French menu terms, decoded

Published 9 October 2026 · Vogue Cafe, Steveston Village

À l'ancienne, en croûte, navarin, chèvre chaud: the French menu terms on our real menu, with meanings checked against the Larousse dictionary.

A French bistro menu can read like a riddle if you didn't take French in school. What is "à l'ancienne"? Why is a stew named after a turnip? What makes a quiche "Lorraine"? This is a short glossary of the French menu terms you'll actually see on our menu at Vogue Cafe, with meanings checked against the Larousse French dictionary, so next time you can order without pointing.

French menu terms for the mains

Bourguignon

Larousse defines bourguignon simply as "from Burgundy". A dish cooked "à la bourguignonne" is in the Burgundy style, and in practice that means simmered in red wine. Our beef bourguignon is stewed beef and vegetables, simmered in red wine.

Navarin d'agneau

This one surprises people. Larousse defines a navarin as a mutton stew with various vegetables, and gives the word's origin as "navet", the French word for turnip. "D'agneau" means "of lamb". So navarin d'agneau is, quite literally, a lamb stew with its roots in root vegetables. Ours is tender lamb stew simmered with seasonal vegetables.

Ratatouille

The traditional Provençal dish of stewed vegetables. Larousse traces the word to "touiller", an informal verb meaning to stir or mix. Ours comes with three-colour rice and is one of our vegetarian plates.

Poulet, agneau, saucisson

Three words that explain half the menu: poulet is chicken, agneau is lamb, saucisson is sausage. A baguette "Poulet au Brie" is a chicken and Brie sandwich; "Saucisson Frankfurt" is a frankfurter sausage baguette.

Café plates, crêpes and tarts

Croque monsieur and croque madame

"Croque" comes from the verb croquer, which Larousse defines as to crunch a food between your teeth with a sharp sound. The dictionary describes a croque-monsieur as a slice of ham between two slices of bread, fried in butter or toasted, and sprinkled with cheese. The madame adds an egg. Ours are made on a brioche bun with European ham and cheese and come with a side salad; there's also a croque veggie with sautéed spinach and egg. We've written a whole piece on croque monsieur vs croque madame.

Quiche Lorraine

Larousse defines a quiche as a savoury tart in shortcrust pastry, filled with bacon pieces and covered with beaten eggs and cream, and notes it is a speciality of Lorraine, the region in northeastern France. The word itself is Lorrain, of Germanic origin. Ours is egg, European bacon and cheese with a side salad. The spinach quiche swaps the bacon for spinach and Brie.

Crêpe and galette

Larousse describes a crêpe as a thin pancake of flour, eggs and milk or water, cooked in a pan or on a griddle, and adds a useful note: in Brittany, the wheat-flour crêpe is sweet, while the buckwheat version, the galette, is savoury. On our menu, the savoury crêpes are thin buckwheat pancakes with fillings like ham, cheese and egg, and the sweet crêpes are thin buttery pancakes. More in our guide to crêpes vs galettes.

Suzette

Crêpe Suzette is the classic dessert crêpe in orange sauce. Ours is finished with Grand Marnier.

Éclair

Larousse's first meaning for éclair is a flash of lightning. Further down, it gives the pastry: an elongated choux pastry filled with flavoured pastry cream. We make chocolate and coffee éclairs in-house.

Starters and sharing plates

À l'ancienne

"Ancienne" is the feminine of ancien, which Larousse defines as something that has existed for a long time. "À l'ancienne" on a menu means made the old-fashioned way. Our French onion soup à l'ancienne is built on a beef marrow-bone broth, with cheese and a crouton.

En croûte

Croûte is crust; Larousse's first meaning is the coloured, hardened outer part of bread, from the Latin crusta. "En croûte" means baked in a crust. Our Brie en croûte is baked Brie in puff pastry with sun-dried tomato.

Chèvre chaud

Chèvre is goat (Larousse: from the Latin capra), and on a menu it means goat cheese. Chaud means hot. A salade de chèvre chaud is a salad with warm goat cheese; ours puts the goat cheese on toasted baguette with tomato, raisins, almonds and mixed greens.

Pâté and charcuterie

Larousse defines pâté as a charcuterie preparation of very variable texture, made of meats and offal either in pieces or as a fine paste, and notes the word comes from pâte (pastry or dough). Charcuterie itself is defined as products made mainly from pork, cooked or raw and salted, such as ham and sausage. Our duck pâté is served with toasted baguette, and the charcuterie plate brings dry sausage, beer sausage, prosciutto, frankfurter sausage and pickle.

A quick French menu terms cheat sheet

That last one, viennoiserie, is defined by Larousse as bakery products made from a fermented dough enriched with sugar, milk, fat and eggs, such as brioche and croissants. It's the word for what's in our pastry case in the morning: butter croissants and pain au chocolat.

Order like you mean it

You don't need perfect pronunciation; nobody here is grading you. But knowing a few French menu terms makes ordering more fun, and it helps you find what you're actually in the mood for. Browse the whole menu, or just come in and ask. We're at 12251 No 1 Rd in Steveston Village, open daily from 10:30am to 8:30pm. Call (604) 370-4444 to reserve.

Frequently asked questions

What does à l'ancienne mean on a menu?

It means made the old-fashioned way. Ancienne is the feminine of ancien, which Larousse defines as something that has existed for a long time.

What is a navarin?

Larousse defines a navarin as a mutton stew with various vegetables, and gives the word's origin as navet, the French word for turnip. Navarin d'agneau is the lamb version.

What does en croûte mean?

It means baked in a crust. Croûte is crust, from the Latin crusta, so Brie en croûte is Brie baked in pastry.

What is the difference between a crêpe and a galette?

Larousse notes that in Brittany the wheat-flour crêpe is sweet, while the buckwheat version, the galette, is savoury.

What does croque mean in croque monsieur?

Croque comes from the verb croquer, which Larousse defines as to crunch a food between your teeth with a sharp sound.