英语播客 A Cup of English Wok with me.

Do you ever fancy eating something really fresh? Something savory, healthy, and tasty? I'm so thankful that there is a place in town where we can get food that is just like that. It's a restaurant called the Wok-About-Grill. It is a play on words. You might already know that a wok is a special kind of frying pan used in Asian cooking. And, because 'to walk about' is an English phrase, the owners of the restaurant decided to change 'walk' to 'wok'. Anyway, it's a cool place. When you walk in, you immediately smell the wonderful stir fries. It's a simple place, but very clean, and nearly always packed. The main idea about the Wok, is that you put the raw vegetables, meat, and uncooked noodles that you want on your plate. Then you add oils, garlic, condiments, and sauces as you like. You hand the plate to one of a group of cooks who puts everything in your bowl on a large, round, cooking surface. After tossing and scraping it for a few minutes, he then sweeps all the cooked food into a new, clean bowl, and there you have your food. It's a smart set up. Think about it: you do some of the work, so the staff can concentrate on cleaning up rather than getting orders of different food. Plus, as a customer, you don't feel as if you are waiting for your food because you experience your meal happen, instead of sitting at a table and not being involved in the process. In this culture of fast food, and other restaurants that use pre-prepared food, it is refreshing to know that what you eat is fresh, fresh, fresh. If you fancy a stirfry that has loads of garlic and onion, then that's what you have. If you want just vegetables and no meat, no problem. I usually have lots of vegetables, some beef, and no noodles. So, the owner must be happy knowing that, with this system, the customer is always satisfied.

Grammar notes.

Related vocabulary: to toss, to scrape, a set up.

1. Put the salad dressing on, and then toss it.

2. I had to scrape my car's windshield this morning because there was so much frost on it.

3. That business has an ingenious set up. The customers actually do most of the work.