Hotel reservation

In the west, you usually have to make an appointment in advance to eat in a restaurant. When making an appointment, you should pay special attention to make it clear. First, you should state the number of people and the time. Secondly, you should indicate whether you want a seat with a good view or not. If it is a birthday or other special day, you can tell the purpose and budget of the banquet. It is basic courtesy to arrive at the scheduled time. No matter how expensive casual clothes are, you can't wear them casually when you eat in a restaurant. It is the common sense of European and American people. When going to a high-end restaurant, men should dress neatly; Ladies should wear suits and shoes with heels. If formal clothes are specified, men must wear ties. When entering the restaurant, men should open the door first and invite women in. Ladies should be asked to go ahead. When seated and served, ladies should be given priority. Especially for group activities, and don't forget to let the ladies go ahead.

Seating

The most appropriate way to sit is to sit on the left. When the chair is pulled away, the body will stand up straight at a distance almost touching the table, and the leader will push the chair in, and when the leg bends and touches the chair behind, you can sit down. When eating, the upper arm and back should lean against the back of the chair, and the abdomen should keep a fist distance from the table. Sitting with your feet crossed is best avoided.

order wine

in a fancy restaurant, a bartender who is good at tasting wine will bring a wine list. For people who don't know much about wine, it's best to tell them the dishes they have chosen, the budget and their favorite wine tastes, and the main bartender will help them choose. If the main course is meat, it should be served with red wine, while fish should be served with white. Before serving, you might as well have a glass of light wine such as champagne, sherry or Jill.

Order of serving

The formal order of serving a full set of western food is: ① appetizer and soup; ② fish; ③ fruit; ④ meat; ⑥ cheese; ⑥ dessert and coffee; ⑥ fruit; and aperitif wine and table wine. It's not necessary to order all of them. It's rude to order too much but not finish it. Restaurants with a little standard welcome guests who only order appetizers. Appetizer, main course (fish or meat) and dessert are the most appropriate combination. Ordering is not starting from the appetizer, but choosing the main course you want most, and then matching it with the soup suitable for the main course.

How to use a napkin

After ordering, open the napkin before the appetizer is delivered, fold it in by one third, and let two thirds spread flat on the legs to cover the legs above the knees. It's best not to stuff napkins into the neckline.

the combination of drinking and food

What food should be combined with drinking often puzzles people. For hundreds of years, it seems that choosing the right food when drinking has formed a series of laws. However, with the emergence of new foods and new wines in modern society, these rules are outdated and increasingly unsuitable. If another friend tells you that you must eat fish to drink white wine, you can say that it is the 21th century, and those rules of the 9th century are out of date. How to match drinking with food should first be understood that life is different due to personal preferences, and drinking and food matching should undoubtedly be matched with personal tastes at will. You can order wine and food according to your own taste, even if it is not allowed by the rules, or if your friends who eat at the same table are firmly opposed, you don't have to be shy or embarrassed. There are many things that don't seem to match in life, but they still seem so harmonious. However, what should you do when you still can't make up your mind about what wine to use for dinner? Do you turn to those rules for help? Over the years, I have accumulated some experience, which can solve your problems. These so-called "principles" do not tell you what to eat when drinking, but only explain how food and alcohol affect and interact with each other. When drinking, it is important to match food according to taste. Food and alcohol can be divided into four flavors, which defines the range of wine and food collocation, namely: sour, sweet, bitter and salty.

sour taste: you may have heard that wine can't go with salad, because the acid in salad greatly destroys the mellow taste of wine. However, if salad and sour wine are used together, the acid contained in the wine will be decomposed by the lactic acid of salad, which is of course an excellent match. Therefore, you can choose acidic wine and acidic food to eat together. Acidic liquor is used with salty food and tastes good.

sweetness: when eating, you can also choose dessert according to your personal taste. Generally speaking, sweets will weaken the taste of sweet wine. If you choose California Chattonny with a small piece of roasted swordfish, the wine will be very sweet. However, if you put salad on the fish, the fruity taste in the wine will be reduced a lot. Therefore, when eating dessert, the dessert with high sugar content will cover the taste of the wine and lose its original flavor. You should choose a slightly sweeter wine. Only in this way can the wine keep its original taste.

bitterness: the principle of "personal preference" is still used. Bitter wine and bitter food will reduce bitterness when eaten together. So if you want to lighten or remove the bitterness, you can mix bitter wine with bitter food.

salty taste: generally, there is no salty wine, but there are many wines that can reduce the salty taste of salty food. Many countries and regions in the world use lemon juice or alcohol when eating seafood such as fish. The main reason is that acid can reduce the salinity of fish and make it more delicious when eaten.

