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 supparajan on Fri, 28/04/2023 - 16:23

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I often eat out at the restaurant at least 3-4 times a week. I always go alone because my mother doesn't like eating out. She loves home cooking food. But I prefer eating at the restaurant. My favourite restaurants are depended on what kinds of food it is. I like eating hot pot and the name of restaurant I often go is ShabuShi. It is a conveyor belt hot pot restaurant. I can eat all what I want in 419THB ($12).

Submitted by supparajan on Fri, 28/04/2023 - 16:05

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This is my first lesson here and I have got full score for both tasks. I am so proud. I will keep continuing to LearnEnglish!

Hi supparajan,

Welcome and thanks for visiting our site :) We hope you enjoy learning English here.

Jonathan

LearnEnglish team

Submitted by MgKanKaung on Sat, 15/04/2023 - 20:02

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I am really thankful for your lesson. I have one question from the transcript. When she described about the staff of the restaurant, she used this sentence. Could I know what is the meaning of this?
"they did a good job of pretending that they weren't."

Hello MgKanKang,

This sentence means that they were convincing. The full context is:

And it's amazing 'cause no one is stressed in the kitchen – or they did a good job of pretending that they weren't.

In other words, Jo is saying that the people in the kitchen were either not stressed or were very good at hiding their stress so they looked not stressed. 

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by Verveine on Sat, 18/03/2023 - 13:09

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I sometimes go to restaurants with my husband and two daughters. My daughters are still 7 years old and 5 years, so the restaurants we visit are not luxury and expensive ones which are called a kind of "Family restaurant" in Japan. They are cozy and have a variety of menus. I suppose families who has young children would enjoy eating there.

Submitted by Mwaamba on Sat, 04/03/2023 - 16:16

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Yes I do go to restaurants but currently not often as I used to. I have a 1year 4 months old baby and it can get stressful when she wants to walk around and not sit for a while for a meal. The staff in all restaurants we have been are always friendly and never seem stressed neither. Nevertheless, my favorite restaurant is lòsteria. It's an Italian restaurant. They serve pasta dishes and a variety more. My favourite dish to eat is pasta with any white sauce. And they always have my favorite sweet wine Lambrusco. It has a sweet flavour and smells absolutely incredible. You should visit it...they are around Europe

Submitted by sara.messa on Wed, 01/03/2023 - 15:51

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I go to the restaurant for meeting friends or for special occasions. For last Valentine my boyfriend booked in a restaurant with a very special panoramic view. We had booked the table with the best view. It was very romantic.

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Submitted by Sonsei on Tue, 14/02/2023 - 19:38

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As for me, I go to restaurants only with a special occasion like Birthday or something else. And I prefer steaks with grill vegetables . I really love Kansa's steaks and suggest it to all of you.

Submitted by ozina77 on Sun, 05/02/2023 - 15:46

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I like to go to restaurant many times in my life. Try different and delicious meals of restaurants with my family is entertainment for me. Generally my children eat meals with meat so we prefer to book restaurant where cook kebap, steak like that..