READING 5 B1+
Le Beurre Blanc: so bad it’s almost fun!
Lucas Broadbridge
Food: 0/10
Service: 1/10
Atmosphere: 0/10
What can I say about Le Beurre Blanc? To be honest, I'd prefer to say
nothing at all, but this newspaper has paid me to write a review. If it
prevents just one person from going there, it will be worth it.
I'd been very much looking forward to visiting the newest French
restaurant in town. My happiest memories of student life in Paris
are connected with food and since returning to Johannesburg, I've
enjoyed many great meals in French restaurants. Sadly, this was not
one of them, and I would like to take this opportunity to apologize
once more to my unlucky guest. Happily for me, she spent much of
the evening in tears of laughter rather than walking out in anger,
which most people would probably have done after five minutes.
When we arrived, we were taken to our table by a bored-looking
youth, who didn't speak a single word to us. We were then left
alone for over quarter of an hour with no drinks and no menus. We
entertained ourselves by looking around at the other customers,
several of whom looked fed up and angry. We noticed one of them
call a waiter over and point to his plate. All I managed to hear was
'… embarrassed to send this out of the kitchen …', but it certainly
made us wonder what sort of place we had come to.
We soon found out. My soup – a thin, brownish liquid almost
entirely without flavour – arrived without the home-baked bread
promised on the menu. When I asked about this, I was informed
that the restaurant had 'run out of bread'. Run out of bread? In the
middle of one of the biggest cities in South Africa?
The main courses had to be seen to be believed. My guest's dish
consisted of a tiny slice of dried-up salmon surrounded by a sea of
white sauce that she told me reminded her of the cleaning liquid she
uses in her shower. I had ordered duck, but the three little pieces
of fat and skin I received could have come from pretty much any
animal, and I discovered a hair in my overcooked carrots.
I must admit that we were having fun laughing about the truly awful
cooking, but by this time we were getting hungry, so we decided to
go somewhere we could actually eat the food. But, amazingly, Le
Beurre Blanc had one more surprise for us.
As we walked down the road, we heard steps behind us, and saw the
restaurant manager running after us, waving his arms in the air.
'Let me look in your bag,' he shouted at my guest, in a strong French
accent. 'You've stolen the dessert spoons! I know you have!' At
this point, my guest started laughing so much that I thought she
might fall over, which just made the manager even angrier. Just at
that moment, a waiter appeared and said something quietly to the
manager, at which he looked slightly surprised, gave us one last
angry look, and walked back into the restaurant.
So I guess they found the spoons, but they'll need to find a new
cook, a new manager and a new team of waiters before I'll be going
back there again.
1 Read the text quickly and choose the correct answer.
What kind of review is it?
A a hotel review B a movie review C a restaurant review
2 Read again and choose the correct answers.
1 Why did Lucas Broadbridge think his review might be
useful?
A to tell the restaurant manager how bad his restaurant is
B to stop other people going to the restaurant
C to earn himself some money
2 How did Lucas’ guest react to the experience of eating at
Le Beurre Blanc?
A She thought it was very amusing.
B She was very upset about being called a thief.
C She wanted Lucas to apologize to her.
3 Lucas heard another customer talking to a waiter. What
did the other customer say?
A that he was embarrassed because he couldn't finish
his meal
B that the chef should have brought the meal out himself
C that his food was not of an acceptable quality
4 Why was Lucas so surprised to discover that the
restaurant had no bread?
A because the restaurant staff should know how much
bread they need
B because it was on the menu
C because it would be easy to go and buy some more
5 Why did Lucas and his guest decide to leave?
A because it was getting late
B because they didn't want to eat the food at Le Beurre
Blanc
C because they were too full to eat a dessert
6 What did the waiter who came outside tell the manager?
A that they needed him in the restaurant
B that the dessert spoons weren't important so he
shouldn't worry
C that the missing dessert spoons were in the restaurant
3 Match the phrasal verbs with the definitions.
1 look forward to A leave a place, often because you
2 walk out are angry
3 consist of B feel excited about something that
is going to happen
4 run out of
C drop to the ground by mistake
5 fall over
D be made from something
E use all of something
Skills Boost B1+ READING 5 © Richmond 2014 Photocopiable