Ordering a meal

You will learn

• to make a booking in a restaurant
• to order a meal for one and for a group
• to ask for vegetarian dishes
• to find out about drinks
• to ask for the bill

and you will read about how Russians entertain.

Before you begin

You will find it useful to look over lesson 4 in conjunction with this lesson.

Study guide

1. Tanya has dropped in at a cooperative cafe for lunch.

меню menu
прошу ознакомиться please look at it
лобио a Georgian vegetable dish with green beans and walnuts
вкусный, -ая, -oe tasty

2. Tanya has finished her meal.

будет исполнено it will be done

Practice what you have learned

1. The cafe in the dialogues offers dishes of many nationalities. In the menu, the dishes and their origins are mixed up. If you listen to the following snatches of conversation, you will be able to match them correctly.

2. Read the following dialogue and see if you can work out which words are missing before listening to your recording.

3. Your name is Lara, and you are looking for a lightish meal. Andrei will prompt you.

3. Pavel wants to book a table for this evening.

безусловно of course, without a doubt

4. Does the café sell alcohol?

другие спиртные напитки other alcoholic drinks
но but
приобрести to acquire
Мы будем только очень рады we will be only too pleased

Practice what you have learned

4. Listen to the snatches of conversation on your recording, then fill in the missing spaces in the waiter's list of bookings for the evening.

5. Shura rings the café to book a table. Listen to the conversation, then decide which of the statements in your book are true, which false.

6. You are taking some Russian friends out to dinner. You'll need to book in advance. Listen for Andrei's prompts.

5. Pavel and his friends are ready to order.

свинина по-гречески Greek-style pork
свинина натуральная grilled pork
свинина на косточке pork on the bone

6. Are there any vegetarian dishes?

омлет с грибами, с сыром an omelette with mushrooms and cheese

7. They have finished the meal and are ready to pay.

прошу вас please
счёт готов the bill is ready
благодарю вас another way of saying 'thank you'
всего доброго all the best

Practice what you have learned

Read the menu below before beginning the exercises.

7. Natasha is ordering for a group of eight people. Listen to the dialogue on your recording, then mark on the menu above how many portions they would like of each dish.

8. The waiter has never had a group like this before - vegetarians, a vegan, someone on a diet... Listen to your recording and write down how he caters to each person's needs.

New word: масло butter, oil

9. You will be ordering a meal for yourself and a friend.

Pronouns

Pronouns are used instead of nouns when it's clear who is referred to, e.g.: Tanya reads Pushkin. She reads Dostoevsky too. Just as a noun can have many endings depending on its function in the sentence, so too can the pronoun.

The dative case is used to refer to the indirect object of a sentence, e.g. give the hook to me. Pronouns with dative endings are particularly useful when you are shopping or ordering meals, being used after verbs such as дать 'to give' (дайте мне... give me...), принести 'to bring' and предложить 'to offer, suggest'. They are also used before надо and нужно, both of which mean 'necessary', e.g. мне надо работать 'I have to work', вам нужен второй троллейбус 'you need a No. 2 trolleybus'. Here are all the dative pronoun endings:

Here is an example of how they work:

я хочу пообедать. Что вы мне порекомендуете?
ты хочешь пообедать? А что тебе принести?
она хочет пообедать. Что вы ей порекомендуете?
мы хотим пообедать. Что вы нам порекомендуете?
вы хотите пообедать. Что вам принести?
они хотят пообедать. Что вы им порекомендуете?

10. Fill in the missing pronouns in the following sentences.

Read and understand

11. Two cooperative cafés have opened in the center of Moscow. Both hang the day's menu in the window. Read the menus, then decide which café would best suit each of the visitors to Moscow described below.

Did you know

Westerners invited to Russians' homes, or to a restaurant with them, often leave convinced that their friends are well off, and that no problems exist. They don't of course see the lines their friends have waited in, the hours spent obtaining and preparing special dishes, coffee, drinks and sweets.

But then their friends don't want them to. Russians do not stop at half-measures when entertaining guests, or celebrating special occasions such as birthdays, name days (the day of the saint after whom a person is named), New Year.

If you go to somebody’s home, everything they have is likely to be put on the table at one time, and you will be repeatedly urged to keep eating. (There is a fable by the famous writer Krylov on this very theme - the guest finally rushes out of the house unable to take another mouthful!)

Vodka and other alcoholic drinks will be served just as liberally - if they are available. In the mid 1980s, when severe restrictions were put on the sale of alcohol, many people felt resentful that perfectly innocent socializing had been curtailed: how could they invite guests without a single bottle of alcohol to place on the table?

We mentioned in lesson 4 that the majority of Russians do not frequently dine in restaurants. However, they may invite friends for an evening in a restaurant in order to celebrate a special occasion. There they will show the same generosity as in their homes. Incidentally, it would not occur to a waiter to ask diners if they are paying together or separately - it could even be taken as an insult!

Your turn to speak

12. You are staying with some friends in Moscow and would like to take them out for a meal. Study the following menu and expressions. When you have chosen, try ordering the meal, making any necessary requests for vegetarian food, etc. And, of course, you will need to pay! Then turn on your recording to hear what Nadya orders.

примите у нас заказ take our order
на холодное for the cold course
на горячее for the hot course
на десерт for dessert
мы решили взять... we have decided to take...
принесите, пожалуйста, ... bring us please...
всё было очень вкусно it was all very tasty
сдачи не надо keep the change