At a French restaurant abroad

"Dans un restaurant français à l'étranger"
French B1 writing exercise

Peter needs his friend Isabelle's help to decipher the menu at this French restaurant.

Pay attention to the hints!

Some vocabulary you may want to look up before or during this exercise: "to look tasty (menu)", "expertise", "to decipher [something]", "half of [things]", "to have no idea what [something] is", "a fish stew", "a broth (stew)", "to be flavoured with [something]", "saffron", "fennel", "garlic", "a strong taste", "to have [something] (food)", "a layer of puff pastry", "decorative", "a spiral pattern", "on the top", "a filling (pie)", "this one", "frangipane", "[ingredient]-flavoured", "Yum!".

Written by Qualified French Expert Aurélie Drouard HKH, Licence d'anglais LLCE
Last updated: 2026-01-29

I’ll give you some sentences to translate into French

  • I’ll show you where you make mistakes
  • I’ll keep track of what you need to practise
  • Change my choices if you want
Start the exercise
How the test works
You’ll practise: Le Présent (Indicatif), Adjectif, Verbe irrégulier

Here's a preview of the text for the writing challenge, when you're ready click the start button above:

- That menu looks very tasty (to me), but I'm going to need your expertise to decipher it because I don't know half of these dishes! - No problem! What names don't you understand? - For example, I have no idea (of) what "une bouillabaisse" is. - A bouillabaisse is a traditional fish stew from Marseille, whose broth is flavoured with (some) saffron, (some) fennel, (some) garlic and (some) tomatoes. That dish has a strong taste, but it's delicious! - I think (that) I'm going to have the cassoulet, it's more familiar. And for dessert, what is "un pithivier"? - That's what I'm going to have! It's a beautiful French pie made from two layers of puff pastry, with a decorative spiral pattern on the top. Its filling can vary, but this one is frangipane-flavoured! Yum!

Thinking...