Exercise 2. Answer the questions to the text.

1. What is an upscale restaurant offering probably the best Asian food?

2. How does it look like?

3. What can you say about the menu of the restaurant?

4. What appetizers did he order?

5. What was the soup?

6. What was the main course?

7. What did the customer order for a dessert?

TEXT 3

Exercise 1. Read and translate the text with the help of a dictionary:

Red Bar-Lounge with a View

Red Bar is not the sort of place you go to for a few pints, a packet of peanuts and a couple of games of pool. However, it's definitely not green, so the name is only half a misnomer.

A fter being beamed up to Red Bar in an exclusive, high-speed lift, you are met with a mellow lounge stretching along the 27th floor of a tower block – with a superb view of the Moscow skyline from its glass crow's nest above the Moscow River. This outlook is best witnessed from the men's room, where the stylish metal urinals are strategically positioned to make you believe that, with a slight change in trajectory, you could clear the river and hit the White House. The rest of the lounge has been similarly well thought out by the Italian designer – with a long bar, red bucket chairs and one wall the target of ever-changing psychedelic color splashes thrown up by projector lights. A futuristic grand piano, which looks vaguely like the Millennium Falcon out of "Star Wars", stands in the center of Red Bar, and is played after 9 p.m. to the accompaniment of saxophone or jazz vocals.

The food menu is of a trendy French and Japanese leaning, excellently prepared by the experienced Russian chef, though somewhat limited for choice. The cocktail and wine lists are more varied, and we started with a well-shaken Love on the Beach ($9) and a Liebestraum ($9) based on peach liqueur and vodka. To eat, we opened with sandwiches, which are incomparable with the pre-packaged, supermarket type. The wife's hot squid sandwich ($6) was lovely, but my own chef sandwich ($12) was a culinary work of art – an incredibly creative assortment of Parma ham, vegetables, avocado butter and even a hard-boiled quail's egg to go with lightly toasted bread.

For the main course I went for a pungent Al-Kabuchi ($15) – a mix of tuna, yellowtail fish and sea bass with vokami leaves, while the spouse had delicious noodles with seafood ($15).

Following this we mopped up with raspberry cake ($7) containing dark, bitter chocolate and fruit, plus a soufflé-based cheesecake ($7). Like everything else in Red Bar, the desserts were beautifully presented and digested.

After finishing with Assam tea ($7) and an Irish coffee ($9 – strangely just one buck more than a whisky-free espresso), we spent a while listening to the music, looking at the view and people-watching amongst the fashionable clientele which flocks to Red Bar. Although open for less than a year, it is already a landmark among Moscow's eateries. Pretentiously cool and coolly pretentious, ultimately Red Bar is cool, and the sort of place everyone should go to at least once. With such a great view of the city and the chance to sip cocktails in a classy environment, it's a really good way to spend a relaxed, romantic evening.