At the table

In France, you do not place your hands in your lap during dinner. They rest on the table—not in the most brusque way but elegantly and sensually, especially for women.

Tap water in restaurants is free. However, if you’re looking for something more elaborate or with less chlorine, you should order something else.

One of the hardest parts of French etiquette is waiting for the first sip of a drink at a gathering. When guests arrive at their own pace, you must wait for everyone to be served before anyone drinks—especially when alcohol is involved. Unless the host insists otherwise, it’s impolite to drink before this collective toast.

It took me eight years to understand this. Once, while meeting friends in a restaurant in Paris, I eagerly waited for my champagne to arrive, only to find it served 25 minutes after we were seated—and five minutes after the last guest arrived. I found it rude to wait at the time, but little did I know that touching my glass early would have been the height of rudeness.

Please, please, please do not speak on a terrace or in a café as though your story is the only one worth hearing or as if it’s an obligation for everyone else to discover. Such behaviour is considered disrespectful and rude.

If you’re only going for a drink on a terrace, always sit at the tables without cutlery; the ones set with cutlery are reserved for diners.