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Danny	Alex

Views #1095 | Intermediate (B1)

French Restaurant

Alex talks about his favorite place to have a nice meal back home in Australia.

Script
Vocab
Quiz

Danny: So, we've been talking a lot about food. Do you have a favorite restaurant?

Alex:Yeah, I do. I haven't been there for years, but it's still my favorite. It's called The Little Snail

Danny: The Little Snail.

Alex: And it's a French restaurant, and it's in this small coastal fishing village down the coast. It's kind of funny because it's a great restaurant and you kind of expect it to be in a big city. It has really good French food, but it's in the middle of nowhere.

Danny: So, what's the decoration like then? What does it look like?

Alex: It's cute. It's very cute. I haven't been in many restaurants in France but it's kind of what I imagine a French restaurant would look like, you know like , there's just a few things hanging on the walls and very simple decor, and it's just kind of cozy like a country town.

Danny: Cozy! Sounds nice. But how's the service?

Alex: Oh, it's okay. You won't starve. They don't have lots of staff, so it can get quite busy and you're gonna have to wait awhile, but you know, when the food arrives, it is so good that you do not care.

Danny: Really? What's the food like then?

Alex: Ah, well, I just love French food. It's my favorite cuisine and I usually can't afford to eat it however, but if do you like traditional French food, it is great.

Danny: Traditional French food? What's that like?

Alex: Well, usually I get some kind of meat dish, maybe a quail or kind of another bird or something, and there's usually a really delicious sauce that might be made from wine or cream and herbs and that sort of thing.

Danny: Sounds really nice.

Alex: It is really good. It's delicious.

Danny: So you said you can't really afford to eat French food. What are the prices like ?

Alex:Well, the Little Snail is good compared to a French restaurant that you get in a big city.

Danny: Really?

Alex: Two people could eat there and have a really fantastic French meal for maybe about eight dollars, which is as I said, really good French restaurant.

Danny: Really?

Alex: That's for two.

Danny: For two?

Alex: Yeah.

Danny: So is there anything special with the place?

Alex: Actually we used to go there when I was working. We would go on these business trips and my boss would take me and my other coworker there on the Friday night as a kind of thanks-for-working-hard reward. And we always used to have, I think it's called ------ I've forgotten. My French is terrible, but it's this amazing dessert, which is kind of made with pastry, and has a sweet kind of custard creme inside.

Danny: Everyone loves custard. Sound delicious

Alex: It's really good. I can't wait to get back there.

Learn Vocabulary from the Lesson

the middle of nowhere

The restaurant is in the middle of nowhere.

The middle of nowhere is a common expression to show that something is very isolated or far from everything else. When you say something is in the middle of nowhere you imply that it is hard to find or not easy to get to. Notice the following:

He bought a house out in the middle of nowhere.
She works on a farm in the middle of nowhere.

what I imagine

Here the phrase 'what I imagine' just means what one thinks. We often use this term to express what was expected and an actual outcome. Notice the following:

This book is not what I imagined it would be like.
The movie star was not what I imagined. He was shorter in person.

cozy

The decor is simple, kind of cozy.

Cozy is short for comfortable, so when a place is cozy that means it is very pleasant and nice. We often use the term cozy for places, atmosphere, or furniture. We use the term comfy for clothing. Notice the following:

I love a cozy room, some comfy pajamas and a good book.
We like to sit on that sofa. It is so cozy.

You won't starve

A: Is the service good?
B: You won't starve.

Here the speaker is using sarcasm. By saying 'you won't starve' the speaker is joking that eventually you will get served food but maybe that the service is not that great.

can't wait

I can't wait to actually get back there.

When people say they can't wait, they just mean they are very excited for something to happen. Sometimes people 'can't wait' for a good thing to happen , like a party, or for a bad thing to end, like a bad movie.