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- Contributor
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- Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Wow! Look at you. Eating like a true lady or gentleman after reading last week’s column! As promised, here are some more tips on Australian dining etiquette. This time, let’s have a look at the tools of the trade when dining.
A formal table setting is an array of cutlery, crockery and glassware, which can all be a little overwhelming. Remember that your bread plate is to your left and that your glasses are above you to your right. As a general rule with cutlery, you use the set on the outside and work your way inwards, thus using the cutlery closest to your plate last. Feel free to use your knife and fork in either hand, but you should never move anything on a table before using it. Why? Welcome to Waiter School 101.
When a formal table is set, most of what you require will be placed on the table before you arrive. For example, a red and white wine glass will be set even though you probably won’t be drinking both, and special cutlery like fish knives and cake forks will be set if this is one of the options in a set menu. Now, a good waitperson will ensure they enhance your dining experience with minimal interruption. A well trained waiter will deliver things to the table to your left and collect from the right. Once you have decided want you are drinking and eating, they will take away anything that you won’t need. If you move items around the waiter can’t easily remove them if they are trying to find where you relocated it.
While we are talking about cutlery and glassware, the correct way to hold a knife and fork is with your pointer finger extending out the lines of the fork and blade of the knife. When resting, don’t make ramps with the cutlery from the table to the plate. Lay your cutlery across the side of the plate. When you have finished, place your knife and fork together and angle it to the right (about 5′oclock). This signals to the waiter that you have finished and by placing the knife and fork to the right the waiter can easily collect from your right and secure the cutlery with their thumb as they pick it up. Try not to leave the table in the middle of a course. If you must get up, cross your knife and fork on the plate as a signal to the waitperson that you are not finished.
Other words of advice when wielding a knife and fork: Please don’t wave or point with your knife or fork in an attempt to make your story you are sharing with your dinner companions more dramatic. It’s more likely to make them nervous.
Don’t pick up cutlery that has fallen on the floor. It is bad form to bring something that has been on the floor onto a clean table. Alert the waitperson and ask for a replacement.
After all those tips to remember about simply using a knife and fork you may feel like you need a drink. Wine glasses come in all sorts of interesting shapes and sizes but traditionally if white and red wine glasses are a set, the white wine is the smaller. When drinking from a white wine glass, hold it by the stem. White wine is served chilled and holding it by the stem ensures your hot little hands don’t warm the wine. On the other hand (not in the other hand), a red wine glass is held by the bowl. This plus only filling the red wine glass to about half full are to do with getting the most out of the experience of enjoying a good red wine and its aromas. Only filling the glass half way keeps the aromas in the glass, while the warmth of your hand helps release these aromas.
If you are uncertain about which wine will compliment a meal, as a general rule, choose red wine for lamb, beef, furred game and most cheeses and choose white wine for seafood, chicken and blue veined cheeses.
The advantage of knowing correct etiquette is it gives you confidence to enjoy the occasion rather than feeling nervous about what is appropriate. So with your newfound wisdom may you pick up your knife and fork with pride and enjoy any future formal dining event-¦and have a drink on me!
Tags: etiquette, Table manners
