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English Speaking Practice Simple Guide to Restaurant Small Talk
Is tap water the new ‘crime’ in fine dining? What is going on with UK restaurants? A UK Chef says “Non-drinkers should eat more food to ‘make up’ for not buying wine.”
Join us today as we practice the English used when eating out in the UK and we share some rather odd ideas that may well be killing English restaurants!
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The best meals are the ones we share with friends.
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More About This Lesson
Do you know how to talk about dining out in English? This lesson teaches you restaurant vocabulary while exploring a lively debate about dining habits in the UK. From sharing food to discussing modern dining culture, you’ll learn phrases and words to use in real-life situations.
This lesson ties vocabulary with cultural context, helping you sound natural and fluent:
- Expand food-related vocabulary: Learn terms like lavish, etiquette, and per head.
- Practical phrases for eating out: Use words like sitting and tap water confidently.
- Spelling and pronunciation practice: Hear spellings for challenging words like bittern.
- Real-life context for vocabulary: Explore how words are used in dining discussions.
- Cultural insights: Understand British dining habits and societal expectations.
- Engage with opinions: Develop listening skills by following the speaker’s perspective.
- Improve comprehension: Practice understanding longer sentences and nuanced arguments.
- Learn polite expressions: Learn words like ought and justify in context.
- Enhanced listening practice: Follow a natural, conversational tone with clear enunciation.
- Boost critical thinking: Reflect on restaurant culture and form your own opinions in English.
Speaking about food is a part of everyday life, and knowing how to do it in English is an essential step toward fluency. This lesson gives you practical vocabulary and cultural insights into how people dine in the UK. Whether you’re ordering at a restaurant, discussing table manners, or chatting about dining trends, this lesson prepares you for real-world conversations. Plus, it helps you improve your listening skills by exposing you to natural British English.
Good food is good mood. Pass it on.
⭐ Giada De Laurentiis
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- How can you use restaurant vocabulary to improve your British English?
This podcast teaches you essential dining vocabulary through a real-world controversy. You’ll learn words like ‘etiquette’, ‘per head’, and ‘sitting’ that British people use daily. The best way to remember these words is to listen to them in context multiple times. Don’t just memorize – try using these phrases when discussing restaurants or dining experiences with friends. - What’s the difference between British and American restaurant terminology?
The podcast highlights unique British terms like ‘pudding’ (dessert), ‘booking’ (reservation), and ‘bill’ (check). In British restaurants, you’ll hear ‘starter’ instead of ‘appetizer’ and ‘main course’ rather than ‘entrée’. Understanding these differences helps you sound more natural when dining in the UK and shows cultural awareness. - Why does learning about restaurant controversy help with English fluency?
Controversial topics like restaurant policies give you practice with expressing opinions and understanding different viewpoints in English. You’ll learn how to agree, disagree, and discuss sensitive topics politely – essential skills for real-world conversations. Plus, emotional content helps you remember vocabulary better. - How can you practice restaurant English if you’re learning alone?
Start by shadowing the podcast’s pronunciation of key terms like ‘lavish’ and ‘etiquette’. Create your own conversations about restaurant experiences. Write reviews using the vocabulary you’ve learned. Listen to this podcast multiple times – first for general understanding, then for specific phrases, and finally to master pronunciation. - What cultural insights about British dining can help your English learning?
The podcast reveals modern British attitudes towards sharing food, drinking habits, and restaurant expectations. Understanding these cultural norms helps you use appropriate language in different situations. For example, knowing when to say “Could we share this dish?” is as important as knowing how to say it. Cultural context makes vocabulary more memorable and useful.
Most Unusual Words:
- Etiquette: Polite and usual behaviour in social situations.
- Lavish: Spending a lot or being very generous.
- Per head: The cost for each person.
- Sitting: A set time when people eat in a restaurant.
- Tap water: Water that comes directly from a faucet.
- Course: A part of a meal, like a starter or dessert.
- Bench: A long seat for several people.
- Retro: Relating to styles from the past.
- Boozy: Containing or involving a lot of alcohol.
- Soft drink: A drink that does not contain alcohol.