Use of knives and forks

British and American people have different eating habits. When eating meat and vegetables, British people hold a fork in their left hand, with the fork tip facing down, tie up the meat and send it to their mouths. If it is a burnt vegetable, they will put the dish on the fork and send it to their mouths with a knife. Americans cut the meat in the same way, then put down the knife in their right hand, change the fork, put the fork with the fork tip facing up, and insert it under the meat. Instead of using a knife, they shovel up the meat and send it to their mouths to eat it. When eating, using the back of a fork to scoop it up to eat is not against the etiquette of the table, but it does look unsightly. When eating rice and other dishes, you can naturally turn the fork to the front and scoop it up, because the concave part of the fork is designed for this purpose. At this time, you can also use a knife to assist the dining action. When scooping up the dishes on the plate, use a knife to prevent the dishes from scattering outside the plate, so that the food on the plate can be scooped up neatly. If there are dishes covered with sauce, you can also scrape the sauce with a knife, and then send the dishes and information together with a spoon or a spoon of sauce. It is a mistake to fork it with a fork, and then pour the sauce on it with a spoon, because in this way, when the food is sent to your mouth, the sauce will drip everywhere and make a mess. When scooping up dishes with a fork, hold the fork with your left hand and put the food in the fork belly on the front of the fork and send it into the mouth. If you don't need a knife, you can eat with a fork in your right hand in a relaxed occasion of having dinner with friends. Rice should be scooped up with the front fork belly instead of the back of the fork, which can be easier to eat and more elegant and natural. When the fine food in the plate gathers, it can be blocked by a knife and then scooped up with a fork. It is also possible to use a spoon instead of a knife. Gather the dishes on the spoon with a fork, and then send the food into the mouth with the spoon. The use of a spoon for sauce is the same as that of a general spoon. You should use a fork to push the dishes onto the spoon of the sauce, instead of fork the dishes and pour the sauce with the spoon of the sauce, because the latter is against etiquette.

types of knives and forks

silverware such as knives and forks are all called Cut-lery. Knives and forks are divided into meat, fish, appetizers and desserts, while spoons are used for seasoning besides appetizers, soups, coffees and teas. The spoon for seasoning is the spoon used when adding seasoning, which is mostly used for dessert or fish dishes. The tableware used today is constantly changing according to the changes in cooking. In the set meal of formal western cuisine, knives and forks with different shapes are often used according to the characteristics of different cuisines, and not all of them are put out at the beginning. When it comes to the complete set, it is easy to remind people of the picture of silverware on the dining table, but now most of them use 2-3 single dishes as the mainstream. Therefore, the formal dining decorations filled with silverware on the dining table may only be seen at the wedding banquet. Recently, the use of a set of knives and forks is becoming less and less, and more and more people eat only 2-3 appetizers, and the knives and forks do not change with them. Most of them eat the appetizers with a set of knives and forks. And the number of restaurants with knives and forks (or spoons) on the knife and fork and placed on the right side of the plate is increasing. The shape of the knife used in meat cooking is basically the same in any restaurant, but the knife used in fish cooking is often different from restaurant to restaurant. Especially recently, fish cooking knives with the same width as meat cooking knives tend to be inclined gradually, and those wider than this width are also common. There are also some fish cooking knives with wider knives and luxurious decorations on the blade. In addition, some restaurants use seasoning spoons instead of fish knives. Knife and fork are like chopsticks racks in China. Sometimes the knife and fork (or spoon) are placed on the knife and fork rack as a group; Sometimes, knives, forks and spoons are grouped and placed on the knife and fork rack; Sometimes the knife and fork (or spoon) are placed on it as a group, so that the blade of the knife and the front of the fork will not touch the tablecloth.

