nd here my experience of
leaving the buffet at the Terminus and exploring in the town is that one
goes farther and does not fare so well. The buffet at Calais always has
had the reputation of being one of the best in Europe, and though the
Englishman new landed after a rough passage generally selects clear soup
and stewed chicken as his meal, it is quite possible to obtain an
admirably cooked lunch or dinner in the room off the restaurant; and the
cold viands, the cream cheese, the vegetables and fruit are all worthy
of attention. The "wagons-restaurants" which are attached now to most
of the express trains, no doubt have cut into the business of the buffet
restaurant; but as a contrast to the ordinary British station
refreshment- and dining-room the Calais buffet deserves to be mentioned.

Boulogne

At Boulogne there is a restaurant in the Casino, but I think it adds
very little to the revenues of the establishment. Most people take their
meals contentedly or discontentedly in their hotels, but the little
restaurant on the pier, which used to belong to the widow Poirmeur but
is now the Restaurant Garnier, with its miniature terrace and its
windows which look out on to the waves when the tide is up, has an
individuality of its own, and is one of the haunts of the gourmet who
enjoys a meal with unusual surroundings. In the winter the little
restaurant hibernates. If customers appear the wife of the proprietor
cooks dinner or lunch for them, and cooks very fairly; but with the
advent of summer a cook is engaged for the season, and it is a matter of
importance to the sojourner in Boulogne whether that cook ranks as
"fair" or "good." He generally is good. Fish, of course, is always fresh
at Boulogne and generally excellent in quality, and the shell-fish are
above suspicion--at least I never heard of anybody suffering from eating
_moules_,--therefore a _Sole Normande_ or any similar dish generally
forms part of a _dejeuner_ on the pier, and this with an _entrecote_ and
an _omelette au rhum_ makes a fine solid sea-side feast. The buffet at
the station, since it was taken in hand by the South-Eastern Railway, is
not the dreadful place of ill-cooked food it used to be. At the terminus
of the tramway which runs into the forest a little _cabaret_ gives a
simple meal, and the trip out and back is the pleasantest short
excursion from Boulogne. At Wimille it is wise to inquire what charge
the new hotel proposes to make before sit