Devising le menu is something that the French are famous for turning into an art form. Société Générale certainly did not disappoint for the France vs England semi-final of the rugby World Cup.
"La banque du rugby" entertained its thousand or so guests to the match with a dinner conceived by chef Hélène Darroze, whose modern take on south-western French food and €350 bills for two lunches (with drinks) are famous.
Darroze’s menu for the Franco-British occasion? Frog legs on an onion tart with cèpes mushrooms with a parsley and hazelnut sauce, followed by tomatoes stuffed with preserved meat and mildly spicy Anglet chillies.
The pun on the rude British name for the French and the origin of the chillies that look as if they should be pronounced the same as the French word for English, Anglais, but are in fact pronounced Anglette, proved not only witty but prophetic as England went on to steal a place in the finals from the Froggies.
The Rosbiffs defeated les Bleus 14-9 in the Stade de France, in front of president Nicolas Sarkozy and about 82,000 mainly French spectators.