How to place the knife and fork

It's shaped like a figure of eight during a meal. If you have a short rest in the middle of a meal, you can divide the knife and fork into a dish. The knife head and fork tip are opposite to each other in a figure of one or eight, and the knife and fork face yourself, indicating that you still want to continue eating. If you are talking, you can hold a knife and fork without putting it down, but if you need to gesture, you should put it down and never wave it in the air. It should be noted that at no time should one end of a knife and fork be placed on the plate and the other end on the table. Knives and forks have another very important function besides cutting dishes into the mouth. The arrangement of knives and forks conveys the message of "eating" or "ending eating". The waiter uses this method to judge the dining situation of the guests, and whether to clear the tableware for the next service, etc., so I hope that Ji Run can remember the correct way of setting the tableware. It is especially important to note that the blade side must face itself. There are two ways to place the end of a meal: in the middle of the meal, the lower face of the fork can be upward, and the blade side of the knife is inward close to the fork and placed in parallel on the plate. The following placement methods are divided into English style and French style, no matter which way is ok, but the most commonly used one is French style. Try to put the handle in the plate, so as to avoid falling off due to touching, and it is easier for the waiter to clean up. When attending the wedding banquet, no matter how to put the tableware in the "in-meal" position, as long as the main guests finish eating, they should immediately put away all the dishes. Therefore, when banquets are held, remember to take the main guests as the center. At a banquet, a pair of knives and forks is used for each dish, and the knives and forks placed in front of you are taken from the outside in turn, because the order in which the knives and forks are placed is exactly the order in which each dish is served. Knife and fork are used up, and serving is over. When you need to talk or have a rest halfway, you should put your knife and fork on both sides of the plate in a figure of eight. On the other hand, the knife and fork handles are placed side by side on the plate, which means that the dish has been used well and the waiter will remove the plate. For appetizers or desserts, if it is a dish that can be eaten directly with a fork, there is no need to deliberately use a knife. At family dinners or casual dinners with friends, soft dishes such as salad or egg-wrapped rice can also be eaten with only forks. But using a knife and fork at a formal banquet can give people a more elegant and neat feeling. In addition, in Europe and other places, people can often be seen eating with a fork in their right hand and bread in their left hand. No matter how neat and elegant you eat, this kind of dining can only be done in family or popular shops, and it is absolutely not feasible in high-end restaurants. The unused knife can be put on the table like this, and the waiter will automatically take it away. Although putting the knife and fork together on the plate is a message to end the meal, it is not necessary to put the clean knife into the dirty plate specially. Unused tableware can be left in its original place, but it is strange to insist on the rules of form. It is the most correct to improvise and deal with things according to the situation at that time. Even if you drop it, it's not embarrassing, but it's embarrassing to bend down and pick it up yourself. So when you drop something, you'd better ask the waiter to come and pick it up for you. The waiter always pays attention to the guest's situation, so he will bring new tableware soon. In case the waiter doesn't notice, he can raise his hand slightly to the waiter and try not to attract other people's attention. The waiter's job is to make the guests have a more enjoyable meal, so ask them as much as possible.

Application of various cutting methods

Cutting is a very widely used processing method. The essentials of this knife method are: the knife and the raw material are in a vertical state, the right hand shakes hands, the left hand holds the raw material firmly, and the first joint of the index finger, the middle finger and the nameless little finger is pressed against the left side of the knife, so as to evenly control the backward movement of the knife and operate it from top to bottom. This method is mainly used to process a boneless raw material. Cutting can be divided into straight cutting, push cutting, push-pull cutting, sawing, rolling cutting, turning cutting, shifting cutting and other methods.

1. Straight cutting: The main point of operation is to build a straight brick with a knife and cut it with one knife. When cutting, it is neither pushed forward nor pulled back, and the focus is on the middle of the knife. This knife method is mainly suitable for cutting a brittle and hard raw material, such as various vegetables.

2. Pushing and cutting: The main point of operation is to push forward while pressing from top to bottom with a knife. Cut from the middle and front of the knife, and finally focus on the middle and rear of the knife. This knife method is suitable for cutting thick brittle and hard raw materials, such as potatoes and radishes. It is also suitable for cutting slightly tough raw materials, such as tender meat.

3. Pull-cutting: The main point of operation is to pull backwards while pressing from top to bottom with a knife. From the middle of the knife into the knife, the final focus is on the front of the knife. This knife method is suitable for cutting small or crisp raw materials, such as cucumber, onion, celery, tomato and so on.

4. Push-pull cutting: The main point of operation is to push forward and then pull back while pressing from top to bottom with a knife. Pushing forward is convenient for entering the knife, and it will be cut off when pulling backward, so that pushing and pulling will not be repeated, and the knife will enter from the middle of the knife, and the final focus will be on the middle and front of the knife. This knife method is suitable for cutting tough raw materials, such as all kinds of raw meat.

5. Sawing: The main point of operation is to push forward and then pull back with a knife while pressing it from top to bottom, and so on for several times, and finally cut it off. From the middle of the knife into the knife, the final focus is still in the middle of the knife. This knife method is suitable for cutting thick and tough raw materials, such as cooked meat and intestines.

6. Rolling cutting: The main point of operation is to cut the raw materials straight from bottom to top with a knife, and roll the raw materials once with a knife, focusing on the middle and front part of the knife. This knife method is suitable for cutting round or oblong brittle and hard raw materials, such as radish and potato, and is mainly used for processing hob blocks.

7. Turn-cutting: The main point of operation is to use the straight knife method to transport the knife, cut a knife and turn the raw material once, focusing on the middle and front part of the knife. This knife method is suitable for cutting round brittle and hard raw materials, such as potatoes, carrots, onions, etc., with No.3 cutter, which is mainly used for processing watermelon pieces.

8. shifting and cutting: the main point of operation is to use the straight knife method to transport the knife, cut a knife and shift it to the side once, focusing on the middle and front part of the knife. This knife method is suitable for cutting raw materials that are soft and easy to stick to the knife, such as flour balls and mashed potatoes. Slice is also one of the widely used knife methods.

the key points of operation are: hold the raw material firmly with your left hand, lift your fingers slightly, and the knife is parallel to the raw material or forms an acute angle and an obtuse angle. This method is suitable for processing boneless raw materials or large belts.