The art of serving (and how to behave) at the table

If before we talked about the substantial conceptual difference on the theme of catering, it should not be forgotten that in a restaurant, in addition to good food, it is also necessary to have a good service. Linked, in some way, to the international “bon ton” standards and its basic rules. Bases that, unfortunately, are often disregarded even in the best restaurants in the Russian Federation.

If we are in a restaurant (not a cafe, no stalovaya or a fast food), the absolute norm is the availability of napkins in fabric and not paper. Do not confuse the restaurant with fast food! In Russia, it is widely distributed paper napkins.

In Italy, once seated at the table, the order will be made by the waiter who, as a rule, is interested in understanding which dishes to be served first to all the guests, including times and methods. What for us is a logical time differentiation between appetizer, first courses, main courses and desserts … in Russia this temporality does not exist at all! So, we have total anarchy at the table: if you asked for a cold dish like a salad, then it will arrive first without taking into account the other diners, who may wait another 20 minutes to see their dishes arrive. So, the dishes will arrive at different times and without a logic neither gastronomic nor temporal.

And here we can stop at the theme “dishes” …

If we go into the theme of “drinks”, especially about wines, here it gets very complicated. Often they are offered wines by the glass of various international origins that are not really cheap. If we are in a restaurant in Italy, the waiter or sommelier will bring the bottle to the table, will make you taste the wine and, once you have given your approval, will pour the wine into your glass.

In Russia, however, the glass will come to the table with the wine already poured and the waiter will say that the wine offered is just what you requested … Trust me! And is not corked wine! I tell you! Trust me …

More than once I had to specify that the wine they gave me was not what I had requested.

In any case and from personal experience, I started to opt for South American wines such as Argentinean and Chilean wines, as often Italian bottles do not correspond to what is reported on the bottle’s label. How this is possible? Better not to investigate …

Meanwhile, thanks to these Russian experiences, I began to appreciate Argentinian wines that I had never tried.

But the most painful part comes at the end, when asking for a coffee or tea… I’m often sitting at the table with refined women who, while enjoying your own drink, they put the cup with the drink directly on the table, ignoring the saucer … maybe I’m too picky, but for me, this is a blow to the feminine elegance and the respective “bon-ton” at the table.

Unforgivable, however, the use of toothpicks at the table! Now impossible to find them in European restaurants (on some level) but they can be found in all of the restaurants in russia. Even high-level!

Seeing the beautiful Russian women, tall, elegant, impeccable from all points of view but struggling with toothpicks is, unfortunately, a frequent contradiction in restaurants that breaks all kinds of poetry …

In summary, the “glamour” and “bon ton” are not the same thing. The “glamour” you can get through a project of interior design that conveys the emotion required. The “bon ton”, however, is a matter of education that is handed down from generation to generation…