FORTUNATELY my appreciation of French food is a lot better than my abilities with the French language.
My French verbal skills are limited to announcing that I’m 11-years-old and that the bus goes to the local swimming pool.
And both examples aren’t that easy to work into conversation while sat in a French restaurant (unless I want the waiter to think I’m mad as cheese).
Luckily, Cafe Montmartre makes it easy, with translations of all the mouth-watering dishes.
To start I went for fishermen’s soup with garlic croutons (£7.45).
The soup was rich and full of fishy flavour but it only really came alive after I stirred in the little dish of aioli (garlic oil) and cheese.
Anyone with a dislike of garlic would be advised to give this one a miss, but for garlic fiends like myself it was spectacular.
My wife, who I sometimes think loves garlic more than me, went for the pan-fried king prawns with spinach, garlic butter and herbs (£7.45).
From her first bite to the last she had that self-satisfied look on her face that means ‘I’ve chosen a nicer starter than you’.
I had to disagree, but at least we were both delighted with our selections.
For my main course I went for a classic French dish – duck confit in an orange and port sauce (£16.95). The leg of duck, with its crispy skin and meltingly tender meat, and the sweet-but-not-too-sweet sauce was star of the night for me.
The combination of salty skin, rich meat and sweet sauce was balanced to perfection.
As I tucked into the duck, my wife was enjoying – although not quite so enthusiastically – her halibut with tomato and basil sauce (£18).
It was light, fresh and tasty but after sampling my duck and going wild for it, she lamented the fact it didn’t go quack.
To finish we shared another French classic – tarte tatin (£6.95).
Caramelised apples, sweet pastry, ice cream... what’s not to adore?
The only black mark is that service was a bit slow and absent-minded (our waiter forgot that we’d ordered coffee and we had to chase him up for our bill).
But then again that could be down to the fact that there was a very large party of French people to cater for that night.
And if this is the place French people eat out in Aberdeen, you don’t get a much better recommendation than that.