Describe a cafe or restaurant you like.
A strong long turn names the subject in the first sentence, spends most of the two minutes on the last bullet — the why — and arrives at a prepared final line rather than trailing off.
The question, as the examiner gives it
Describe a cafe or restaurant you like.
You should say
- where it is
- what kind of place it is
- what you usually have there
- and explain why you keep going back
60 seconds to prepare, up to 2 minutes to speak
A band 7 to 8 answer
About 207 words at a natural pace — roughly what 120 seconds holds.
Answer it yourself first
Record your own answer first. A model you have read three times comes out with a flattened rhythm, and examiners are trained to hear exactly that. Read it afterwards for the vocabulary and the shape, not to memorise the sentences.There is a cafe near my old office called Anand's, which has been run by the same family for about forty years and has changed almost nothing in that time. It is a narrow room with eight marble-topped tables, ceiling fans that make a particular noise, and a menu that is a board on the wall with about eleven items. I go once a week, usually on a Saturday morning, and I have ordered the same thing for six years, which is a masala dosa and a filter coffee. The man at the counter starts making it when he sees me come in. The reason I keep going back is not really the food, although the food is very good. It is that the place is entirely indifferent to trends. Three cafes with exposed brick and oat milk have opened on the same street and two have already closed. Anand's will still be there, and that reliability has become genuinely comforting. The son has started working behind the counter in the last year, which I have chosen to read as a good sign about the next forty years. I would be genuinely upset if it closed, more than is reasonable for a place I pay to visit.
The words that earn marks
Each one links to how it is pronounced.
- narrow
precise adjective for the shape of the room
- marble-topped
a compound adjective that does a lot of work
- counter
the exact noun for where you order
- indifferent
four syllables with the stress on the second
- trends
concrete noun with a demanding final cluster
- reliability
a six-syllable noun used accurately
- comforting
the adjective that closes the answer
How a strong answer is built
- 1Name the place and its history in one sentence.
- 2Describe the room with three physical details.
- 3Give your order and the routine around it.
- 4Say why you return, and make it not about the food.
Sounds to watch
The ones this answer leans on most.
Straight answers
How long should my answer to “Describe a cafe or restaurant you like.” be?
You get 60 seconds to make notes and then speak for up to two minutes without interruption. Aim to still be talking at ninety seconds: finishing at forty is the commonest way to lose marks on this part.
Should I memorise the model answer?
No. Record your own version first, then read the model for the shape and the vocabulary. A memorised answer changes rhythm and pace noticeably, and examiners are trained to hear it — it usually costs more than the better wording gains.
Does sayit score this answer?
It scores what a microphone can observe: an estimate from fluency and pronunciation only — not an official band, and not a mark for vocabulary or grammar.
What the band on your result means
An estimate from fluency and pronunciation only — not an official band, and not a mark for vocabulary or grammar.One question a day until your test
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