Vocabulary - Restaurants

Let me attempt to do a little vocabulary work here.  It is, no doubt, all there is to what I list; or what they say - the list is non-exhausive.

I was thinking of doing this over the weekend when I was buying food for my family and pondering if we could ever understand and write well on the stated topic, with the many terms already around.  Do we understand them all??  I am not sure.  We live, we learn.  Oh yes, not forgetting that we eat too.

There are many types of restaurants.  The familiar ones we have are our fast-food restaurants, hawker centres and coffee shops.  The working class and younger generation will be able to associate with cafes and bistros better.  To get a little reading on the types of restaurants, visit this page from Wikipedia.

We will discuss a few common types here.  Fine-dining restaurants offer dedicated full-course meals (think appetizer, main-course, dessert).  They are visually appealing - from decoration to cutlery and crockery - and aim to provide diners with good ambience.  Even their waiters and waitresses are supposed to be specially dressed and trained.  Some of these fine-dining restaurants have al fresco dining - an area that has tables and seats for customers to sit around the restaurant with enjoying their food.

Most of these restaurants offer a-la-carte orders.  You can choose different dishes instead of the courses of meals offered.  Some of these belong to a franchise - the brand name is established and separate individuals purchase rights to set up restaurants under that brand.  For example, Kenny Rogers.  Another example, crossing over to the fast food arena, are your McDonald's, KFC, Long John Silver, etc.  Buffets are quite commonplace too.  Diners pay a flat-amount and take all they can from the food lay out.

Hawker centres do not spring up as commonly these days.  My impression of them is that they are beside wet-markets.  They have many stalls lined up side-by-side, offering a variety of local delicacies.  Prices of dishes sold there are definitely more affordable compared to fine-dining restaurants.

Then we have coffee shops.  No, not coffee houses that offer coffee with perhaps one of two other types of light refreshments.  I mean those that we find commonly in the vicinity of housing board estates.  In one such shop, we have a handful of stalls offering a smaller variety of food choices.

Then we talk about the words to describe the food we eat.  The food could be sweet, sugary, spicy, bitter, sour, salty, cheesy, tangy (having a pungent, fresh, or briny flavour or aroma), etc.  I hope you do not get rotten or uncooked food.

The smell could be fresh, aromatic, sweet-scented or having a frangrance.  It better not have an odour (American-spelling is odor) or some stench!

How can our food taste, overall?  The meat can be succulent, juicy and tender.  Good experiences will leave comments like tasty, delicious, scrumptious, delightful, appetising, delectable, palatable, mouth-watering.  Informal words (can be used, but have to be restricted to dialogue or within quotes) are 'yummy' and 'heavenly'.

Try describing the food that you eat during your next meal.  With a vast vocabulary on food and all, you might become a food critic or connoisseur in the field.  Bon appetit (French: I wish you a hearty appetite)!