Most Frequently Used Words:
| Word | Count |
|---|---|
| Restaurant | 26 |
| People | 13 |
| Order | 11 |
| Customers | 11 |
| Drink | 10 |
| Share | 8 |
| About | 8 |
| Should | 8 |
Listen To The Audio Lesson Now
Transcript: English Made Simple For Crazy UK Restaurants
Lunching in London – is there an etiquette in 2024?!
Hi there and welcome to this podcast. Here’s an interesting question for you. Do you ever share food in a restaurant? Do you share a pudding maybe? And do you order wine with your meal? Or are you content to drink tap water? And do restaurant owners have the right to expect customers to spend a certain amount on their lunch? There was a post this week from an angry restaurant owner in London complaining that customers were not spending enough in his new restaurant. This has provoked a lot of discussion. Some people supporting him, some against. What do you think? While I’m discussing this issue, you will be learning some important words and vocabulary to do with restaurants and eating out. Terms like ‘per head’ and ‘sitting’. So are you ‘lavish’, L-A-V-I-S-H, with lunch? Or do you try to keep an eye on cost when you eat out and perhaps order something smaller? If you share food and you drink tap water, be warned. Apparently there may be certain restaurants where you’re not welcome. Stay with me to the end of this podcast to hear my opinion about it.
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### Let’s hear from restaurant owner Hugh Corcoran at The Yellow Bittern in London
So this week, British chef, that’s C-H-E-F and restaurant owner Hugh Corcoran posted on Instagram a complaint about his customers not ordering enough food in his restaurant. He opened his restaurant, the Yellow Bittern – a bittern, B-I-T-T-E-R-N, is a type of bird. So his restaurant, the Yellow Bittern, he opened only 18 months ago with just three staff. And the restaurant serves lunch only and has table space for fewer than 20 people. My immediate reaction to that was that this restaurant doesn’t seem to have space for many diners and three members of staff seems quite a lot to support and they only serve lunch. Maybe Hugh Corcoran’s business plan is a bit optimistic, I thought.
‘Restaurants are not public benches’
But anyway, his chef complained on Instagram about his customers. What did he say? Well, he said and I quote, “There was at one point an etiquette in restaurants that if you booked a table in a nice place, at the very least you had to order a main course and possibly even a starter and a dessert. And drink wine in order for your table to be worth serving.” The word ‘etiquette’, E-T-I-Q-U-E-T-T-E, means ‘polite and usual’. It’s ‘the done thing’, in other words, that’s ‘etiquette’. So he’s saying here that if you come to a restaurant for lunch, you ought to drink wine and you must order at least two courses of a meal. A ‘course’ here, that’s C-O-U-R-S-E, means a stage of a meal. In the UK, typically these are ‘starter’, ‘main’ and ‘dessert’ or ‘pudding’. So Hugh Corcoran is insisting that diners in his restaurant should eat more than one course. He went on, “We go to the effort of dressing the table, of picking and arranging the flowers, of polishing the glasses, etc. And we reserve the table for someone to order a meal which costs £25 a head.” So clearly this is not enough of a restaurant bill for Hugh Corcoran. £25 ‘a head’ or ‘per person’ means that his diners are not spending enough money in his restaurant. He said that if people take up space but do not consume, the restaurant makes no money. It’s as simple as that. And he told his followers that customers should “justify their presence” by ordering more than one dish each. He continued, “Restaurants are not public benches”. A ‘bench’, B-E-N-C-H, is a seat something to sit on for more than one person.
‘Drink wine in order for your table to be worth serving’
So he’s saying to his customers, “If you don’t want to order a lot of food at lunchtime, go and sit on a park bench instead of coming to my restaurant.” Basically he’s complaining that people book a table in his restaurant and take up space, but they only spend £25 ‘per head’ – ‘for each person’ that means. So he’d like each person to order more than one dish and it’s not okay to drink tap water. It’s etiquette, it’s polite to drink wine or some kind of alcohol with your lunch, so that the bill comes to enough money. And of course Hugh Corcoran hates the idea that his diners might share dishes.
