Are you hungry to expand your English vocabulary?
Then grab a seat and get ready to chow down
on lots of useful new English words and phrases.
From ordering your meal to paying the bill,
we've got all the vocabulary that you need
to navigate a restaurant like a true English pro.
We'll take a tour of the menu and explore some key words and phrases
that you will need if you are dining out in an English-speaking country.
So, without any further ado, let's get ready to eat out.
Our first piece of vocabulary is the phrasal verb 'eat out'.
It is a common and relatively informal way
to speak about going to a restaurant or café to eat
and is usually used to talk about casual meals.
"I don't want to cook today. Let's eat out."
Personally, I like to cook dinner almost every day,
but I do love to eat out at lunchtimes
and my favourite place to eat out is in sushi restaurants.
Tell me in the comments where's your favourite place to eat out?
So, now we've decided to eat out, let's make a reservation.
This means to reserve a table or spot at a restaurant
and is usually used for popular restaurants, special occasions
or for larger groups.
For example, "Should we make a reservation for Saturday night?
It can get really busy."
A slightly less formal way of saying this is 'make a booking'.
An alternative form of 'make a reservation'
is 'reserve a table'.
So, we might say, "There's ten of us. I think we should reserve a table."
If you go to a nice restaurant without a reservation,
you might try asking, "Do you take walk-ins?"
And a 'walk-in' is someone who visits a place without an appointment or reservation.
This can be used in restaurants,
but can also be used in other situations
where you need a reservation or appointment,
such as seeing a doctor or a lawyer.
There are many places where you do not need a reservation at all
and this includes at a 'fast food restaurant'.
These are restaurants that specialise in cheap meals
that are quick and easy to make and serve.
These are popular all over the world
and they tend to sell meals that we think of as rather unhealthy.
I try not to eat in fast food restaurants too often
because I don't think they're good for my stomach or my diet,
but they are very tempting
and they're a lot more common than they were when I was young.
Has fast food culture come to your country?
And do you think that fast food restaurants
are a good thing or a bad thing?
Let us know in the comments.
Next, we're going to look at cafés
and we're going to look at two very different types of café.
One is European style and one is a more British style.
A European style café is a small establishment that sells coffee,
maybe some alcohol,
maybe some snacks and a few bites to eat.
It is pronounced 'caff-ay' and is spelt with an accent over the 'e': 'café'.
A British cafe is a little bit different
and can be pronounced as 'caff-ay' or as 'caff'.
It is different culturally too.
A British cafe often specialises in cheap, fried food
and would be the perfect place to find a traditional English breakfast.
We sometimes call these cafes a 'greasy spoon'.
But maybe you don't feel like going to a café or a cafe,
you're a little bit hungrier than that and you want something substantial.
So, why not try out an 'all-you-can-eat buffet'?
This is a restaurant where you pay a set amount for an unlimited amount of food.
But let's get back to the restaurant where we made our original reservation
and let's order a 'starter'.
A 'starter' is a small portion of food that you eat before your main meal.
For example, "We had the prawn cocktail as a starter".
Now, you might hear speakers of American English call this an 'appetizer'.
It is very, very similar,
but here in the UK, in British English, we call it a 'starter'.
Next, it's time to order the 'main'.
The 'main' is the most important or biggest part of the meal.
For example, "For my main, I think I'll have steak and chips, please".
We can also say 'main course'.
For example, "Angelica ordered the spaghetti bolognese as her main course".
Again, in British English, we would say 'main' or 'main course',
but in American or Canadian English, you are more likely to hear 'entrée'.
English is a language where we often try to keep
an element of the original language when we take a word,
so you can hear 'entrée' has a touch of the original French,
where the word was taken from.
Now, when ordering a 'main' or a 'main course' or an 'entrée',
you might want to check whether the restaurant has a 'special' available.
A 'special' is a meal that is not on the usual menu.
It is available for a limited time only.
This might be because the ingredients are seasonal,
the chef wants to try something new,
or because the restaurant wants to add
a bit of variety and spice to their typical menu.
So, you might hear something like, "Today's special is chicken vindaloo".
So, next time you are in a restaurant,
why not try asking, "Do you have any specials?"
and you might discover something wonderful.
We also commonly put the definite article 'the' before the word 'special'.
For example, "I'll try the special, please".
Wow, learning all these new words has been thirsty work, hasn't it?
I think it's time to order some drinks.
Now, if you don't want to spend too much money,
you might want to order the 'house wine'.
This is a relatively cheap wine option
and you won't know too much about it until it arrives.
The only thing you are likely to know is that it costs less
than the other wines on the menu.
But maybe you don't drink or you don't want to drink alcohol.
What should you order then?
How about a nice, refreshing 'soft drink'?
A 'soft drink' is a non-alcoholic drink.
It is usually served cold, has bubbles and contains sugar
and a natural or artificial flavour, like orange or lemon or cherry, for example.
Or maybe you want to stay very healthy and you can order a 'sparkling water'.
This is carbonated water that has lots of bubbles in it.
You might also hear it called 'fizzy water'.
But wow, I am hungry!
In fact, I'm so hungry, 'I could eat a horse'.
'I could eat a horse' is an idiom meaning that you are very, very hungry.
You can use the full idiom 'I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse'
or you can use the shortened phrase 'I could eat a horse'.
Ah, the food has finally arrived.
Let's eat!
Before we start our meal, we need to decide which cutlery we need to use.
'Cutlery' are the tools that we use to eat,
so let's go through some of the most common ones.
We have a knife and fork.
A spoon.
A teaspoon.
We might use a pair of chopsticks.
To serve a soup from the middle of the table,
you might use a ladle.
So, we've used the correct utensils to finish our starter and our main
and now it's time for my favourite part of the meal:
the dessert.
'Dessert' is a 'sweet dish served at the end of a meal',
so think of ice cream or fruit or cake.
It can be countable or uncountable.
If you are talking about your individual dessert, it is uncountable:
"I'd like some dessert, please".
But if you are talking about different types of dessert,
it becomes countable:
"We had three different types of dessert between us".
Wow, that was a good meal.
We had a nice starter, a lovely main and a delicious dessert,
we had some fantastic drinks.
But now, unfortunately, it is time to get the bill.
A 'bill' is a written or printed statement, given to you by the restaurant,
that shows you how much money you owe
for the drinks and food you have just consumed.
So, at the end of the meal,
you might catch the eye of the waiter and ask, "Can I get the bill, please?"
In American English, you are more likely to hear the word 'check':
"Can I get the check, please?"
It's time to pay and now comes the decision
on whether you want to split the bill.
'Split the bill' is when you pay evenly between all the members at the table.
So, if there are five people and the bill is £100,
everybody puts in £20.
But if you're feeling a little bit more generous,
you can say it's 'on me'.
This is a useful phrase
for if you'd like to volunteer to pay the bill for everybody.
"Put your wallet away, Raheem. This one is on me."
Once you've paid, it's time to decide whether you want to leave a tip.
'Leaving a tip' means 'giving extra money to the server or staff'
to thank them for their service.
Now that you've feasted on these delicious dining vocabulary words,
you're all set to confidently savour your next meal at a restaurant.
Enjoy your appetisers, relish your mains
and, of course, always remember to appreciate good service.
You can find all of today's vocabulary scrolling down the side,
so be sure to practise them.
Why not write your own example sentences in the comments below
to practise them and put these words into your long-term memory?
It is time to hit that like button, subscribe and let us know about
your dining stories and experiences in the comments section.
If you enjoyed today's lesson,
I'm sure you would love our lessons on travel or going to the supermarket.
Bon appetit, happy dining and see you next time. Bye!