I was getting sleepy in the late afternoon, so I decided a flat white was in order, and I stopped at a coffee bar. While the girl was fixing it, I asked her what a flat white was, and she recited almost word for word the same thing the waitress at a completely different place in Manly Beach had said the day before.

“But how is that different from a cafe au lait?” I asked.

She stopped and looked at me, wide-eyed and bit indignant. “It’s an Aussie drink!” she exclaimed.

“And it’s delicious.” I assured her.

She handed me my flat white, apparently mollified. “It’s the weakest coffee drink,” she told me. “The strongest is cappucino.”

***

What we learned at dinner.

If you’re in an Australian sushi bar, and at the end of your meal, you ask your young waitress for your “check,” she will look confused, ask you to repeat it, and then go confer anxiously with her boss about whether or not they really need to write you a check. The proper term is “bill.”