Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
incontournable
English translation:
Feature dishes
Added to glossary by
Lara Barnett
Sep 7, 2011 06:04
12 yrs ago
6 viewers *
French term
incontournable
French to English
Marketing
Cooking / Culinary
Restaurant website
Help! I've been racking my brains for ages on this one...
I have a heading on a restaurant website « Les Incontournables » where they list, not by any means all of their menu items, but just some key dishes which are to some extent specialities of the house, or reflect its style. One might regard them as being central or core elements of its targetting.
Now clearly, most of the common solutions (many of which do of course appear in the KudoZ glossary) are out of the question: 'inevitable / inescapable' would be quite out of the question (prawn cocktail — again?!)
Likewise 'unmissable' somehow seems to... miss the mark!
And all the 'must-haves' etc. seem to me to fall flat — 'must-eats'?
I did toy with 'essentials', but don't somehow feel this is quite right... but am prepared to reconsider...
The idea I've clung onto for the moment is "Not to be missed...", but it doesn't really quite sit comfortably; at the same time, I'm reluctant to go for a more staid 'key dishes' and I think 'speciality' is too narrow, especially as some of the dishes on the list are themselves referred to as 'our speciality'; likewise, one can't really use 'the classics', since many of these dishes are (relatively!) original and could hardly be described as classics.
Anyone feeling gastronomically inspired this morning...?
I have a heading on a restaurant website « Les Incontournables » where they list, not by any means all of their menu items, but just some key dishes which are to some extent specialities of the house, or reflect its style. One might regard them as being central or core elements of its targetting.
Now clearly, most of the common solutions (many of which do of course appear in the KudoZ glossary) are out of the question: 'inevitable / inescapable' would be quite out of the question (prawn cocktail — again?!)
Likewise 'unmissable' somehow seems to... miss the mark!
And all the 'must-haves' etc. seem to me to fall flat — 'must-eats'?
I did toy with 'essentials', but don't somehow feel this is quite right... but am prepared to reconsider...
The idea I've clung onto for the moment is "Not to be missed...", but it doesn't really quite sit comfortably; at the same time, I'm reluctant to go for a more staid 'key dishes' and I think 'speciality' is too narrow, especially as some of the dishes on the list are themselves referred to as 'our speciality'; likewise, one can't really use 'the classics', since many of these dishes are (relatively!) original and could hardly be described as classics.
Anyone feeling gastronomically inspired this morning...?
Proposed translations
(English)
| 3 | Feature dishes |
Lara Barnett
|
| 3 +4 | Our signature dishes |
Anne Greaves
|
| 4 +1 | Highlights |
Natalie Pangburn
|
| 3 +2 | Specialities of the House |
Colin Morley (X)
|
| 4 | cameo |
Sheila Wilson
|
| 3 +1 | a taste of... |
MoiraB
|
| 3 | quintessential |
reeny
|
| 3 | the best of French cuisine... |
Linda Sansome (X)
|
| 3 | The classic |
mimi 254
|
| 3 | keynote dishes |
B D Finch
|
| 3 | When in doubt |
FX Torrentz
|
| 2 | irresistible |
Wendy Streitparth
|
| 2 | The Reliables |
Sylvie LE BRAS
|
Change log
Sep 14, 2011 06:58: Lara Barnett Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
1 hr
Lara Barnett
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in English
Works in field
United Kingdom
www.lingocraft.co.uk
Native in: English (Variants: British, Scottish, Irish, Singaporean, UK, South African) 
Works in: French to English, Italian to English, Romanian to English, and 2 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
27
Selected
Feature dishes
I find the word feature used more and more these days.
3 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks a lot, Lara! This is what I went with in the end, it fits my style and register perfectly, and is non-comittal enough to cover all bases!"
+4
7 mins
Our signature dishes
Or is that too celebrity cheffy!
