[General] Do you want to try some Cantonese cuisine?

[Silverobama]

I want to invite a woman for dinner. That might be a start of a date. I asked her a question:

Silver: Hi, Jessica. Are you available tonight?
Jessica: Yes.
Silver: Do you want to try some Cantonese cuisine?

Is my italic sentence natural?

 

[tzfujimino]

I'd probably use something like "I was wondering if you were available/free tonight" in that situation.

(Edit)
tz: Hi, Jessica. How are you?
Jessica: I'm good.
tz: Well, actually, uh, I was wondering if you were free tonight.
J: Um ... yeah, I think so.
tz: Great! How about, uh, dinner with me? I was, uh, thinking about cooking Cantonese dishes for you. Would you like to try some?
J: Yeah. You know what? Cantonese dishes are my favorite!

(A product of tz's wild imagination)

 

[emsr2d2]

I want to invite a woman for dinner. That might be a start of a [STRIKE]date[/STRIKE] relationship.

If there's a chance of romance, then going out for dinner is a date.

With your second sentence, did you originally mean that going out for a meal might be the first thing you do on a date? For example, you might go out for dinner, then for drinks, then for a nice walk and chat before going home. If that's the case, your original sentence is just about possible.

 

[Silverobama]

If there's a chance of romance, then going out for dinner is a date.

With your second sentence, did you originally mean that going out for a meal might be the first thing you do on a date? For example, you might go out for dinner, then for drinks, then for a nice walk and chat before going home. If that's the case, your original sentence is just about possible.

Much appreciated, tz and emsr2d2. I still have some questions for you, emsr2d2.

When you said "a start of a relationship", did you mean "two people are already in love"? or simply meant "met for the first time"?

Jessica and I met for the first time.

Usually for me who asks a woman for the first time out for dinner, I usually stick to these steps. First, have dinner and chat. Second, go to the bakery store to buy her a breakfast. Third, walk her to the subway station and say goodbye to her. Then she'll decide if she wants to go out with me again. I think it's call a date?

Anyway, I notice that Tz didn't correct my italic sentence. Is my italic sentence natural for this situation and for someone (a male friend) who I want to invite him for dinner.

Do you want to try some Cantonese cuisine?

 

[5jj]

First, have dinner and chat. Second, go to the bakery store to buy her a breakfast. .

You have a pretty long chat if it begins after dinner and ends with breakfast.

 

[tedmc]

Usually for me who asks a woman for the first time out for dinner, I usually stick to these steps. First, have dinner and chat. Second, go to the bakery store to buy her a breakfast. Third, walk her to the subway station and say goodbye to her. Then she'll decide if she wants to go out with me again. I think it's call a date?

Is it a normal practice where you are to buy breakfast for your date after treating her to dinner?

 

[emsr2d2]

Much appreciated, tz and emsr2d2. I still have some questions for you, emsr2d2.

When you said "a start of a relationship", did you mean "two people are already in love"? or simply meant "met for the first time"?

I didn't mean either of them. I meant that going out for dinner (as a date) might be the first step towards two people really growing to like/love each other and building a romantic relationship.

Jessica and I met for the first time.
You must have met before you asked her out for dinner, even if you'd only met online.

Usually, [STRIKE]for me who asks[/STRIKE] when I ask a woman out for dinner for the first time [STRIKE]out for dinner[/STRIKE], I [strike]usually[/strike] stick to these steps. First, we have dinner and chat. Second, I go to the bakery [STRIKE]store[/STRIKE] to buy her [STRIKE]a[/STRIKE] breakfast. Third, I walk her to the subway station and say goodbye to her. Then she'll decide if she wants to go out with me again. I think it's call a date. Am I right?

If you told me that you took a woman out for dinner and then bought her breakfast the next day, my immediate assumption would be that you spent the night together, at your place or hers, and that you almost certainly had sex. Am I right? Is that how most of your dates go?

