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French Breakfast !


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 I recently spent several days at a 3 star Hotel, breakfast was the usual buffet deal, there was ham and cheese available, yogurts, fruit salad, breads etc tea or coffee but it was 13 euros ! Is it me or is this a tad expensive for breakfast ?

I'd have been there for ever to eat enough to warrant that cost....

There was the option to order a breakfast omelette at a suplement of 8 euros......

When I think it about some days we paid less for lunch !

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France is definitely getting very expensive.

My local Premier Inn in the UK charges £7.99 for a buffet breakfast - help yourself, plus massive cooked breakfast - wonderful bacon as many rashers as you want, likewise egs, sausages, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, tea/coffee.

WendyG

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This isn't strictly comparable I know but I had a wonderful breakfast this year at the local chocolatiere's.

Fromage frais, freshly squeezed orange juice, 2 vienoisserie from a choice of several and a large cup of tea, coffee or chocolate. The chocolate was the best I've ever tasted. It cost E6.99. I thought it was expensive although as WendyG says France is getting very expensive.

Hoddy
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The hotels we normally use for overnight stops in France charge around the €13 mark for breakfast too. Usually quite a good spread, but seems expensive. On our way down this time we stayed at a hotel we didn't want to, but for various reasons had to cancel our usual one en route and find another. No guide books etc in the car - as we don't usually need them, having pre-booked, and GPS wasn't well, either; so it was a case of what I had down in a notebook. IThe only one which was in the area we needed was even more expensive than on previous visits, but they had a room free. The price of meals had also gone up, but there was nowhere else locally, and after driving all day we wouldn't have wanted to get back in the car anyway, but I resented having to eat posh nosh that was over-priced.

Breakfast was €15, so I paid at reception that night, told them we didn't want breakfast, and drove off next morning down the autoroute munching some of my box of Cox's Orange Pippins and bananas till we reached the first services and had a cheap and cheerful pain au chocolat and coffee - not great, but tasted more like ambrosia than it might otherwise have done by virtue of being so cheap. It also meant we set out much earlier than we might otherwise have done after eating the hotel breakfast and maybe queuing to settle up in the morning.

We occasionally stay at  a Holiday Inn near the channel tunnel when we head south; then we opt for the no-breakfast rate, as I can't bear the bacon etc sitting around keeping warm; then it's breakfast in the terminal, which isn't too bad at that bar place in the centre, and quite reasonably priced. They always seem to be giving away a 500ml bottle of water with the newspaper at Smiths, too, which I appreciate.

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[quote user="Russethouse"]

 I recently spent several days at a 3 star Hotel, breakfast was the usual buffet deal, there was ham and cheese available, yogurts, fruit salad, breads etc tea or coffee but it was 13 euros ! Is it me or is this a tad expensive for breakfast ?

I'd have been there for ever to eat enough to warrant that cost....

There was the option to order a breakfast omelette at a suplement of 8 euros......

When I think it about some days we paid less for lunch !

[/quote]

Anyone who would pay 13 euros for  breakfast needs to have their wiring checked!

I have regularly  been asked 8 euros for an uncooked breakast in France and , I decline every time!

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[quote user="NormanH"]If you are in a town it's worth going out to a local café rather than taking the Hotel breakfast.

[/quote]

Quite right, Norman.  I usually head for the nearest PMU as the coffee is always excellent and the croissants not bad either.

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just had a fortnight away in various hotels Italy ... breakfast there was always, without fail, just cake, brioche and coffee. Once I found an apple on a breakfast table and snaffled it. But this breakfast didn't suit me at all. Lovely to get back to France where, as routine, there would be a choice of yoghurts, some cheese, maybe some ham. Prices around the 6 euros mark.
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Now that is what I would call a French breakfast and the price is correct.

Surely none of the others are what the title of the thread is, a French breakfast but put out for the tourists and at a tourist price.

