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À la carteMeaningOn the menu, with each dish separately priced. OriginThis is a French term, literally translated as 'according to the card' (the 'card' is the menu card). This applies to meals which are ordered in a restaurant as separate items, each with a specified price, as distinct from a 'table d'hôte' meal, which has a fixed inclusive price. The date of the earliest French usage isn't known. In English the first citation is Joseph Sherer's, Notes and Reflections During a Ramble in Germany, 1826:
See also - other French phrases in English. Phrasefinder is also on
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