Brilliant Meal.

[Caran]

Still in France went for a meal at a restaurant our gite owners recommended.
They had what they call a formula menu. €13.90 for three courses. Buffet starter with a choice of about 40 dishes that you could have as much as you wanted. Ranging from large prawns, pate, chorizo, black pudding, lots of rice dishes and pasta, salads and lots more.
Main course was chosen of the menu. I had fish cooked in butter(don't know what kind) with assorted veg, rice, mushrooms and mash.
OH had veal kidneys in sauce, with sautéed potatoes, salad and veg.
Then there was a dessert buffet, again as much as you wanted.
There was a man sitting near us who went to the starter buffet three times with a piled up plate each time, then he had a main course.
We left before he went for dessert. It looked as if there was no end to the number of times you went back for a refill.
After we had finished our starter the waiter cleared the plates and said something to us, thinking back he could have been asking if we wanted to get a refill.
Including a carafe of wine it came to €34.40. Well worth it, feel stuffed now.

[Svejk]

I've found that people who normally avoid going to the bar can't be prized from a free one.

[ummmm]

No...England..... mainly attended by Irish though. My uncle owns the pub. They started off by putting £500 each behind the bar but after a few hours no one knew who were passing customers or who were attending the funeral so random strangers were getting free drinks. My uncle just said '***' it's a free bar for the day....

My grandad was also a publican so knew lots of people...