The origins of the fixed price menu (Table d’hôte)

These days with food there are so many choices to make. If you’re eating out, it becomes a bit of a mission to decide what you want to eat.

Many people love the idea of a fixed menu – having chefs determine the course of your meal as opposed to you having to make difficult choices. Fixed-price menus is all about fuss-free eating. The very word Prix Fixe menu however, already causes concern for some people because they assume the food is going to be exotic, unfamiliar and expensive.

Prix Fixe menus from France

Fixed priced menus or Prixe fixe menus originated in France from chef Georges Escoffier. This Frenchman was forn in 1846 already and become a chef at the Grand Hotel in Monte Carlo. He developed the first prix fixe menu. These set menus are still hugely popular today, but with so many people having dietary restrictions, it is common to see gluten-free meals on the menu too.

There’s Never Guesswork with Prices

Sometimes a fixed-price menu doesn’t offer that much choice, but you know precisely what you’re going to pay. For many people, they love that eating from a set menu is less expensive than eating a la carte. With a la carte, you can never be sure of the bill you’ll be presented with. For weddings and birthdays for instance, a fixed price menu keeps costs down for the host.

Table d’hôte is just another name for a fixed price menu, and it is essentially multi-course meals but with just a few choices. If you hear the word set menu or set meal, it’s the same thing as a fixed price menu.

The Best Flavours on Set Menus

You’ll often find these set menus at upscale hotels or restaurants. Look at the Royal Lancaster London – you’ll find that for all those special dates – Mother’s Day, Christmas day, or Valentine’s day, for instance, there’s a set menu. You can bet with such a wonderful hotel it will be all about tasty sensations. Whenever there is going to be a large crowd, these fixed menus are popular. The menu could be made up of a soup, an appetizer, a salad, a main course, dessert, coffee.

The fixed price menu may have originated in France but it’s a menu used all over the world now. Chefs whose skills are well suited to prix fixe menus know precisely how to pair crowd-pleasing dishes with sparkling wines.