English Podcasts |

The Restaurant Episode 1 - Meeting for Dinner

Sue and Chris meet for dinner at a restaurant in England, as usual, Sue is late.

The Restaurant Episode 1 - Meeting for Dinner deals with meeting and greetings, arriving at a restaurant, checking a booking and finding a table.

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.

#fca_qc_quiz_229205.fca_qc_quiz p:not( .fca_qc_back_response ):not( #fca_qc_question_right_or_wrong ):not( .fca_qc_question_response_correct_answer ):not( .fca_qc_question_response_response ):not( .fca_qc_question_response_hint ):not( .fca_qc_question_response_item p ),

#fca_qc_quiz_229205.fca_qc_quiz a:not( .fca_qc_share_link ),

#fca_qc_quiz_229205.fca_qc_quiz div:not( .correct-answer ):not( .wrong-answer ){

color: #151515;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229205.fca_qc_quiz div.fca-qc-back.correct-answer,

#fca_qc_quiz_229205.fca_qc_quiz div.fca_qc_question_response_item.correct-answer {

background-color: #abdc8c;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229205.fca_qc_quiz div.fca-qc-back.wrong-answer,

#fca_qc_quiz_229205.fca_qc_quiz div.fca_qc_question_response_item.wrong-answer {

background-color: #f57484;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229205.fca_qc_quiz div.fca_qc_question_response_item p {

color: #151515;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229205.fca_qc_quiz{

border: #151515 0px solid;

border-radius: 2px;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229205.fca_qc_quiz button.fca_qc_next_question {

color: #151515;

border: #151515 2px solid;

background-color: transparent;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229205.fca_qc_quiz button.fca_qc_next_question:hover {

background-color: #FFFFFF;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229205.fca_qc_quiz button.fca_qc_button {

background-color: #6868ac;

box-shadow: 0 2px 0 0 #6868ac;

color: #FFFFFF;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229205.fca_qc_quiz button.fca_qc_button:hover {

background-color: #7b3c99;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229205.fca_qc_quiz div.fca_qc_answer_div {

background-color: #6d6d6d;

border: #6d6d6d 0px solid;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229205.fca_qc_quiz div.fca_qc_answer_div:hover,

#fca_qc_quiz_229205.fca_qc_quiz div.fca_qc_answer_div.fakehover,

#fca_qc_quiz_229205.fca_qc_quiz div.fca_qc_answer_div:active {

background-color: #7b3c99;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229205.fca_qc_quiz span.fca_qc_answer_span {

color: #ffffff;

}

Restaurant Podcast 1 Meeting for Dinner

Test your listening skills with this comprehension quiz to see how much you understood.Remember you can do the quiz as many times as you like.It's full of great vocabulary.... enjoy, listen and learn !

Start Quiz

Question

Your answer: Correct answer: Next

Please wait..↺

You got {{SCORE_CORRECT}} out of {{SCORE_TOTAL}} SHARE YOUR RESULTSShareTweetPinEmail

Your Answers

Retake Quiz

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.

https://english-podcasts.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Restaurant-Part-II-The-Menu.mp3

#fca_qc_quiz_229210.fca_qc_quiz p:not( .fca_qc_back_response ):not( #fca_qc_question_right_or_wrong ):not( .fca_qc_question_response_correct_answer ):not( .fca_qc_question_response_response ):not( .fca_qc_question_response_hint ):not( .fca_qc_question_response_item p ),

#fca_qc_quiz_229210.fca_qc_quiz a:not( .fca_qc_share_link ),

#fca_qc_quiz_229210.fca_qc_quiz div:not( .correct-answer ):not( .wrong-answer ){

color: #151515;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229210.fca_qc_quiz div.fca-qc-back.correct-answer,

#fca_qc_quiz_229210.fca_qc_quiz div.fca_qc_question_response_item.correct-answer {

background-color: #abdc8c;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229210.fca_qc_quiz div.fca-qc-back.wrong-answer,

