Carafe d'eau

[Will]

I think Miki is right, although restaurants that do only serve bottled water exist, there are precious few of them, and plenty put in extras, which business sense dictates have to paid for by something added to the bill.

Going back a step or two, I don't think it's necessarily a cheapskate Brit thing, plenty of French people have a jug of tap water in even the most expensive places. One other side of the coin is that tap water can be foul, in which case there is no problem with ordering a carafe but then replacing it with a bottle of Vittel or whatever, as I have done in the past.

Talking of cheapskate Brits, there was a group of three who were blatantly drinking their own cheap wine and other stuff in the LD ferries Cotton Club the other evening. I know the wine on sale there may not win a gold medal but it's quite OK and not expensive. They had even brought their own plastic cups, not even the decency to buy one glass each then refill it from their own bottle. The very nice lady looking after the place cleared away their debris from tme to time without saying a word, I wouldn't have blamed her for chucking them out. Particularly as the ferry was chocker and here were no doubt plenty who would have been grateful for the more comfortable surroundings and happily used the Club's bar. After all, decent people don't pay for Club Class then treat it like cattle class?

[FastFreddy]

don't know if you have a proper answer yet, but legally YES.  A diner in a restaurant is entitled to tap water free.  Motorway services and fast foods (ie Flunch, MacDo) are different and have different legislation, but a normal hotel or roadside restaurant must provide water free of charge.  The only exception is in a bar where you can refuse to offer tap water if the person is not consuming anything else. But in this case, again, this must be very clearly indicated so the customer can see.  If she didn't have a carafe she could have given you a glass.....  I am a restaurant owner and receive L'Hotellerie magazine every week and this is a question often found in the q&a page.  The answer from the lawyers is always the same.

[Alexis]

We went to Cancale for lunch yesterday and not only did they bring the carafe of water with a smile, when she noticed it was empty she brought another one without being asked.

We had a bottle of rosé too....not that cheap but he is trying to teach me.

 

[Miki]

See how we live at this end of the country. Free water and top ups as well [:)]

Alexis, I do

hope the Rosé was from Provence. No sobbery with rosé, just that I

always think a rosé from Provence is such a  nice wine to slurp!

Which resto was it ?

[Will]

Miki - Rosé from Provence is generally good, but have you had Sancèrre rosé, or its neighbour Reuilly? They are something else. Favourite from our trip to Eastern Loire/Bourgogne though from this year was Chateaumeillant. Rather difficult to find, to say the least, outside the immediate area, but wonderful value. We also get a very nice one in 10litre boxes from a producer in the Touraine, pineau d'aunis grape. The good weather certainly once again turned us on to pink wines this year.

I agree, loads of good eateries in Cancale. Really spoilt for choice rouund our way.

[Miki]

Most of the Reuilly we sell and drink ourselves is vin blanc.(Sauvignon

blanc and boy, what delicious wines can come from that grape).  We

certainly have tried the Rosé and it is very nice but, as a

generalisation, Rosé  from Provence is an easy to purchase wine in

most restos (although we have two favourites which can be bought in

most shops, I think and not expensive. Ours come from a cave in a

wholesalers.

We were turned  to Rosé wine one summer,  a fair time ago

now, by a restaurant owner from Pierreverte, near Manosque in Provence.

He took us through it all, including a degustation and the rest is

history. Summer has long been Rosé for us, I sit in wonderment at the

way red can be thrown down the gullet in  temperatures of 30 plus

(not inc chilled reds of course) but each to his own I guess.

Touraine Pineau d'aunis Rosé is very well know Rosé in the trade and a

very nice tipple indeed, we have sipped many a good wine from one the

producers whilst in the Loire, notably one, now forgotten (ah, how the

memory fades!) but in the Azay le Rideau region.

[Alexis]

There you are!  I was going to ask you to recommend one but didn't have the time in the end.

We walked the length of the 'front' and back again and had just decided on a nice looking one when Gilles asked if there was room inside...we wanted the terrace seeing as it was so nice...but I had forgotten he isn't allowed in the sun[:(]

Back we went to the last one near the oyster stalls on the harbour as it had a big covered terrace.  We enjoyed it.  Three of us had the menu 14.90€ and one had the fishermans platter.

Always buy rosé from Provence BUT we tried a bottle from Corsica the other week and enjoyed it.

Crowds of people there yesterday...very multi-nation it was.

When we came back after visiting MIL it CHUCKED it down from Avranche to home.  I know that you got it too as we passed!

[bee]

As previously mentioned, the provision of free tap water is a legal requirement in a restaurant, in UK and France. No doubt another bit of EU legislation!!

[Dick Smith]

Napoleon, I believe, so yes, European.

[Will]

Did they have water 'on tap' in Napoleonic times? The alternatives are too nauseating to think about [:D]

[Dick Smith]

Perhaps that was why it was free...

There is a theory kicking about somewhere that one (two?) of the reasons the UK did so well (sic) in the Industrial Revolution was beer and tea. Both require boiled, and therefore safer, water, so that large numbers of people could move to towns with only occasional catastrophic outbursts of gastro-enteric disease. Wine-drinking cultures were not so well served and stayed in  the countryside.

To quote Terry Pratchett, the water in the well must have been good, there were so many frogs living in it...