While I understand where Hugh Corcoran is coming from and I know that it’s difficult for restaurants to make sufficient money these days, I think he’s severely out of step with the times. I think he imagines that his 18 seat restaurant is going to be full of people having a boozy lunch – that’s ‘boozy’, B-O-O-Z-Y, and means ‘with lots of alcohol’ – and that people are going to eat three courses of restaurant food each at lunchtime. I just don’t think that that’s the way that people live anymore. And I think the days where people would return to the office, having had a few alcoholic drinks at lunchtime – they’re long gone. People don’t do that anymore. And if his restaurant is meant to appeal to those people who don’t work, we’re talking mainly retired people, older customers then. If they go out to eat at all, probably many have health problems. Or at least are health conscious. And overeating and drinking alcohol at lunchtime doesn’t suit them.
And wine that costs £67 per bottle!
The idea that customers must order wine is so out of date, especially at lunchtime. I love wine, but I can’t drink it anymore, it makes me ill. So the idea of not being welcome at a restaurant because I don’t drink wine, or want to consume alcohol at lunchtime, well that’s pretty disappointing. Also, I say, if they don’t want diners to ask for tap water – that means ‘water that’s straight out of the tap, that you can’t charge for’ – then don’t charge such ridiculous prices for soft drinks! ‘Soft drinks’ means ‘non-alcoholic drinks’. We are constantly urged to ‘watch our weight and our diet’, so three courses of rich food washed down with lots of alcohol is not very 2024. I would suggest that this chef and restaurant owner Hugh Corcoran is very out of step with the times, and he needs to update his ideas of what customers want, rather than dictate to customers how they should behave. He’s complaining because customers don’t fit his restaurant model. One food critic who visited his restaurant observed that there was no wine list, so no prices displayed. Instead, the chef Hugh Corcoran asked the critic what kind of wine she liked, and the cheapest bottle he offered cost £67. So not only are you obligated to drink wine, but you have to order a whole bottle and it’s going to be quite expensive. And this restaurant only serves a choice of two main courses – again a sign of the insistence he “knows what’s best for his customers”. Neither of the main course options are vegetarian or vegan, so it looks like that’s another group of people who are not welcome at this restaurant.
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The restaurant owner who wants it all his own way! And to return to the 1980s!
I think this restaurant is attempting to be retro, R-E-T-R-O. That means ‘of the past, of a past era’. And my feeling about this particular restaurant is that it might have worked in a past era. Other rules of the restaurant – you can only book by telephone or letter. Pardon? You also can’t book the time that you want. The restaurant operates two ‘sittings’, one at 12pm, one at 2pm. So you must arrive at one of those two times and all the diners sit down together. That’s a ‘sitting’, S-I-T-T-I-N-G. That’s such an old fashioned idea! That’s like a school cafeteria perhaps. And the restaurant does not take cards for payment. Only cash. I feel as if this man Hugh Corcoran is trying to make a point. Something like, “Let’s all wish it was the 1980s again, when people over drank and over ate”. Well it isn’t the 1980s. And if he can’t make enough money to keep his restaurant afloat, maybe he needs to revise his business plan in the light of people’s eating habits in 2024.
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In particular, he has a go at sharing dishes. He says that “Sharing plates has ruined dining”. And that “If you don’t drink, because you have done so to such excess before, that it cannot be permitted any longer, you should order more food to make up for this.” Unbelievable! He also says that “Any member of the working class should be able to afford a £40 to £100 restaurant bill at least once a month.” What amazing entitlement this man has! Telling people how to spend their money and what they should be able to afford! Who is this man?
Would you go to a restaurant where the owner blames his customers if they don’t spend as much as he thinks they should?!
So, an interesting angle for you today. A chef who is blaming his customers, because his idea of how a restaurant should work is outdated. By about 40 years perhaps! I know restaurants have to make money. But complaining about your customers and their eating and drinking habits is not the way forwards. Surely it’s better to accommodate how customers want to eat and drink in 2024? I think this opens discussions about what restaurants are for and what our expectations of eating out should be. People like to share because they like to share the experience. What’s wrong with that, for instance?
Goodbye
I don’t think I’ll be rushing out to dine at The Yellow Bittern any time soon. But let us know what you think. Am I being unfair or unreasonable? I’d be interested to hear. In English, please.
Enough for now. Have a lovely day. Speak to you again soon. Goodbye.
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