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What is an amuse-bouche?                              

DINE at any good restaurant and the chances are you’ll find a small, bite-sized offering that is not listed on the menu placed before you at the start of the meal. Don’t summon the waiter and complain - this is known as an amuse-bouche and will not be charged to your bill.

Traditionally an amuse-bouche is served at the beginning of a meal and was only to be found in top end restaurants. However, in recent years many restaurants that are aspiring for a Michelin star will offer diners an amuse-bouche to showcase their skills and creativity. It is not uncommon for several other unexpected dishes to arrive between courses later on - often these are used as palette cleansers to prepare your taste buds for the next course.

Like many things culinary, the term amuse-bouche is French in origin (in France you will also hear the term amuse-gueule which effectively means the same thing but is not in common usage in English speaking countries). It literally means ‘to amuse the mouth’ and is often used by chefs to showcase their creativity and to trial dishes which they may go on to develop into a full starter or main course. The variety and ingenuity of amuse-bouches can often exceed what is offered on the menu.

It goes without saying that restaurants do not charge extra for amuse-bouches - they are free extras aimed at exciting the diner’s palette and are also often very pleasing to the eye. Enjoy this little morsel without the worry of a huge ‘hidden extra’ appearing on your bill at the end.

Amuse-bouches can be fiendishly complicated and time consuming to create but there are myriad websites offering recipes and suggestions. There are also dozens of cookbooks available which are specifically aimed at teaching people how to prepare these little treats, but be warned, preparation does not come cheap and you will need huge amounts of patience to get it right.

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An amuse-bouche