Carhaix triumphantly, serving to each in turn a mahogany-colour bouillon whose iridescent surface was looped with rings of topaz.
It was succulent and unctuous, robust and yet delicate, flavoured as it was with the broth of a whole flock of boiled chickens.

The diners were silent now, their noses in their plates, their faces brightened by steam from the savoury soup, soup, two selected dishes, a salad, and a dessert.
"Now is the time to repeat the chestnut dear to Flaubert, 'You can't dine like this in a restaurant,'" said Durtal.
"Let's not malign the restaurants," said Des Hermies.

"They afford a very special delight to the person who has the instinct of the inspector.

I had an opportunity to gratify this instinct just the other night.

I was returning from a call on a patient, and I dropped into one of these establishments where for the sum of three francs you are entitled to soup, two selected dishes, a salad, and a dessert.
"The restaurant, where I go as often as once a month, has an unvarying clientele, hostile highbrows, officers in mufti, members of Parliament, bureaucrats.
"While laboriously gnawing my way through a redoubtable sole with sauce au gratin, I examined the habitues seated all around me and I found them singularly altered since my last visit.