IELTS Speaking · Part 2 Cue Card
Describe a restaurant you enjoy going to
A complete preparation guide: the cue card itself, a 60-second prep framework, a band 7.5 sample answer, topic vocabulary, and likely Part 3 follow-up questions.
Cue card
Describe a restaurant you enjoy going to.
You should say:
- •Where it is
- •What kind of food it serves
- •Who you usually go with
- •And explain why you enjoy going there
How to use your 1 minute of prep time
Specific to this cue card — not generic advice.
- 1Avoid chains; specific independent restaurants give richer language.
- 2Describe the atmosphere as well as the food — examiners reward sensory detail.
- 3Mention one signature dish in detail rather than the whole menu.
- 4Tie 'who with' to the type of occasion (catching up, date, family).
Sample answer (band 7.5)
Read it once for shape, then aloud for rhythm. Don't memorise it — examiners can tell.
There's a tiny Korean restaurant near where I live in Penang that I've been going to for about three years. It seats maybe twenty people, has fluorescent lighting, plastic stools, and walls covered in handwritten signs in Korean that I can't read. It serves home-style food rather than the trendy stuff most Korean restaurants in the city do — soybean stew, marinated black beans, grilled mackerel. The owner is a woman in her sixties who cooks everything herself with one assistant, and the menu changes depending on what she's bought at the market that morning. I usually go with my partner and sometimes with my brother when he's in town, almost always on a Tuesday or Wednesday because it's impossibly busy on weekends. The signature dish is doenjang-jjigae, a fermented soybean stew with tofu, courgette, and pork. It comes in a stone bowl that's so hot it keeps bubbling at the table. The reason I love this place is partly the food, but mostly the feeling of being in someone's kitchen. The owner remembers what we like, scolds us if we don't finish the rice, and once made us a free dessert because she said we looked tired. You can't manufacture that.
Topic vocabulary & collocations
Phrases used in the sample answer that lift fluency naturally.
home-style food
cooking like one would have at home
trendy stuff
fashionable, current items
impossibly busy
extremely crowded
signature dish
the dish a restaurant is known for
scolds us
tells us off in a friendly way
you can't manufacture that
that can't be artificially produced
Likely Part 3 follow-up questions
The examiner will move from your story (Part 2) to broader, abstract questions (Part 3). Prepare answers for these.
- Why are family-run restaurants disappearing in many cities?
- Should people cook more at home rather than eating out?
- Has food delivery changed how restaurants operate?
- Why do some restaurants become trendy quickly and then close?
- Should governments regulate food quality more strictly?
Common pitfalls on this card
- ⚠Picking a chain restaurant — it's harder to make memorable.
- ⚠Listing dishes instead of focusing on one well-described one.
- ⚠Skipping the atmosphere; food alone is rarely enough for band 7.