The Restaurant - Episode 2 - The Menu
Menus in eateries can be confusing.

Not only is the vocabulary of the foods varied, but the way they are cooked can be confusing even to English native speakers.

Listen to Sue and Chris as they decide what they are going to eat and drink in the restaurant.

One of the most difficult aspects in learning and using English in a social setting is eating and drinking in the restaurant, which is obviously vital for survival, but in a business context is a hugely important part of relationship building with clients, colleagues and suppliers.

The main difficulties arise from the vocabulary used to describe foods and drinks and the way that they are prepared, but an additional issue is the background noise that is often present in eateries and places where people go to eat and drink.

There is also the fact that the conversation can change from subject to subject very quickly, so as a learner you need to be constantly on your toes - and hopefully enjoy the experience.

In this series on The Restaurant, you will learn some useful ways of asking questions, describing foods, tastes and drinks as well as a host of vocabulary and real English to talk about food and drink.

Series 1 starts with two people meeting in a restaurant for dinner, they then go into the restaurant to take their place at the table they reserved only to find a disagreeable surprise.

The following section takes us to discussing the food and drink on a typical menu in a British Gastro pub, where food is served to clients, known as diners.

The two diners are greeted by a less than friendly and pretty unprofessional waitress, who tends to their needs from their entrance into the restaurant until the point where they pay their bill.

Along the way they battle their way through some of the, often ambiguous descriptions on the menu to a few surprises with the food that they order.

There are some simple quizzes that you can take at the end of each podcast to check your understanding - if you like these then please sign up for premium membership where you will find over 120 hours of stimulating activities for each podcast series on this site.