Note from asker:
| Thanks, Anne! No, not at all, the tone and register would be quite appropriate; however, as I said above, the list is a little too long for that to be really true, and only a subset of the list are literally referred to as 'specialities of the house'. It's so hard to explain — these are kind of lots of dishes that will not necessarily always appear on the menu, but which give an idea of the sort of things to expect when you come to this restaurant... |
| Thanks a lot, Anne! This is definitely an excellent solution in many situations, but in the end, not the one I decided to use in my particular instance. |
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
MoiraB
: I think this works. A hotel group client of mine uses this phrase all the time to describe the sort of things one of its restaurant concepts offers - and it covers quite a big range
41 mins
|
| agree |
Claire Cox
: This is what I was thinking of before I looked at the answers!
2 hrs
|
| agree |
shweta kheria
2 hrs
|
| agree |
Bigula
2 days 10 hrs
|
24 mins
Wendy Streitparth
Germany
Germany
Native in English
Works in field
Germany
45 years experience
Native in: English (Variant: British)
Works in: German to English, French to English, Spanish to English, and 2 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
24
irresistible
Obviously not a direct translation, but maybe it fits depending on the "status" of the restaurant.
Note from asker:
| Thanks, Wendy! Now that's taking things in a new direction... I shall certainly give this one some thought. |
| Thanks a lot, Wendy! This is definitely a good solution in many situations, but in the end, not the one I decided to use in my particular instance. |
+1
34 mins
Natalie Pangburn
Native in French
&
English
Works in field
D.Phil, business and humanities
Native in: English 
, French
Works in: French to English
Highlights
I have used this before in a catering menu when I had a 'Specialty Dishes' subsection. Although it is weaker in meaning, it captures the idea of these being reliable and emphasised dishes whilst enabling you to keep other subsets. Depends on the tone you're looking for!
Example sentence:
Menu Highlights
Note from asker:
| Thanks a lot, NP! This is another excellent solution in many situations, but in the end, not the one I decided to use in my particular instance. |
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Philippa Smith
: Given all the bits of context, I think this is nice and neutral enough and is works well as a sub-heading
1 hr
|
38 mins
Sheila Wilson
Spain
Spain
Native in English
Works in field
Spain
20 years producing 100% natural English
Native in: English (Variant: British)
Works in: English, French to English
Related KudoZ points
:
56
cameo
I think this might do it
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cameo
3: a usually brief literary or filmic piece that brings into delicate or sharp relief the character of a person, place, or event
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cameo
3: a usually brief literary or filmic piece that brings into delicate or sharp relief the character of a person, place, or event
Note from asker:
| Thanks Sheila! Although this certainly could be a solution in many situations, in the end, it's not the one I decided to use in my particular instance. |
+1
51 mins
a taste of...
...what we offer / what to expect / what's to come - or if they're being less modest: a taste of heaven
Note from asker:
| Thanks Moira! This might certainly be a solution in some situations, but in the end, not the one I decided to use in my particular instance. |
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
JaneD
: This would work well with the ellipsis idea you mentioned, Tony
27 mins
|
|
Thanks, Jane!
|
2 hrs
Sylvie LE BRAS
France
France
Native in French
Works in field
France
Native in: French
Works in: English to French, Spanish to French, French, and 1 more.
The Reliables
Just a thought, I don't know if this could work!
aussi : The Uniques (??)
So far, my preference goes with Anne's suggestion.
One of my client (manufacturer of cooking equipment) uses the term:
[brand] signature equipment
Good luck!
aussi : The Uniques (??)
So far, my preference goes with Anne's suggestion.
One of my client (manufacturer of cooking equipment) uses the term:
[brand] signature equipment
Good luck!
Note from asker:
| Thanks Sylvie! I can see this could be a good solution in many situations, but doesn't quite fit the overall style of my document. |
+2
2 hrs
Specialities of the House
Or (IMHO better) leave in French as Spécialités de la Maison
Note from asker:
| Thanks, Colin! As I explained, my problem is that there are a whole other list of dishes that are specifically the house specialities... :-( Leaving it in FR was not an option for me here. |
2 hrs
quintessential
suggestion....
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Note added at 2 hrs (2011-09-07 08:46:28 GMT)
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...or quintessentially
Definition for quintessentially:
(quintessential) representing the perfect example of a class or quality
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2011-09-07 08:46:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
...or quintessentially
Definition for quintessentially:
(quintessential) representing the perfect example of a class or quality
Note from asker:
| Thanks a lot, Reeny! A word I love, albeit perhaps a little over-used these days. This is definitely an excellent solution in many situations, but doesn't quite fit with the style of the rest of my document. |
2 hrs
the best of French cuisine...
