Cafe and restaurant in Assamese
A table, the menu, what you cannot eat, and a compliment to the kitchen. Play the ten Assamese words against the clock, with a note on how locals really use each one after every answer. All ten are written out below.
All 10 Assamese phrases in this lesson
- দুজনৰ বাবে এখন টেবুলDU-zo-nor BA-be E-khon TE-bul
- A table for two
- মেনু দিয়কME-nu di-YOK
- The menu, please
- কি ভাল হ'ব?KI BHAL HO-bo
- What do you recommend?
- মই ... নাখাওঁMOI ... NA-khau
- I don't eat...
- মোৰ ...ত এলাৰ্জি আছেMOR ...-to E-lar-zi a-SE
- I'm allergic to...
- মাংসMANG-xo
- Meat
- কুকুৰাKU-ku-ra
- Chicken
- মাছMAS
- Fish
- বহুত সোৱাদ আছেbo-HUT XU-wad a-SE
- It's delicious
- চিয়াৰ্ছCHEERS
- Cheers
Hold up two fingers as you say it. In smaller local eateries (ধাবা, DHA-ba) you often simply seat yourself; this phrase is for more formal restaurants.
Many local restaurants do not have printed menus; the waiter will recite the dishes. Pointing at what a neighboring table is eating is a universally understood alternative.
Literally "what would be good?". Ask about the fish of the day.
মই মাংস নাখাওঁ (MOI MANG-xo NA-khau), I don't eat meat.
The English word allergy with an Assamese ending.
Pork and duck are popular in Assam, unlike much of India.
Fish is the heart of Assamese food, especially masor tenga, a sour fish curry.
Literally "there is very much taste". Saying this to the cook or server is a genuine compliment that will be remembered. সোৱাদ (taste, flavor) is a word worth knowing.
Assam has no drinking-toast tradition of its own, so people borrow the English word outright. Assamese script cannot quite spell it, since চ is an s sound; read the spelling as a loan, not a guide. Any phrase offered elsewhere as a traditional Assamese toast was almost certainly invented for a phrasebook.