Topic outline
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Course Overview:
Refine your dining skills and learn polite eating from the comfort of your own home during our online dining etiquette course. This course covers the fundamentals of table manners, addressing everything from placing the napkin, holding utensils, passing, serving, seating, and bread etiquette.
Course Outcome:
1. Apply knowledge of the rules of dining etiquette
2. Display proper dining etiquette during meal -
The definition of table etiquette and table manner
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How good are your table manners? Check it out!
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How to Use a Napkin with Proper Table Etiquette
- Pick up the napkin when you sit down. Gently unfold the napkin instead of shaking it open with a flourish. The napkin will be next to your place setting or on your plate
- Remove the napkin ring. Place the ring at the top left corner of your place setting. Napkin rings are more common in informal settings. Simply slide the ring toward you to slip the napkin out of the ring. Then, put the ring on the table next to the left of your plate.
- Drape the napkin neatly across your lap. Cover your lap with the napkin without draping it over your knees. If the napkin is much larger than your lap, fold it in half first. Then, place it in your lap with the folded side facing your body.
- Leave the napkin in your lap during the meal.
- Blot your mouth discreetly with the napkin. Use the top half of the napkin to dab at the corners of your mouth. Using the top half (the edge closest to your knees) prevents the soiled part from touching your clothes when you put the napkin back in your lap. Never wipe across your mouth with the napkin since that’s considered impolite.
- Put the napkin to the left of your plate if you get up.
- Leave the table if you need to blow your nose. Never wipe your face or blow your nose into your dinner napkin. If you need to blow your nose, excuse yourself and do so in the restroom. Avoid cleaning your cutlery with the napkin, as well. If your utensils look dirty, politely ask for another set.
- Place the napkin to the left of your plate when you’re done.
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Continental Style VS American Style
In most situations, following the “outside-in” rule will tell you which knife, fork, or spoon to use at the dinner table. Use utensils on the outside first and work your way inward with each new course that is served.
- Continental Style
- Hold your fork in your left hand, tines downward.
- Hold your knife in your right hand, an inch or two above the plate.
- Extend your index finger along the top of the blade.
- Use your fork to spear and lift food to your mouth.
- American Style
- Hold your fork like a pencil, with the shank extended between your thumb and index and middle fingers. Your fourth and fifth fingers rest in your hand. For leverage, the index finger is extended along the back of the fork, as far from the tines as possible.
- Hold the knife with the handle cupped in the palm of your left hand, along with your third, fourth, and fifth fingers. Place your second finger on the back of the blade. Hold your thumb against the side of the handle.
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Resting and Finished Position
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Pass to the right (if the item is not being passed to a specific person). One diner either holds the dish as the next diner takes some food, or he hands it to the person, who then serves herself. Any heavy or awkward dishes are put on the table with each pass.
Bread Passing Etiquette
- If the loaf is not cut, cut a few pieces, offer them to the person to your left, and then pass the basket to your right.
- Do not touch the loaf with your fingers, instead use the clothe in the bread basket as a buffer to steady the bread as you slice it.
- Place the bread and butter on your butter plate - yours is on your left - then break off a bite-sized piece of bread, put a little butter on it, and eat it.
Salt and Pepper Etiquette
Always pass the salt and pepper together.
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The style of serving used in formal dining represents the highest level of hospitality. It elevates the guest experience and makes fine dining a memorable event. A great fine dining server will be detail-oriented, observant, and intuitive. Anticipating the needs of guests while remaining unobtrusive is the key to providing the best service possible.
Present the Menu and Drink List - As the guests are seated, present each diner with the menu and wine list. Do not hand off the menus in a rush. Match the pace of the table and present the menus after each individual is comfortably seated.
Describe the Evening's Specials - Observe the table and wait for the right moment to describe the evening's specials. Speak clearly and describe each dish in detail, pausing to answer any specific questions. This is also a good time to inquire about possible dietary restrictions.