I mistakenly once put out what I percieved to be a French breakfast for a French guest in the UK (my pals daughter on her stage) complete with ham and cheese and she was disgusted, I certainly did my bit to reinforce a stereotype as she now tells her friends how déguelasse an English breakfast is.

The real irony is where I got the idea from, that was what her father would put out for me in France, I took him to task and he told me thats what all the english ate for breakfast in the hôtels that he had stayed in while working (in france) he too thought it was deguelasse but his firm was paying and he could usually find a coffee and a croissant amongst the cheese and charcuterie.

Do the French actually pay 13 or 17 Euros for something déguelasse willingly from their own pockets?

 

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We have holidayed with french people and they have eaten whatever is going for breakfast. I have never seen them get fussy over the ham and cheese, but have eaten what they fancied.

The only thing that really horrified them, was in Austria, where the austrians, where we were at least, would bring us soup as a starter at lunch time and also as an entree with dinner. Soup at lunch time.......... did not go down well with the french we were with. I loved it, I love soup.

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[quote user="Russethouse"]

Well what do I know, I always thought ham and cheese was put out for the Dutch!

It may be 'deguelasse' but a protein breakfast is a good start to the day.

[/quote]

 

I think for me it would depend on what sort of cheese and most certainly what sort of ham, if epaule, then degueulasse is an understatement, I loathe wet cheap ham.

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The hotel we usually stay at while going north/south charges €13. While there are many English, Dutch and Belgians stay there going to and from holiday, there are also lots of (usually) retired French couples and couples with small children, and they seem to pay quite willingly and eat good quantities of whatever is on offer. Breakfast comprises pretty much what others have mentioned, with cereals, cheese and ham, lots of assorted breads, eggs to boil etc.

The overnight stay is comfortable and reasonably priced and dinner is also reasonably priced and good - it's only the breakfast I find out of line. Being so close to the autoroute is another big draw! 

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We charge 9.5 euros for breakfast.  The breakfast items come to a fair bit in France if you consider the price of croissants, bread, cheese etc.  We do not do a buffet due to hygiene and wastage but prefer to serve all requests ourselves.  We offer all the basics with an anything else you want option if you let us know in advance.

The other thing is waking up quite early, baking the croissants and laying the table and still smiling when people wander in half asleep... then clearing it all away.  Then there is the making of home made mulberry jam.

We have a mixed crowd from the typical French who just have their croissant, pain au chocolate and coffee to the non French who eat loads to try and get through the day.

The French are nearly always happy with their simple breakfast, but good coffee and good bread, for that sort of price whereas the non French tend to price things based on how much variety they have.  For the non French a part of the job is the psychology of prising out what would be pleasurable for tomorrows breakfast.

Due to feedback I think this price seems to work for most of our guests.  If we were to charge more I think the simple French option would be too pricey and there would be much more wastage as we try to add more to the options to justify the higher price, which most would not take anyway.

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Croissant, tartine, coffee, and fresh  orange juice is around 4.50 in cafés here.

My breakfast on the other hand is Ham, eggs or cheese,  petits pains grillés , yoghurt (bifidus) with blueberries or red fruit, a litre of water, and a  mint tea..keep a banana for elevenses.[:)]

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So the ham and cheese seems to be a dutch thing then and some French will eat it to get their moneys worth, is that it?

Does anyone know a French person that has other than coffee plus croissant/morceau de baguette for breakfast? There certainly seem to be loads of cereals on the rayons.

My breakfast quotidien:

1/2 a banana mashed with rock salt (my only salt intake of the day) covered with 40g of whole oats and a little water, 90 seconds or so in the microwave, then a big helping of fresh fruit salad (I make one a day), a couple of dollops of fromage blanc or if in the UK greek yoghurt, and a few chopped nuts on top, I cant get enough of it [:D]

Mind you its a hell of a bowlfull, i weighed it this morning, - 500g [:-))]

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