Excusez-moi, j'ai une chenille dans ma salade!

Katya's post about "finally getting the rice she wanted at her local Chinese" and comments about the customer always being right reminded me of a meal Simon and I had in a restaurant in Narbonne circa Summer 2003. [I should point out at this point - I love France, French and the French - used to work there, parents live there, want to go back there for good one day!]

The restaurant - le Tahiti - is one of our favourites, well worth visiting, especially if you are looking for good, cheap food every night of the week! They have a fantastic buffet of "eat as much as you would like/can starters and desserts" and you choose a main course to go with them or not as the case may be! They also have kareoke (who said the French can't have fun? It wasn't me!) every night - but if you ask for a table at the edge to people watch along the promenade it's fine!!

Anyway ...... we arrived, ordered the usual - 2 aperitif, a pastis for him, americano for me a carafe of red to share. Perused the menu - I ordered "buffet overload" and Simon went for duck! So we start eating and then Simon's main arrives by which point I am on my 3rd / 4th trip to the buffet and he digs in! "Delicious!!" he says, Simon always likes me to think (it's usually true - but lets not forget my birthday meal 2004!!) that what he's eating is better than what I'm eating! So we people watch, we chat, we slurp red wine until suddenly the woman at the table next to us gasps in horror and points at Simon's plate! And there crawling out from under his lettuce leaf is the biggest, hairiest, 'orneriest caterpillar you have ever seen!

At this point Simon puts his knife and fork down and says to the nearest waitress "Excusez-moi Mademoiselle!" He gestures to his plate and leaves the rest of the conversation to me! I explain, she "oooohs and aaahs and ooh la las!" and whips his plate away!

We're in a French restaurant - was the customer right? YES! Did they do anything about it? NO!

Vive la France and all that!!