Or, French cuisine at its best... then your button? (If you will forgive the turn of phrase!) You say that some of the dishes are relatively original, so that would cover it.
Note from asker:
| Thanks, Linda! Although this might work very well in some situations, in my case it would have been too broad, and was uncannily close to the restaurant's main tagline! |
3 hrs
The classic
A la carte et les classiques - un peu dans le sens de "immanquable"
Note from asker:
| Merci Mimi ! This could have been a good solution, but the trouble is, few of the dishes here could be regarded as truly 'classics' of French cuisine, while some of those true classics appear elsewhere in the menu. |
3 hrs
keynote dishes
traveltips.usatoday.com › ... › Food & Restaurants › Italian Restaurants
"If a complete entree is what you prefer, the restaurant has a slew of keynote dishes, including Tuscan-rubbed bistecca, grilled Colorado lamb sirloin and ..."
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Note added at 4 hrs (2011-09-07 10:06:31 GMT)
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"At Deco's Dog Cafe, Miho Hara sips a cup of coffee while Jasmin, her miniature dachshund, tucks into a fishburger with a side order of salt-free rice crackers.
"She eats ordinary dog food at home, so coming here is a treat," says the 24-year-old. "There aren't many places you can take dogs in Tokyo, so I can see why cafes like this are popular."
The most doting owners and their pets visit twice a day to sample human and canine versions of Deco's keynote dishes, such as chicken and vegetable spring rolls, chiffon cake and blueberry muffins. "
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/jun/11/japan.justinmccu...
"If a complete entree is what you prefer, the restaurant has a slew of keynote dishes, including Tuscan-rubbed bistecca, grilled Colorado lamb sirloin and ..."
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2011-09-07 10:06:31 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
"At Deco's Dog Cafe, Miho Hara sips a cup of coffee while Jasmin, her miniature dachshund, tucks into a fishburger with a side order of salt-free rice crackers.
"She eats ordinary dog food at home, so coming here is a treat," says the 24-year-old. "There aren't many places you can take dogs in Tokyo, so I can see why cafes like this are popular."
The most doting owners and their pets visit twice a day to sample human and canine versions of Deco's keynote dishes, such as chicken and vegetable spring rolls, chiffon cake and blueberry muffins. "
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/jun/11/japan.justinmccu...
Note from asker:
| Thanks a lot, Barbar! An excellent, though I don't know why, it just sounded a teeny tad too pretentious for my resturant, so in the end, not the one I decided to use in my particular instance. |
22 hrs
When in doubt
I had originally thought of another ellipsis: "Still can't decide?", but I think "When in doubt" has a more authoritative tone to it which I feel is necessary.
Note from asker:
| Merci F-X ! It's a great idea, and could have fitted with certain other bits of the document. However, in the end, I decided that this was just a bit too cryptic, give the position of the button fairly high up the 'ladder' — I would certainly have used it lower down, where the sense would have been perfectly clear... |
Discussion
I think all the suggestions here could have worked in some circumstances, but have chosen the one that best fitted my specific context (in the not-unexpected total absence of clarification from the customer!)
Thanks again to the good ol' KudoZ team for coming to my rescue!
AFAIK, the 'carte' heading is likely to have just a button to download a PDF version of their place-mat menu (get the picture?), whereas the 'incontournables' gives an actual list of dishes — quite a complete menu in itself — which I am assuming are simply the 'core' menu that probably won't be changed (ever?); but all this is supposition on my part, and so far the customer hasn't got back to me...
The trouble is, I only have a 'snapshot' of the situation today, I don't really know how the website is intended to be used in the future.
Though I did wonder about "old favourites" or "classic favourites"
I'm toying with the idea of "Don't miss our..." — I've used the ellipsis ploy on other buttons, and I think it's quite a nice technique for arousing people's curiosity and encouraging them to click the button. Once on the page, of course, they'll find out soon enough what it's all about; and of course, we do know that it's a restaurant, so they won't be expecting it to be "shampoo, cut, and blow-dry" ☺