Your First 10 Words in a Restaurant

🎯 By the end of this 5 minutes, you can:

name 10 common restaurant items and use them in a simple sentence: I’d like a _____, please.

These 10 words cover 90% of what you need in any English-speaking restaurant or café. Notice the pattern: I’d like a [item], please.

Pronunciation tip: bill (rhymes with ‘fill’) · menu (‘MEN-yoo’) · dessert (stress on 2nd syllable: ‘deh-ZURT’ — not ‘DEZ-ert’ which is a dry landscape!)

Task 1: Match the word

Which word goes where? bill / menu / tip / dessert / order
1. The waiter brings this first so you can choose. → ___
2. You pay this at the end. → ___
3. Extra money for good service. → ___
4. Sweet food after your main course. → ___
5. To ask for food or drink. → ___

💡 Show answer

1. menu · 2. bill · 3. tip · 4. dessert · 5. order

Task 2: Say it out loud

Practise saying this sentence with 5 different items from the list: ‘I’d like a _____, please.’ Say each one twice — first slowly, then at natural speed.

💡 Show answer

I’d like a menu, please. / I’d like the bill, please. / I’d like a starter, please. (etc.)

Task 3: Odd one out

Which word does NOT belong? Why?
A) starter · main course · dessert · tip

💡 Show answer

Tip is money, not food. The others are all courses of a meal.

You are in a café in London. Write 3 sentences using words from the list. Start with: Excuse me, I’d like to order… Then ask for the bill and leave a tip comment.