Dining out on the dignity of a time-honoured tradition

The pride a French waiter takes in the job is striking and in our increasingly slap-dash world, where familiar traditions are being lost at speed, it’s a joy to see a vestige of a bygone era, writes Clodagh Finn.

I have to admire his… I’m searching for the right word, but let’s just call it his je ne sais quoi. He is French, after all, and it’s a nicer phrase than hubris or stonking rudeness, though those words capture something of his spirit too.

I’m delighted to report that the cliché of the proud, disdainful waiter is still incarnate in that wonderful vestige of real civilisation, the French café.