utnumber greatly the French. It is a
place of great feasts, but it is also a restaurant at which the
_maitres-d'hotel_ are instructed not to suggest long dinners to the
patrons of the establishment. In M. Elles' hands or that of the
_maitre-d'hotel_ there is no fear of being "rushed" into ordering an
over-lengthy repast. This is a typical little dinner for three I once
ate at the Ritz, and as a feast in the autumn it is worth recording and
repeating:--

Caviar.
Consomme Viveni.
Mousseline de Soles au vin du Rhin.
Queues d'Ecrevisses a l'Americaine.
Escalopes de Riz de veau Favorite.
Perdreaux Truffes.
Salade.
Asperges vertes en branches.
Coupes aux Marrons.
Friandises.

In the afternoon the long passage with its chairs, carpets, and hangings
all of crushed strawberry colour is filled with tea-drinkers, for the "5
o'clock" is very popular in Paris, and the Ritz is one of the smartest
if not the smartest place at which to drink tea. In the evening the big
restaurant, with its ceiling painted to represent the sky and its
mirrors latticed to represent windows, is always full, the contrast to a
smart English restaurant being that three-quarters of the ladies dine in
their hats. Sometimes very elaborate entertainments are given in the
Ritz, and I can recall one occasion on a hot summer night, when the
garden was tented over and turned into a gorge apparently somewhere near
the North Pole, there being blocks and pillars of ice everywhere. The
anteroom was a mass of palms, and the idea of the assemblage of the
guests in the tropics and their sudden transference to the land of ice
was excellently carried out. I give the menu of another great dinner at
the Ritz because, not only has it some of the specialities of the house
embodied in it, but that it is a good specimen of what a great dinner
should be, being important but not heavy:--

Caviar frais. Hors-d'oeuvre.
Royal Tortue Claire. Creme d'Artichauts.
Mousseline d'Eperlans aux Ecrevisses a l'Americaine.
Noisettes de Ris de Veau au fumet de Champignons.
Selle de Chevreuil Grand Veneur. Puree de Marrons.
Poularde de Houdan Vendome.
Sorbets au Kirsch.
Ortolans aux Croutons.
Coeurs de Laitues.
Asperges vertes en branches. Sauce Mousseline.