Additional Tableware - After the guests have ordered, you may need to prepare additional items for each course. For example, orders of fish will require a fish knife and fork. An order of freshly shucked oysters will require an oyster fork. Deliver any required cutlery, tableware, or condiments to the table shortly before the course is served.
Open Hand Service - Many formal restaurants practice the open hand service method, which requires that a server's arms are never to be crossed in front of a guest. If serving from the right side of a guest, use the right arm. Use the left arm when serving from the left. This prevents the active arm from reaching across a guest. Each fine dining establishment has a preferred side for serving, so make sure to follow the specific guidelines of your manager.
Control the Pace - As a fine dining server, you must be able to read the table and match the pace of your guests. Every guest prefers a different pace, and it's your job to determine their needs through verbal clues and body language. For example, if all the guests are seated with napkins on their laps and they looking expectantly around, they are most likely ready to hear the specials. If everyone at the table is enjoying their coffee and the guests are deep in conversation, they are probably not ready for the check.
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Your host may have seating arrangements in mind, so you should allow him to direct you to your seat. As the host, you should suggest the seating arrangements.
In a restaurant, the guest of honor should sit in the best seat at the table. Usually, that is one with the back of the chair to the wall. Once the guest of honor's seat is determined, the host should sit to her left. Other people are then offered seats around the table.
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Bread Etiquette
Eating Etiquette (How to Eat...)
Table manners for eating bread. Bread is broken or cut before it is eaten, depending on the texture (soft or firm), the temperature (hot or cold), and the shape (long and narrow or small and cubed).
Table manners for eating soft bread.
Bread with a soft texture, such as rolls or muffins, is broken in half with fingers. A bite-size piece is pulled from the broken half, held against the side of the bread-and-butter plate, and buttered a bite at a time.
Table manners for eating firm bread.
Bread with a firm texture, such as a sweet soft pastry or dry toast, is cut in half or quartered.
Table manners for eating warm bread.
Hot sweet rolls and toast are buttered entirely and held by the sides (rather than laid flat on the palm of the hand).
Table manners for eating bread sticks.
Bread sticks are made from sweet dough and do not require butter. However, when butter is applied, the length is buttered entirely or the end is buttered a bite at a time. To avoid excessive crumbs, proper table manners require that a bread stick be broken in half gently.
Table manners for eating croutons.
Croutons are toasted cubes of buttered bread added as texture to food. Because the cubes are buttered, croutons are somewhat greasy and are spooned over food (rather than handled with fingers).
Muffins
Eating etiquette (how to eat...)
Table manners for eating muffins.
At the table, cut regular muffins in half either vertically or horizontally and butter the halves one at a time. (As with all breads, hold the bread on the plate -not in the air- as you butter it.)
Table manners for eating english muffins.
English muffins are split in half, and each side is spread with butter, jelly, honey, or marmalade.
Pastry Etiquette
Eating etiquette (how to eat...)
Traditionally, a dessertspoon and dessert fork are used when eating such pastries as cream puffs and eclairs; the pastry is held in place with the spoon and cut and eaten with the fork. Bite-sized pastries such as rugalach are eaten with the fingers. The general table manners rule? If you can't eat a pastry without getting it all over your fingers, switch to your utensils.
Table manners for eating breakfast pastries.
Croissants are eaten with the fingers. When adding jelly, preserves, or the like, carefully tear off small pieces and spoon on the topping.
Table manners for eating Danish pastries.
Danish pastries are cut in half or in quarters and eaten either with fingers or fork.
Table manners for eating popovers.
Popovers are opened and buttered before being eaten (in small pieces) with the fingers.
Table manners for eating sticky buns.
Sticky buns should be cut in half or in quarters with a knife and eaten with the fingers. If a bun is too sticky, use a knife and fork.
Table manners for eating eclairs.
These cream-filled puff pastries are always eaten with a knife and fork. Just cut into them gently so that the filling doesn't squirt out.
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