Eating out

Eating out in a restaurant is now a very popular pastime. In most towns there is a wide variety of restaurants serving different types of food at different prices. Bost Britain towns now have Chinese of Indian restaurants which serve quite cheap food. Italian restaurants are also popular and French restaurants are famous for high quality (and expensive) cooking. Many pubs now have restaurants or grill-rooms. In some you can get a full range of food, in others the choice is more limited.

When you have looked at the menu and chosen what you want to eat the waiter will come and take your order. Normally you tell him what you want for the first two courses. He will take your order for dessert and coffee later (remember that if you order coffee in Britain it will normally be served white).

When you have finished eating, ask the waiter to bring you the bill. In most restaurants a service charge (10-12 %) is added as well as a Government tax. If a service charge has been added it is not necessary to give the waiter a tip, but if he has been very helpful some people like to give a small tip.

As well as restaurants most towns have a number of snack bars and cafes where you can get sandwiches and other snacks. There are also hamburger restaurants in most towns specializing in cheap meals - especially, of course, hamburgers.

A fairly recent development is the growth of take-away restaurants. Fish and chip shops have been a part of the British scene for many years and are still popular though less so than in the past. Now there are take-away Chinese and Indian restaurants in many towns and special take-aways serving fried chicken are also popular. You go and give your order which is cooked while you wait and packed in special containers for you to take away with you. Take-away food is cheaper than eating in restaurants, particularly because you do not have to pay tax on it.

AT THE PUB

For company and conversation the English go to the "pub". The cafes in England sell only coffee, tea and "soft" drinks. You go to a cafe for a meal or for a quick cup of tea, but not to sit and watch the world go by. When you want to relax after a day's work, you go to the local public house.

Everybody goes there, except children, who are not allowed in. If you go up to the bar, you may find every kind of a person: doctors, schoolmasters, workmen. They all go there, to talk and to drink their usual drink.

Nearly everyone drinks beer. Most pubs, in fact, have a piano and on Saturday night the customers may well gather round it and sing. The songs they sing are the same all over England. The people who want to sing ask someone to play the tunes on the old piano. They group themselves round it and they buy drinks for the pianist. That is the custom. The one who plays has free drinks as long as he plays.

Good humour and good temper give English pubs their character. If you go there regularly the landlord will try to get to know you. He will remember what you usually drink and may well become a personal friend. The pub is the place where you meet people.