Never been to Australia and I'm confused...

[JROCK001]

My wife and I have been looking at several restaurants to dine at while we'll be in Australia for 2 weeks, but as an American there's something that we keep seeing on each menu that is confusing us... What is the different between a starter vs. an appetizer vs. a main vs. an entree? I have seen all of these on the same one menu or another and to me some of them mean the same thing. When someone says main dish and entree, I don't understand the distinction. Clearly I'm missing something and if anyone has an explanation I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

[Ummm]

US appetizer, starter = Australia entree, appetizer, starter

US entree = Australian main course

i lived in australia for 13 years before coming to the US 4 years ago. i was confused when i first got here as i thought entree is a small dish, not the main course!

[UpgradeQueen]

For clarity, I would avoid the word entree altogether. In the U.S. it means the main dish, but in elsewhere it means appetizer.

[purple goddess]

Jrock,

there is a very recent, very silly and very explanatory thread here:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/523985

Basically a starter/appetizer/entree are pretty much the same thing.. a smaller portion served before the main. In some restos you can ask for, say, pasta as an entree or a main.. and basically it's just a different sized portion.

A starter/appetizer at a dinner part might be an hors d'oeuvre or in a resto, might be a sort of amuse bouche, or something little to share.

So your order would go something like this:

"We'll share the bruschetta for starters, I'll have the pasta primavera for entree and my wife will have the entree tapas platter. For mains, I'll have the rib eye and my wife will have the fish of the day."