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  •     — How Wine and Food work together
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  •     — What is Wine
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  •     — Pre Flight Duties
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  • THE WORLD of CAFFEE & TEA
  •     — Afternoon Tea
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  • SILVER SERVICE & TABLE SETTING
  •     — Cutlery Classification
  •     — Table Setting
  •     — Silver Service
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  •     — Menu
  •     — Catering
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  • GOURMET FOOD
  •     — Cheese
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  •     — Salmon
  • BEVERAGE
  •     — Italian Wines
  •     — Wines Around the World
  •     — Red Wine
  •     — White Wine
  •     — Champagne
  •     — Wine
  •     — Cocktails
  •     — Champagne-based Cocktails or Sparkling Cocktails
  •     — Digestive Liqueurs
  • Basic Vocabulary and Expressions
Table Setting, SILVER SERVICE & TABLE SETTING
Table Setting
SEE ALL LESSONS

Cutlery may seem like a real nightmare but it's all much simpler than it appears: forks to the left of the plates, knives and spoons to the right, and dessert cutlery at the top; therefore the ones furthest from the plate will be the ones used first. The forks must be placed with the tines facing upwards, the spoon must be placed with the concave part upwards, the knife must have the blade facing the plate and any fruit or dessert cutlery must be placed horizontally above the dish.

The cutlery, so important for the glance, must be aligned 3 centimeters from the edge of the table (professional trick: place it on the edge and slide it 3 centimeters upwards), and in order of use. There should never be more than three on each side.

The forks should be placed on the left of the plate. Starting from the outside you will have the appetizer fork, the one for the first course and the one for the second course closest to the plate. If some of your dishes include fish, remember that there is a special fork and that it must be positioned according to the dish.

Have you planned a broth or soup? The serving spoon should be positioned to the right of the plate on the outermost part. Then proceeding inwards you will have the knife for the second dish. If there are fish dishes (fillets or steaks, not shellfish), the fish knife must be positioned between the spoon and the dish knife. We then move on to fruit and dessert cutlery. The latter must be positioned on top of the plate starting from the top in this order: dessert spoon, positioned with the handle facing to the right; dessert or fruit fork, with the handle facing left; and finally the fruit knife, with the handle facing to the right. Remember that only the cutlery that is really useful for the menu you will bring to the table should be included. A final rule regarding cutlery is that of the butter knife, each diner must have his own and it must be positioned above the bread plate.

The cutlery for fruit and dessert is placed on the plate in a horizontal position (fork with tines towards the right, knife with blade towards the left and teaspoon with handle towards the right). Lately, however, there has been a tendency not to put them on the table and to bring them directly with dessert.

CURIOSITY

No risk of getting confused in Thailand where the fork is used only and exclusively to bring food to the spoon, the only piece of cutlery used for eating.

Table Items

  1. ⁃ Bread Plate

Bread should never be placed directly on the tablecloth but served on a saucer or basket to be placed on the left above the forks. Bread is considered sacred food and is one of the few foods that can be touched with your hands.

CURIOSITY

Contrary to what we are used to doing, bread should never be cut with a knife, but broken with the hands as a reminder of the Catholic liturgy.

  • Napkins

The napkins, folded into a rectangular or triangle shape, should be placed to the left of the plate and never under the cutlery, they;  must preferably be square and 40 cm per side. usually the napkin is placed on the left above the bread plate, alternatively on the table to coordinate the mise en place

  • Table Centerpiece

For the table to be effective, you can add a table centerpiece, remembering however that it must not be too large and bulky, so as not to hinder movement and not block the view of the guests. As a type of centerpiece, both floral and fruit compositions are suitable. and must not be perfumed, so as not to interfere with the food

Never place toothpicks and you must try to prefer materials such as silver, porcelain and crystal. 

  • Salt & Pepper

Salt, pepper and other condiments can be brought to the table if the type of dish requires their use.

For the single setting, the salt and pepper are on the top left corner and as a rule, salt is placed to the right of the pepper: “White on right”.  The basic reasons, why this rules: salt is used more often than pepper and all table setting standards are right handed biased. 

           pastedGraphic.png          Usually, the salt shaker top has the most holes.

CURIOSITY

In Portugal, asking for salt or pepper is considered an offense towards the person who cooked because it is equivalent to saying that the food was not well seasoned.