#fca_qc_quiz_229210.fca_qc_quiz div.fca_qc_question_response_item.wrong-answer {

background-color: #f57484;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229210.fca_qc_quiz div.fca_qc_question_response_item p {

color: #151515;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229210.fca_qc_quiz{

border: #151515 0px solid;

border-radius: 2px;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229210.fca_qc_quiz button.fca_qc_next_question {

color: #151515;

border: #151515 2px solid;

background-color: transparent;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229210.fca_qc_quiz button.fca_qc_next_question:hover {

background-color: #FFFFFF;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229210.fca_qc_quiz button.fca_qc_button {

background-color: #6868ac;

box-shadow: 0 2px 0 0 #6868ac;

color: #FFFFFF;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229210.fca_qc_quiz button.fca_qc_button:hover {

background-color: #7b3c99;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229210.fca_qc_quiz div.fca_qc_answer_div {

background-color: #6d6d6d;

border: #6d6d6d 0px solid;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229210.fca_qc_quiz div.fca_qc_answer_div:hover,

#fca_qc_quiz_229210.fca_qc_quiz div.fca_qc_answer_div.fakehover,

#fca_qc_quiz_229210.fca_qc_quiz div.fca_qc_answer_div:active {

background-color: #7b3c99;

}

#fca_qc_quiz_229210.fca_qc_quiz span.fca_qc_answer_span {

color: #ffffff;

}

Restaurant Podcast 2 The Menu

Test your listening skills with this comprehension quiz to see how much you understood.Remember you can do the quiz as many times as you like.It's full of great vocabulary.... enjoy, listen and learn !

Start Quiz

Question

Your answer: Correct answer: Next

Please wait..↺

You got {{SCORE_CORRECT}} out of {{SCORE_TOTAL}} SHARE YOUR RESULTSShareTweetPinEmail

Your Answers

Retake Quiz

Ayurveda the science of life is an medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent.

Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population report using it.

Ayurveda therapies have varied and evolved over more than two millennia.

Therapies include medicines, special diets, meditation, yoga, massage, laxatives, enemas, and medical oils.

Medicines are typically based on complex herbal compounds, minerals, and metal substances (perhaps under the influence of early Indian alchemy or rasa shastra).

Ancient Ayurveda texts also taught surgical techniques, including rhinoplasty, kidney stone extractions, sutures, and the extraction of foreign objects.

The main classical Ayurveda texts begin with accounts of the transmission of medical knowledge from the gods to sages, and then to human physicians.

In Sushruta Samhita (Sushruta's Compendium), Sushruta wrote that Dhanvantari, Hindu god of Ayurveda, incarnated himself as a king of Varanasi and taught medicine to a group of physicians, including Sushruta.

 Ayurveda has been adapted for Western consumption, notably by Baba Hari Dass in the 1970s and Maharishi Ayurveda in the 1980s.

Some scholars assert that Ayurveda originated in prehistoric times, and that some of the concepts of Ayurveda have existed from the time of the Indus Valley Civilization or even earlier.

Ayurveda developed significantly during the Vedic period and later some of the non-Vedic systems such as Buddhism and Jainism also developed medical concepts and practices that appear in the classical Ayurveda texts.

In Ayurveda texts, Doṣa balance is emphasized, and suppressing natural urges is considered unhealthy and claimed to lead to illness.

Ayurveda treatises describe three elemental doṣas viz. vāta, pitta and kapha, and state that balance (Skt. sāmyatva) of the doṣas results in health, while imbalance (viṣamatva) results in disease. Ayurveda treatises divide medicine into eight canonical components.

Ayurveda practitioners had developed various medicinal preparations and surgical procedures from at least the beginning of the common era.

Listen to Renu, an Ayurveda practioner in north India talk about Ayurveda.

Listen to this interview of Renu, an Indian living in North India about North Indian Food.

Do you like spicy food or is it too hot for you?

Do you know what millet is?

