The 10 Best Restaurants in The World
Part II
Vocabulary Preview
A) Match the words to the meanings.
1. __ imbue
2. __ alchemist
3. __ sturgeon
4. __ transform
5. __ predilection
6. __ avant-garde
7. __ scatter
8. __ indigenous
9. __ whimsical
10. __ wizardry
B) Complete the sentences with the correct word.
1. Tea is not only a beverage ______with cultural identities but also has therapeutic values.
2. Her ______culinary concepts have proven successful in several pop-up restaurants, catering events, electronic music festivals & Food Truck.
3. There are approximately 370 million ______people in the world, belonging to 5,000 different groups, in 90 countries worldwide.
4. College of______(CoW) is a larp about a magical college, where students with extraordinary abilities come to learn about advanced magic.
5. Traditionally, the term caviar refers only to roe from wild ______in the Caspian and Black Sea.
Reading Passage
4. Eleven Madison Park, New York, USA. Cost of a meal for two, without wine: $450.
P1) In this hushed yet theatrical dining room, Swiss-born chef Daniel Humm takes the whole farm-to-table movement, imbues it with a bit of French savoir-faire, and, like an alchemist, comes out with the quintessential New York restaurant. Indeed, the sense of place here comes not just from the locally grown and produced ingredients, but from Humm’s knowing nod to New York’s culinary culture. Pristine carrots, for example, get turned into a lightly whimsical take on steak tartare; sturgeon (brought to the table under a smoke-filled cloche) is served with the restaurant’s take on an everything bagel. Excellent service — graceful, attentive, modern — adds to the sense of supreme well-being.
5. Dinner. London, England. Cost of a meal for two, without wine: $230.
P2)Heston Blumenthal took his fascination with English culinary history and turned it into something unexpectedly interesting for the rest of us. At the fashionable Dinner, located at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in London and overseen by chef Ashley Palmer-Watts, traditional (if quirkily named) dishes like Salamugundy and meat fruit are transformed into modern-day marvels (the latter into a light but rich chicken liver parfait, made up to look exactly like a mandarin orange) Is it indeed the U.K.’s best restaurant? Probably not. But as history lessons go, this one goes down extremely easily.
6. Mugaritz, Errenteria, Spain. Cost of meal for two, without wine: $470.
P3)Andoni Luis Aduriz is the Aristotle of contemporary cuisine, a philosopher-king tucked away in the rolling hills of the Basque Country, about 20 minutes drive from San Sebastian. Cerebral, technically accomplished dishes like the Bloody Mary tomato (which looks and feels like a fresh tomato, but tastes of the cocktail), or his famous potato stones (whose river rock appearance gives the diner the uncomfortable sensation of being about to break her teeth), he manages to consistently surprise and delight his customers, all while maintaining a deep, almost pantheistic reverence for the nature around him.
7. D.O.M. Saõ Paulo, Brazil. Cost of meal for two, without wine: $400.
P4)Given the media’s predilection for depicting chef Alex Atala standing thigh-deep in his much-loved Amazon, bare-chested and draped with a giant fish like some kind of latter-day Tarzan, it comes as something of a surprise that his restaurant is so refined. But the delicacy of signature dishes, like a pappardelle made from hearts of palm or a ceviche crafted of indigenous flavors, belies the wallop of their unusual flavors — and has helped Brazilians discover the bounty of their native terroir. Even the Amazonian ants he serves, redolent of lemongrass and placed gently atop a cube of pineapple, seem elegant.
8. Arzak. San Sebastian, Spain. Cost of meal for two, without wine: $530.
P5)Juan Mari Arzak is one of the great geniuses of Spanish gastronomy, among the first to bring modern techniques and flavors to bear on regional cuisine — in his case, that of his native Basque Country. The kitchen of his restaurant, which is housed in a quaint-looking building but is surprisingly sleek inside, is now run largely by his daughter Elena. She continues the Basque-inflected innovation, with dishes like “waves” (they’re created with molds) of local spider crab and anise or monkfish cooked in a balloon of edible green papier-máche that manage to feel both regionally grounded and whimsical.
9. Alinea, Chicago, Illinois. Cost of a meal for two, without wine: $420.
P6)Grant Achatz did a brief stint at Ferran Adrià’s elBulli, and ever since has been out avant-garding what was once the most avant-garde restaurant in the world. The 18-or-so-course tasting menu carries titles like “Scallop Acting Like Agedashi Tofu” and the tableware — some of it lovely, some of it looking like it was lifted from the spike-and-pincer collection of the Spanish Inquisition— is tailor-made for each course. Dinner in this Chicago restaurant consists of carefully-scripted experiences more than dishes: one course requires the diner to fold her own ravioli from a sheet of tomato pasta that, moments before, looked to be a decorative flag, while the final dessert, a mix of dark chocolate and about a hundred other things, is painted, drizzled and scattered by a chef directly on the table itself.
10. The Ledbury, London, England. Cost of a meal for two, without wine: $270.
P7)Among the top ten restaurants, the Ledbury is probably the most classical, which is to say that its chef, Australian-born Brett Graham, is more interested in pleasure than wizardry. The dishes served in this London restaurant may not be as visually striking as in other places, but their flavors are deep and layered. Case in point: a buffalo milk curd, spread creamily onto crisp toasts that are topped with Iberico ham and served with a rich onion broth. Or grilled mackerel, its oily brine mellowed with cured avocado and brightened with shiso. And with a chef who hunts his own wild birds, this is the place in London to try game.
A) Reading Comprehension Questions:
1) What is probably true about Chef Daniel Humm?
a) He runs a very exotic restaurant.
b) He is an alchemist.
c) He uses imported ingredients.
d) He was born in the U.K.
2) According paragraph 2, what is mentioned about the restaurant, Dinner?
a) Dinner is the best and the most well-known restaurant in London now.
b) The chef mixed mandarin oranges into chicken liver parfait.
c) The chef made chicken liver parfait look like an orange.
d) It is a vegetarian restaurant.
3) According to Paragraph 3, what is indicated about Mugaritz, Errenteria, Spain?
a) Chef Andoni’s philosophy about cooking is corny.
b) Chef Andoni Luis Aduriz’s foods always surprise his customers.
c) Mugaritz is located in the central San Sebastian.
d) Dishes of Blood Mary and Potato Rocks drive customers away.
4) The word “redolent” in Paragraph 4, line 7, is closest in meaning to?
a) crispy
b) fresh
c) soft
d) fragrant
5) According to Paragraph 5, what is Not mentioned about Restaurant Arzak?
a) Elena Arzak now runs the restaurant.
b) They offer Basque-inflected cuisine.
c) Juan Mari Arzak innovated the dish of “Waves”.
d) The exterior of Arzak is archaic but modern inside.
B) Choose T for True and F for False
1) True or False: Alinea is the most avant-garde restaurant in the world.
2) True or False: Chef Brett Graham was born in Australia.
3) True or False: Restaurant Alinea offers custom-made plates.
4) True or False: Chef Graham buys wild birds from the market.
http://time.com/94414/best-restaurants-world/
Answers:
Vocabulary Preview
Part A
1. j
2. h
3. e
4. a
5. c
6. g
7. b
8. f
9. d
10. i
Part B
1. imbued
2. avant-garde
3. indigenous
4. wizardry
5. sturgeon
Reading Comprehension
Part A Part B
1) a 1) False
2) c 2) True
3) b 3) True
4) d 4) False
5) c