fact, nothing in the book is as entertaining as the title, and the conversation I can only imagine, which contains the preprandial request.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book when I read it many years back. Having lived in England and spent time in Lyon for weeks at a stretch and loving the food culture there I quite enjoyed the book and its stories. The adventure of getting an out of the way restaurant up and running and offering British food in the midst of France's food capital is a great setup. The stories were enjoyable and did a good job capturing the food culture in Lyon.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book deals with two relatively common fantasies: working in France and owing a restaurant. Higgins, a Lyonnais restauranteur, spares none of the gritty details, including the fantastically high payroll burden in France (50 per cent!), and he throws in a dozen recipes at the end. Ah, Lyon!