Ordering Western Food

Waiter (W)    Customers (C)


Western Breakfast

        W: Good morning, sir and madam. What would you like to have for your breakfast?
        C: What do you serve here?
        W: We serve Continental and American breakfast.
        C: What do you serve for Continental breakfast?
        W: We serve rolls with butter and coffee.
        C: What about American breakfast?
        W: Orange juice or tomato juice, tea or coffee, toast with butter or jam, eggs with bacon.
        C: I'll have tomato juice, coffee, toast and two eggs. Can I have ham instead of bacon?
        W: Certainly, madam. How would you like the eggs?
        C: Easy over, please.
        W: Yes, madam. And you, sir?
        C: I'll have orange juice, coffee, toast with bacon. Can I have a boiled egg, hard boiled, please?
        W: Yes, sir. Tomato juice, coffee, toast with ham, two eggs, easy over for madam. Orange juice, coffee, toast with bacon and one hard boiled egg for sir. Am I correct, sir and madam?
        C: Yes, thank you.
        W: You are welcome.



Dinner a la Carte*

        W: Good evening, sir and madam. What would you like for your dinner, table d'hote* or a la carte?
        C: We would like to have dinner a la carte.
        W: Here is the menu a la carte.
        C: What's today's speciality?
        W: We have onion soup, beef steak, lam chop, smoked salmon and lobster.
        C: I would like to have onion soup, a smoked salmon, a fruit salad.
        W: What would you like for dessert, madam?
        C: Coffee and ice cream.
        W: And you, sir?
        C: Onion soup, French onion soup is really good, isn't it?  A beef steak, a chicken salad, coffee and no dessert.
        W: How would you like the steak, sir?
        C: Rare, please.
        W: Would you like to have some wine with your dinner?  We have very good red wine and white wine.
        C: What do you suggest?
        W: I would suggest Californian red wine or Chateau Haut Lafite for the beef steak and Bourbon on the rocks or champagne for the fish.
        C: Let me have Californian red wine.(Madam) I'll have champagne.
        W: Very well, sir and madam.



Buffet          

Hostess(H)

        H: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We serve buffet this morning. We also serve Chinese buffet and dim sum.
        Guest 1: Oh, how nice?  I'd like to try some dim sum.
        H: We have several kinds of dim sum and rice porridge and bean milk.
        Guest 2: I'd like to try the bean milk. What kind of bean is it?
        H: It's milk made from soybean. Soybean is very nutritious. It doesn't contain any cholesterol. Here are two kinds of rice porridge. One is plain porridge. You can eat it with pickles* or pork floss*. The other kind of rice porridge is cooked with minced meat and preserved egg*.
        Guest 3: What kind of egg is that?
        H: It's preserved duck's egg. Here are some steamed dumplings. This one is stuffed with meat and vegetables and this one is stuffed with red bean puree*. It's sweet.
        Guest 4: Let's try each of these.
        H: Please help yourself.

        * a la carte             点菜
        * table d'hote            套餐
        * pickle                泡菜，酱菜
        * pork floss              肉松
        * preserved egg           皮蛋
        * puree                果泥，豆泥



Background
        A menu refers to the written or printed list of different dishes from which a restaurant customer makes a selection. It may also mean the product of the restaurant, namely, its food. Menus are made on a day-to-day basis or for a longer period of time. Planning the menu is important from two points of view: the restaurant's profit and the customers' pleasure.
        Two systems of pricing dishes on the menus are customary: table d'hote and a la carte. On a table d'hote menu, the price of the entrée is the price of the complete meal. On an a la carte menu, each dish (appetizer, entrée, side dishes, such as vegetables and salads, and dessert) is priced separately. A la carte menus are ordinarily more expensive than the table d'hote menus.