A special restaurant

A special restaurant

Listen to Jo talking about a very special restaurant she visited recently.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

Interviewer: Hi, Jo.

Jo: Hello.

Interviewer: Thank you for talking to me today. What would you like to talk about?

Jo: So, I'm going to tell you about my recent visit to, erm, a very well-known restaurant and a very special restaurant.

Interviewer: OK – great.

Jo: It's called El Celler de Can Roca and it's in Girona in Spain and, erm, it often comes in the, like, top two or three restaurants in the world.

Interviewer: Wow!

Jo: And I went last week. And, well, the first thing that was exciting for us was to even get a table 'cause, erm, we booked a year ago and we had to go, you have to go, 'cause you can book a year in advance, so you have to go online at one minute to midnight a year before you think you could go and keep refreshing, refreshing the page until places become available and just go immediately and get the table. So, we were really excited to have the table and we were kind of nervous on Friday because we waited a whole year, so expectations were really high. And it was also, by chance, boiling hot in Girona and it was in the middle of a heatwave. It was 44 degrees.

Interviewer: Oh my goodness.

Jo: So, we were just waiting in our hotel room, couldn't go outside 'cause it was too hot, erm, kind of wondering what this dinner was going to be like, er, and getting all dressed up. So, yeah, we went and, well, the place is beautiful, all … I thought it would be quite, erm, it didn't really feel formal though. The staff were all really friendly and they showed us inside the kitchen first. And it's amazing 'cause no one is stressed in the kitchen – or they did a good job of pretending that they weren't. And they were making amazing things that looked like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for adults – little olive trees with amazing, like, erm, er, olive kind of confections hanging from them. And, yeah, the whole thing was amazing – a once-in-a-lifetime experience of lots of different courses of tiny, beautiful, surprising things, erm …

Interviewer: What was the best dish that you had?

Jo: It was all amazing but I think the best thing for me was one of the desserts. I had a sheep-themed pudding …

Interviewer: Wow!

Jo: So, it was all, erm – So, it was like a woolly sheep. It was like candy floss, like, made with, erm, like, sort of white sugar like you have at the fair. Erm, and that was supposed to represent the wool, and the sound of the spoon on the bowl made the sound of the bell on the sheep in the field. And then separately I had this thing to smell that smelled of wool. So I was, like, eating this sheep wool and smelling the smell of wool at the same time which, it sounds really weird, but it was actually delicious.

Interviewer: Sounds incredible!

Jo: It really was! It really was amazing.

Interviewer: Wow. Thank you for telling us about it.

Jo: It's a pleasure.

Discussion

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Average: 4.1 (53 votes)

Submitted by LBPLATAS on Sun, 12/06/2022 - 12:09

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Well, I usually go restaurants in order to celebrate a special event like a birthday with my family and my friends. The last restaurant that I've visited was a place called "El Roble" nearby my home to celebrate my mother in law birthday. The dessert was a big dark chocolate cake filled with cream. I recommend this restaurante because price/quality relationship es very good.

Submitted by OliNietoRmz on Tue, 07/06/2022 - 23:53

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In general, I eat food prepared in-home, and only I used to go to restaurants for special occasions like birthdays, o any celebrations like job promotions, it means once or twice per month due I like the Italian cuisine so my favorite restaurant in Mexico City is La Macelleria I love the pasta.

Submitted by Viktoriia Besedina on Mon, 06/06/2022 - 10:20

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I usually go to restaurants for someone's birthdays, I prefer to eat at home, dishes that I cook myself, because I don't eat some of the products that are added to dishes, I don't like their flavor. But I like pizza in restaurants, and my favorite restaurant with it is 'Итальянский квартал" (Italian quarter). I also like ice cream in restaurants.

Submitted by NickGeonBang on Fri, 13/05/2022 - 10:55

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I used to go to restaurant quite often before Covid-19 happened but not anymore. It's pretty weird that it feels like a long time ago. Although, I had liked to go to restaurant, especially my favourite one which is called Blue hill Cafe, Owhango, NZ. There is the best burger in North island NZ. They've named Lockdown burger. It's quite sarcastic humour, isn't it?

Submitted by lizalomoto2003 on Thu, 12/05/2022 - 03:08

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Excuseme, someone can help me why I can not heard the audio. Because i do the first activity however i continue with the listen activity and the audio doesn´t play

Hi lizalomoto2003,

Thanks for letting us know about the problem. I've just checked the audio and it is working for me, so it may have been a temporary problem. Please can you try it again? If it still doesn't play, can you try other audios in Audio zone and Listening to check if they also don't play? Another thing you can do is try opening this page using a different web browser and see if it works then. Let us know how it goes!

Best wishes,

Jonathan

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Emad3uae on Sun, 06/03/2022 - 09:21

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I live in the UAE. I was first living in Dubai before having to relocate elsewhere in the western region, that is incredibly different. It is true to say I am now living in the middle of Sahara 'desert'. When I was in Dubai, I used to try fabulous cuisines where a variety of dishes were served. I tried Indian, Arabian, and even western food. But the most favorite cuisines were Syrian and Turkish food. My favorite dish is rice with mutton that is specially cooked in clay pots. It's so yummy!

Submitted by Noha M.F on Mon, 24/01/2022 - 18:17

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I went to special restaurant since 3 years ago . It's name is Trend in my city . Until now I can't forget this adventure . The restaurant seems Halloween . The decoration of Restaurant is very scary and the waters wears a vampire's mask . It was an amazing .

Submitted by hamedrv on Sat, 15/01/2022 - 09:37

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I usually don't go to restaurants, but I prefer to go to cafes. And sometimes I work from cafes with a cup of coffee and a dish of potatoes with cheese :P.
If I am hungry a lot, I order a dish of chickens and meats. :)

Submitted by ImmaLemonnyyy on Thu, 13/01/2022 - 14:22

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When I go to a restaurant, it's usually with my family, and on special occasions with the extended one. When I do, it doesn't look as fancy as she described her experience, (well I don't have much of these in my areas), but I really enjoy since it's different than usual. We usually if not always eat home-cooked meals my mom makes, and it's great, but changing the habit some times really adds a lot to the day. I love how big the dishes are and that they have a large menu to choose from. My favorite has always been ravioli at an Italian - style restaurant, but it sometimes differs from one restaurant style to another.
Oh and btw, the desert Jo has ordered sounds out of this world. Have to give it a try one die, as someone who him and his sister love deserts.