Tastes and Texture

Read the following conversation between Peter and Juan in a restaurant in Yorkshire. Peter is describing the different tastes and textures of the dishes on a menu. Focus on the words/phrases in BOLD and think about their meaning.

Peter: 'So Juan, what do you fancy having?

 

'Juan:

'I'm not sure. There's lots of food and dishes from around the world on this menu. You've eaten here before, what's the chicken vindaloo curry like?'

Peter:

'It's very hot. The last time I had it, my mouth was burning for about 15 minutes. To be honest, it's a bit bland, it doesn't really taste of anything. If you want to have a curry, I would recommend the tika masala, it's spicy, they use about 15 different spices in it, but it's not hot. I like it, it's really tasty.'

Juan:

'I'm not sure I want Indian food. And the fish and chips?'

Peter:

'Although I'm English, I don't like it, it's greasy. It's covered in too much oil for me.'

Juan:

'What are the salads like here? They have a Caesar salad, is it ok?'

Peter:

'Well, yeah. I had it a couple of years ago. They use fried bacon in the salad as well, which is strange. The iceberg lettuce and the bacon were very crispy, they make a noise when you first chew them. It has fried croutons, which were so crunchy, it was almost like eating a savoury biscuit. But for me, the Caesar sauce was too creamy, they used too much cream. There's another salad that I had the last time I was here, called the Naples salad. It's got so many different things in it, it has anchovies that are very salty, but it also has small pieces of lemon that gives the salad a bit of a sour taste. Because it's in theory Italian it also has pieces of parmesan in it, the hard cheese that they grate on top of Italian pasta. It doesn't sound good, but the combination works very well.'

Juan:

'I'll order that. Have you looked at the desserts? They have a coffee cake, I like coffee, but the last time I had one was in Spain and it had a very bitter taste, it was like I was eating coffee without the cake.'

Peter:

'I don't know. I've never tried it. I've had the toffee ice cream, which was really good. The ice cream is very creamy and it has small pieces of toffee in it, they are really chewy, they get stuck in your teeth. There's also the butter croissant, which is really flaky and it comes with a smooth raspberry sauce.'

Juan:

'And the chocolate cake?'

Peter:

'It's very rich, it's almost like you're eating a bar of chocolate.'

Source: This dialogue has been taken from: blairenglish.com