The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-07-07

they all adnpt the same course. LOD-
 sters are always served cold boiled.
 So many are boiled every day and if
 any are unsold at night, they are made into mayOnnaise fo rthe next day;
 lobster salad we should call it. Such
 Iuxuries as broiled live lobster and
 lobster a la Newburg are unknown in
 London.
 In the matter of prices things seem
 to be cheaper than in New York, for
 single dishes, probably an average of 50
 per cent less But it is the inevitable extras that count up.
 Bread and butter is extra. all vegeta-
 bles are extra. and it is always custom
 ary to drink something beide water. By the time you have eaten decent meal with the usual trimmings it has cost
 you quite as much as in New York,
 probably little more.
 In the rooms in which table de'hote
 meals are served. there are these class
 es of dinners. five shillings, sevn-and- six, and ten shillings without wine,
 shilling being about equal to quarter
 in our money. Private dinners are ac-
 cording to the quality desired from i've
 to fifteen shillings a head, without
 wine, being the usual range, or from twenty-five to forty-two shillings
 head with wine.
 These table d'hote dinners and prl- vate banquets do not pay so well as
 la carte meals, and the cafe is always the place where most money is made in
 a restaurant, just as the bar is the best
 paying part of hotel. There are many T hot q dinner for three -and-siX pence a head but you are supposed to order Wlne and by the time you have had coffee and paid your tip, your dinner has cost you at least s15O, probably $2. The last part of every transaction m
 a restaurant is to settle with the waiter.
 These walters are almost all foreigners as they are better trained than the ha- tive Londoner, know more about the dishes they serve and can tell you what the French terms mean.
 In this particular restaurant there are sixty walters in all, of whom tWenty-slN are in the cafe They go on duty at hat past s in the morning and work until lo' chiefly at getting things in order for the rush later in the day as very feW peopie
 go to restaurants of this class ln the forenoon.
 From 10 until half past 12 the walters rest, and then they are on duty uhtll half past F at night. Walters Tn the cafe and a la carte rooms are not pald, but depend entirely upon tips. The arrangement by which these walters secure their places is a long a Nlichnpnf nav ing it's own system. In this one they pay nothing for their place, ut are se- lected from the best of those that offer. A high-class place can always get good walters.
 When the waiter first comes he is put at one of the inferior stations, which are all numbered. As he improves or
 shows his ability, he is promoted, until
 he finds himself among the lucky ones
 on the right of the entrance.
 In this cafe there are sixteen stations, with two turn-men, or extras Every
 eighth day each waiter is off duty, a
 turn-man taking his place.
 The walters in the table dhote and
 banqueting rooms get about fifteen shillings a week. as they cannot make enough in tips to pay them. A good waiter in the cafe will usually pick up from $1O to $2O a week in the season. For every third waiter there is a sec ond waiter or assistant, whose business it is to clear off tables. fill water carafes, fold napkins and help the chief walters in carrying dishes. These sec ond walters get about II shillings week and are supposed to be in train ing.
 In the matter of tips Americans are universally in the habit of giving too
 much. A penny in the shilling, exclu-
 sive of the wine, is quite enough. No waiter expects more than three or four pence from a single guest. no mat ter how much he eats or drinks. The man who eats a five-shiling table d'hote dinner with three shilling bot tie of wine, $2 in all, and then gives the waiter quarter, is simply spelling him, and will get no better service the next time than if he gave him three pence or four pence.
 The busy seasons for the London restaurant are from April 15 to August 15 in summer. Then from September to Christmas and immediately after the 1 holidays.
 In winter the patrons are chiefly busi- ness people, residents of London. thea 1 ter parties and those who give dinners and balls. From May until August the tourists and the people from the prov
 inces are in the majority
 The real London season is from May to the middle of August, because then all the wealth and fashion of the en- | pire is in town, race meetings, regattas and art exhibitions are going on and every one sees every one else at the big restaurants in the West End 1 One of the great problems in. the London restaurant is the management of the demimonde. There are no restaurants specially licensed for this class as in Berlin, but every restaurant ! keeper caters to them more or less. as ! they bring the best-paying class of cus- | toners in their train.
 1 The high-class places have certain well understood conditions under which ! they allow the women to pass the por-
 ter at the door. such as that they shall select their table immediately on enter 1 ing and not move from it and abstain 1 from making any overtures to guests at
 other tables. AS long as the women be- have themselves there is no objection to them.
 ! London restaurants seem to be singu- larly free from dead beats, and it is