I don't think you've really understood the meaning of a "date". The first few dates are generally something two people do when they already think they might be interested in each other romantically. They could be between two people who have known each other for twenty years, or two people who met the day before in a supermarket queue or on a dating website.

 

[Silverobama]

Is it a normal practice where you are to buy breakfast for your date after treating her to dinner?

No. I do so because I want to be more caring and thoughtful of others.

You have a pretty long chat if it begins after dinner and ends with breakfast.

I'm pretty sure that I said "I'll walk her to the subway station as my third step", did I? I don't think it's wrong to buy a friend breakfast and then walk her to the subway station because she has dinner with me.

If you told me that you took a woman out for dinner and then bought her breakfast the next day, my immediate assumption would be that you spent the night together, at your place or hers, and that you almost certainly had sex. Am I right? Is that how most of your dates go?

All of you misunderstood me. Is it because I forgot to say that the steps of my dating a woman is coherent?
I don't like one-night stands and I won't do it. We didn't have sex at all. Eat dinner and I buy some bread and milk in a bakery and give it to her before seeing her at the subway station. I haven't dated a woman for eight years. I'm quite conservative about sex.

I don't think you've really understood the meaning of a "date". The first few dates are generally something two people do when they already think they might be interested in each other romantically. They could be between two people who have known each other for twenty years, or two people who met the day before in a supermarket queue or on a dating website.

Got it!

Do you want to try some Cantonese cuisine?

Is my italic sentence natural as a question in this context. Also, is it natural if I want to ask a friend out for dinner? (a male friend)

 

[jutfrank]

Do you want to try some Cantonese cuisine?

Is my italic sentence natural as a question in this context. Also, is it natural if I want to ask a friend out for dinner? (a male friend)

Yes and yes.

 

[emsr2d2]

Our confusion stemmed from the fact that you said you buy her breakfast. If it's still the evening of the date and you're buying her food from a bakery for her to eat the next morning at her own home, then you're not really "buying her breakfast". That phrase suggests that it was breakfast time and you were buying breakfast just for her or for the two of you to eat together. I assumed you walked her to the subway and said goodbye after eating breakfast.

Let me get this right - you take her to dinner, then you go to a bakery with her (this would have to be a late-night bakery because most bakeries here close at about 6pm) and buy her some food for her to take home to eat for breakfast the next day, then you walk her to the subway and say goodbye. If that's the case, it definitely wasn't clear from your first couple of posts in this thread. As is often the case, there's a cultural difference here. I have never heard of anyone buying someone else's breakfast for them to take home with them at the end of a date. Here, you would go for dinner, then maybe go to a bar for a digestif (an after-dinner drink) and then simply go your separate ways or go home together for the night. If it was an enjoyable date, one of you would call/text the other over the next few days to see if you both think it's a good idea to go on another date.

 

[Silverobama]

Much appreciated, jutfrank and emsr2d2.

Let me get this right - you take her to dinner, then you go to a bakery with her (this would have to be a late-night bakery because most bakeries here close at about 6pm) and buy her some food for her to take home to eat for breakfast the next day, then you walk her to the subway and say goodbye.

Sorry, I forgot to say that Jessica came to my neighborhood to meet me. We first had dinner at around 7 pm and then went to the bakery at 8:30 pm (which closes at around 10 pm) and then I walked her to the subway (the subway is close to where we ate dinner) then she went home.

As is often the case, there's a cultural difference here. I have never heard of anyone buying someone else's breakfast for them to take home with them at the end of a date.

Yes, it really didn't work and by doing that I felt like I was an idiot.

Women here are not straightforward. Sometimes they don't refuse you if they don't want a date; they just want to know what will happen next, to keep you curious.

I think this is a bit off-topic so I'll stop here.

Again, much appreciated for your help!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . Women here are not straightforward. Sometimes they don't refuse you if they don't want a date;

In the US, they definitely do!

they just want to know what will happen next, to keep you curious. . . .

Curious about what? How gullible you are?

Yup. It's a cultural difference, for sure!