|
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
Dindo Soriano's excellent way of catering dinner parties
By Giovanni F. Madrid
A LOT of people planning to host a party can't afford caterers, but my former classmate way back in my college days, who started from the ranks as a waiter at the posh Manila Peninsula, to his present position as a banquet manager, told me how his teenage children earned their extra money through catering.
So there's really no reason we cant have excellent "serving help" in the form of our kids. Surely, they would like to learn how to do it the right way without our prompting, because once trained, they can earn enough good money this way during their spare time - doing other people's dinner parties. And how should be they trained?
Dindo Soriano, a Bachelor of Science in Hotel and Restaurant Management grad says serving parties is an excellent way for young people to earn extra money. So here's a short primer for what one person acting as a waiter or waitress for a dinner or luncheon with up to eight guests should do.
"During parties, the easiest way to serve is the first course. You've got to have it already in place on the table on 'place plates' when the guests arrive at their tables," he says.
By the way, a "place plate" is large, approximately twelve inches in diameter, and it is used for decoration and to hold smaller plates and bowls. It is usually removed permanently from the table at the end of the first course.
"If, however, the host wishes the waiter to serve the first course to the guests, the waiter should bring in the plates of food or soup plates one at a time from the kitchen, holding it in his left hand and then placing it on each guest's place plate. If there are no such things as 'place plates' in the house, a dinner plate will do," he concluded.
Dindo said that if it were desirable to speed up the service, the waiter would bring in a plate in each hand, one for a guest on his right, and one for a guest on his left. Unless, the waiter is using both hands to carry two soup plates at a time, he carries one plate and serves a guest from the guest's left. He makes sure that he always removes the guest's plates when he is finished eating.
The waiter should serve the woman guest sitting on the host's right, and then continues around the table counterclockwise. If a woman were hosting the dinner, then the first to be served would be the man on her right, and so on around the table. In each case the man or woman host is served last.
"In Europe the host is often served first, and he begins eating immediately - a custom stemming from the medieval tradition of the royal host eating the food first, to prove to his guests that it has not been poisoned," he said adding, "before the next course is served, the waiter removes the place plate and the soiled dishes from the right of each guest, or if the service need to be rushed up, he removes from the left and the right simultaneously."
Next is the main course. If the host is going to carve a roast at the table, the waiter brings it in on a warm platter balanced on his left hand and steadied with his right. He would place it in front of the carver, and as the latter slices and places meat on each plate, the waiter takes each plate with his left hand and deposits it in front of the guest of honor, and so on around the table.
"It's easier for everyone, of course, if the meat is carved in the kitchen and arranged nicely on a garnished platter. The waiter would present this platter to each guest, balanced on a clean folded napkin on his left hand, to protect his hand from too much heat. The waiter should encourage each guest to take a serving of vegetable or garniture around the roast meat, fish, or fowl," he advised.
If, after using the serving fork and spoon and the guest replace them in a clumsy manner on the latter, Dindo says the waiter should rearrange them nicely for the next guest's convenience. If the guest should drop the handle of the spoon in the sauce, the waiter should wipe off the handle with his napkin before letting the next guest use it. The waiter would be smart to keep a napkin narrowly folded over his forearm for this reason.
The next menu might offer two different vegetables to be served next, so the waiter would carry a bowl in each hand, again with his hands protected by folded napkins, if what he is carrying is very hot. He would offer the bowl in his left hand first, and then offer the right-hand bowl to the same guest next. If there is gravy or a sauce for anything being served, it should be placed on a small tray and passed either in tandem with the main dish or directly following it.
"A waiter should remember always to pass a platter or bowl at a level comfortable to the guest - never too high and never so far back that the guest has to twist around to get at the food being passed. A good server remembers to keep the hot platters hot before serving them, and the cold platters cold. Caring about little details makes the difference between a passable and a great waiter. A polished waiter often keeps his right hand behind his back while passing something in his left hand," says Dindo.
(July 9, 2003 issue)
Want Sun.Star news on your mobile phone? Click here.
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[ return
to top ]
[ home
]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
|
