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4.2. Everyone's a critic

Focus on

      
  • Are you a real connoisseur of cuisine, food products or wine?
  • Have you got a refined taste for food?
  • Do you usually buy gourmet food?
  • If gourmets exist, what are their qualifications?
 

Writing a restaurant review

The job of a food reviewer is to accurately convey the taste, texture, smell, and presentation of a restaurant's food. Not only do you comment on the food but also on the atmosphere, staff knowledge and attentiveness, the speed of service, the general impression of the restaurant or cafe. A great food review puts the reader at your table with you, allowing them to decide whether or not they want to visit the restaurant when they've read your text.

1. Start your review with a compelling line-as in every text, the first line will help a readerr decide if they want to continue so make usr it's good: it could be anticipating what's coming next ("Who would have thought the dull suburbs of Manchester could produce the most sublime ceviche ever!" or offering a surprising contrast ("Though Zed's has only been up and running for 2 months, it has already won several critics' awards for its outstanding approach to food")

2. Describe 3- 5 dishes that you tried but not all of them- no one wants to read a list of foods. try to describe them using eye-catching descriptive adjectives  ("It was nice" doesn't really help a potential diner). Talk about:

  • presentation: attractively plated or just dumped there like it had fallen out of the sky? How did you react to seeing it?
  • taste: obviously the most important so use similes and descriptive language to help the reader into your shoes. Name spices and flavours if you can. do the mixtures of flavours work together?
  • texture: did it melt in your mouth? Was it soggy (bad) or crisp (good)? Juicy or tough?

3. Include other matters that can make or break a good meal:

  • the attention of the waiters
  • the time taken for serving
  • the decor
  • cleanliness and smell
  • even how close your table is to the next- no one wants to find themselves listening in on the next table's angry/boring conversation
  • the price- reasonable, exorbitant, good value?

4. Make a recommendation. People ultimately want to know whether it's a good place for them to try so you could recommend it as a great place to go for a romantic date or suggest skipping dessert. And if you really didn't like it, feel free to say so.

Source: http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Food-Review

Do it yourself

Read the text and complete with the correct word.

The Ordinary Man’s Restaurant Review Series: Chapter One Malta

It’s not often that you just walk into a high quality restaurant 1 by a star chef, especially a chef who has worked and trained under a Michelin star chef in Paris. This is Chef Hiram Cassar’s first venture out, aptly titled Chapter One in the St. Julian’s bay area of Malta. Tucked away in a corner, you would be forgiven for missing it and just walking by. But of course an all-start chef would know how to draw your attention and to lure you in. As a 2, and someone who is always on the lookout for a good meal, you can’t miss the sign that reads ‘Michelin Star trained chef.’

As soon we saw the words ‘Michelin Star’, my wife and I were 3 ! We had to do this. We were in the country to celebrate our wedding anniversary; as if that five-day sojourn was not enough of a treat, we decided to 4 ourselves further with a ‘nice’ meal. Our only hope was that we get a reservation on the 5 of the moment. The moment we walked in and noticed that it wasn’t a particularly big restaurant, our hope turned in to a prayer: ‘Please have a spare table" We were in luck and in no time we were seated on a table in the patio of this little restaurant, enjoying the cool breeze on a pleasant summer evening.

Chef Cassar likes to keep his guests coming;it’s a 6 menu, he says, that is based on the ingredients available at the time. Rightly so maybe, given that Malta imports 80% of its total needs, including food. Fish and seafood are in 7, as you would expect with an island nation. Naturally, neither my wife nor I could resist the urge to 8 some of this local 9 . It was going to be tuna ceviche and oysters for us to kick off  the meal.

When it arrived, we were impressed- the quality of the seafood was so good, so fresh,so amazing.The oysters were massive and tasted as though they had just been caught, shucked and brought to the table. To add a bit of 10 and a touch of additional flavor to them, the oysters were   11with caviar. I wouldn’t say I was necessarily impressed, but it was worth the try.

Next up was a steak and lamb for my wife and me, respectively. Lamb, a 12 on the island , was cooked to perfection. A little pink in the middle and 13 on the outside, it was grilled to perfection, served over a 14 of ratatouille, and 15with mint leaves. The meat was cooked just beautifully, treated with as much love and care as a rarity should. It was as though the chef knew of its exalted status on the island and was giving it just the delicate and special treatment it deserved.

On the other side of the table, my wife went for her favorite option for the main course -a medium-rare sirloin steak . And without tasting it, but just based on the drop in conversation over the next several minutes, I could guess that the steak was delicious. It was done to her 16 , and all I could hear was the chewing and the soft sighs of satisfaction from the other side of the table. 

We were 17 but we were still tempted for dessert though.  We asked our server for her recommendation. “My personal favorite is the chocolate brownie with salted caramel powder. And it’s all made 18 .” We took her word for it. It wasn’t the best brownie we had ordered and could have actually skipped it- it definitely had room for improvement; a bit more 19, a little more chocolatey maybe?

Our main complaint for the night was the 20. Two servers, running about, attending to the front of the house, taking orders and serving the food. Even for a small restaurant, it was probably way too much for them,so our meal took a long time to arrive. Even to get something as simple as cutlery, you had to wave one of the scurrying servers down and wait and wait.

Despite the high quality of the food, and the exquisite tastes, we left a little disappointed .  However, conscious of the shortcomings that evening, Chef Cassar came up to personally apologize for the long wait and time to service.  It made us feel good; it made us feel wanted and valued as customers .

After that meal and the entire experience, all I can say is that I am hoping and curious to see if there is a Chapter Two in this talented chef’s culinary journey! Possibly in London?

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tarun-sakhrani/the-ordinary-mans-restaur_3_b_7678638.html

 

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Mediation

Duration:
30:00 minutes
Grouping:
1

A friend of yours really loves gourmet food, and is thinking of visiting one of the famous Spanish Michelin-star restaurants. You read the first page of reviews about Martin Berasategui restaurant in a well-known gourmet blog and decide to send your friend a short message with a summary of the reviews you have read. Write your message in 50-60 words and then show it to your teacher.

Plato con comida
Unsplash/Julien Sarazin. Gourmet Seafood "lobster ravioli and scampi cream" (CC0)