What do you think an Indian person living in India would eat as their ideal food?

Chocolate is one of the most popular food types and flavors in the world, and many foodstuffs involving chocolate exist, particularly desserts, including cakes, pudding, mousse, chocolate brownies, and chocolate chip cookies.

Chocolate bars, either made of solid chocolate or other ingredients coated in chocolate, are eaten as snacks all over the world.

Gifts of chocolate molded into different shapes (such as eggs, hearts, coins) are traditional on certain Western holidays, including Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, and Hanukkah.

Chocolate is also used in cold and hot beverages, such as chocolate milk and hot chocolate, and in some alcoholic drinks, such as creme de cacao or chocolate stout.

Although cocoa originated in the Americas, West African countries, particularly Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, are the leading producers of cocoa in the 21st century, accounting for some 60% of the world cocoa supply.

But how much do you know about chocolate, on this, world Chocolate day? Listen to some of the trivia facts and answers in this podcast to check your knowledge.

Tea is probably the favourite drink across the world, but do you know about tea?

Do you know the phrases and expressions related to tea?

In this podcast we chat about the noble drink that the British (amongst others) adore.

Ever heard of, "A storm in a teacup?"

A mug of builders?

A cuppa?

A cup of Rosy Lee?

Listen to Chris & Sue reveal all about tea...

Yuka The Healthy Eating App that checks out the quality of your shopping basket

Do you really know what you eat?

Well yes! With Yuka The Healthy Eating App you can scan your products and analyze their impact on your health.

In the blink of an eye, Yuka The Healthy Eating App decodes complicated and sometimes confusing labels for you: you visualise products that are good and those that are best avoided.

Get personalized recommendations for your shopping

When you scan a product that has a negative impact on your health, Yuka The Healthy Eating App recommends a better equivalent product.

So, you continue to enjoy yourself while eating healthier!

An independent evaluation based on 3 criteria

Nutritional quality

60% of the evaluation is based on nutritional quality, which takes into account the amount of energy, saturated fats, sugars, salt, fruits and vegetables, fiber and protein of the product. The calculation method is based on the Nutriscore (brand of Public Health France), built by Professor Serge Hercberg. 

Additives

30% of the evaluation is based on the presence of harmful additives in the product. Yuka is based on many sources that have studied the dangerousness of food additives, among which are: "Food additives" Corinne Gouget, "Food additives" Maire-Laure André and the studies of the UFC Que Choisir, The French equivalent of 'Which' Magazine.

Biological dimension

10% of the evaluation is based on the biological dimension of the product.

Products considered organic are those with the French bio label (AB) and / or the European organic label (Eurofeuille)

Yuka uses the OpenFoodFacts free database.

Yuka The Healthy Eating App is free and available for download to a smartphone - have a look at the Yuka Website.

Episode 6 - The Review

The role of a customer, acting as a food reviewer is to accurately convey the taste, texture, smell, and presentation of a restaurant's food.

You should not only comment on the food but also on the atmosphere, staff knowledge and attentiveness, the speed of service, the general impression of the restaurant, eaterie or cafe.

A great food review puts the reader at your table with you, allowing them to decide whether or not they want to visit the restaurant when they're done reading.

In fact you are either recommending the place as a place that you or your friends would like to go with, or warning people of places to avoid, so all-in-all, you are providing a service to fellow diners.

There is no point being over positive or over-negative about a place to eat, the best reviews deal in reality - what the place is really like, how good (or bad) the food is, along with the service and the state of cleanliness - it all goes in to making or spoiling a night out with friends, clients or family.

There are many sites dedicated to customer reviews, such as Yelp!, Google+ / Google+ local, TripAdvisor and Foursquare, to name just a handful.

Sue and Chris didn't have a particularly good meal at the restaurant - hear what they have to say, in Episode 6 - The Review, as they write a review for a restaurant review website.

[wpdevart_poll id="2" theme="0"]

Listen to Sue talk about what she looks for and likes in a restaurant.