Menu Knowledge
Objectives :
- Vocabulary related to food items on the menu (appetizers, main courses, desserts, beverages)
- Describing dishes using adjectives (spicy, sweet, savory, etc.)
- Recommending dishes and answering menu-related questions
Activities :
- In a menu, identify the parts of the meal: starters or apperizers, main dishes or main courses, beverages or drinks, and desserts. What does the restaurant have?
- Describe dishes, food tastes and textures
- Recommend dishes to guests (video)
- Additional vocabulary building
Final task :
1. Food that is cooked with a lot of oil or fat, is often
2. Food that when first chewed has a hard texture and makes a noise in the mouth (e.g. fried bacon), is
3. Food that contains a lot of different types of spices but doesn't burn your mouth, is
4. Normally, the dessert is sweet and the main course is
5. Food that contains a lot of chillies, is
6. Food that makes a loud noise in the mouth when chewed, is
7. Food that doesn't have a strong taste of anything, is
8. When something has a good taste or flavour, it is
9. Food that is made from milk products, is often
Exercise: Food tastes and textures
Read the following conversation between Peter and Juan in a restaurant in Yorkshire. Peter is describing the different tastes and textures of the dishes on a menu.
From the context, try to guess what the meaning of the words/phrases in bold are. Then do the quiz at the end to check if you are right.
Peter:'So Juan, what do you fancy having?'
Juan:'I'm not sure. There's lots of food and dishes from around the world on this menu. You've eaten here before, what's the chicken vindaloo curry like?'
Peter:'It's very hot. The last time I had it, my mouth was burning for about 15 minutes. To be honest, it's a bit bland, it doesn't really taste of anything. If you want to have a curry, I would recommend the tikka masala, it's spicy, they use about 15 different spices in it, but it's not hot. I like it, it's really tasty.'
Juan:'I'm not sure I want Indian food. And the fish and chips?'
Peter:'Although I'm English, I don't like it, it's greasy. It's covered in too much oil for me.'
Juan:'What are the salads like here? They have a caesar salad, is it ok?'
Peter:'Well, yeah. I had it a couple of years ago and it was good. They use fried bacon in the salad as well, which is strange for a caesar salad. The iceberg lettuce and the bacon were very crispy, they make a noise when you first chew them. It has fried croutons, which were so crunchy.
Juan:'Just to be sure that I understand you correctly, croutons are the small pieces of cold fried bread you get in the salad?'
Peter:'That's correct. They are almost like eating a savoury biscuit, or as the Americans call them, cookie.'
Juan:'I hope the caesar sauce here isn't too creamy. In some places it is, it's like you are having a salad with a savoury milkshake. Not good.'
Practice 3: Talking about food and taste. Making recommendations