1. Serving Chinese food

(1) Procedures and rules for serving food

There are many local cuisines in China, and there are also many kinds of banquets, such as swallow-wing banquet, sea cucumber banquet, whole duck banquet, whole lamb banquet, vegetarian banquet and Manchu-Chinese banquet. Different banquet tables and different local cuisines will lead to different dishes design and arrangement, and it is impossible to be exactly the same in serving procedures. For example, the main course of the whole duck mat is Beijing roast duck, but it can't be served as the first course. Instead, some special dishes cooked from duck viscera and other parts are served first, and then the roast duck is served. People call it "yet we called and urged a thousand times before she started toward us". Another example is the time to serve snacks, which varies from place to place. Some are interspersed in the banquet, and some are served at the end of the banquet. Some salty desserts are served together, and some are served separately. It depends on the type, characteristics and needs of the banquet, depending on people, time and events, but it must be carried out according to the relatively fixed serving procedures of Chinese banquets.

1. Serving procedure: Generally, the procedure for serving a Chinese banquet is as follows: the first course is cold dish or cold dish, the second course is appetizing soup (about 8 minutes later), the third course is the first course (usually a representative dish of the banquet), the fourth course is the main course (a noble and famous dish), and the fifth course is the general hot dish (a large number, and again) Generally, there should be no more than six dishes on the table, except that the guests ask to leave the dishes on the table, but the dishes can't be placed on the base. One dish is placed in the middle of the countertop-except for the dish and the turntable, two dishes are placed opposite each other, three dishes are triangular, four dishes are square, five dishes are pentagram, etc.), the sixth course is soup (formal soup, or two soups, such as two soups, four soups or six soups in a wedding banquet), the seventh course is beet (with snacks), and finally fruit is served after the main course.

Chinese banquets will be divided into old-fashioned and new dishes in a slightly different order.

(1) The serving order of the old banquet: the first course is served with fruit (the second course is served with fruit); The second cold dish; The third way is hot cooking; The fourth course is the first dish; The second largest dish on the fifth road; The sixth course is served with salty soup and salty snacks; The seventh course serves fish dishes; Beets on the eighth lane; The ninth course serves sweet soup and dessert; The tenth course (stew); The eleventh dish is served with a small dish of food; Finally, the meal is served, and then the fruit is served.

(2) The order of serving the new banquet: the first course is served with cold dishes; The second course is served; Barbecue dishes are served on the third course; The fourth dish is fried; Beets on the fifth road; The sixth course serves sweet soup and dessert; The seventh course serves fish dishes; Vegetarian dishes on the eighth course; The ninth dish (stew basin) is followed by a point; Serve a small dish of food on the tenth course; The eleventh course is served with fruit.

2. Serving rules: The basic rules for serving at Chinese banquets are: cold before hot, food before order, salty before sweet, fried before burning, meat before vegetarian; Dry before soup, dish before soup; First light and then thick, first high quality and then general, and follow the general customs and habits. If guests have special requirements for serving, they should be flexible. Chinese Cantonese cuisine is served in a different order from other cuisines, that is, soup is served first and then dishes.

Generally, the name of the dish is announced while serving, and the name of the dish is announced after stepping back from the table; Answer the questions raised by the guests. Between different kinds of dishes in the world, it is necessary to replace tableware such as bone plates and soup bowls, ingredient plates, delivery of small towels (if there are no disposable small towels) and washing cups, toothpicks and other items.

3. How to serve. There are three main ways to serve food: one is to bring a large dish to the table, and the guests will pick it up or give it to each other (large dish); The other is that the waiter holds the dishes one by one and distributes them to the guests' food plates (large plates are divided into dishes); Another is the serving of the main guest table, which is filled with bowls or small bowls and served in front of each guest's desk (called eating alone). How to serve food at a banquet can be determined according to the specifications of the banquet, the number of people present and the requirements of the organizer. Different dishes and dishes have different requirements, depending on specific requirements.

(2) Timing and speed of serving

1. Timing of serving: In order to ensure the quality (temperature, color, temperature, etc.) of the dishes and make the guests eat delicious and satisfied, the waiter should be able to properly grasp the timing and speed of serving. If the dishes are slow, the dishes will be too cold. If the food is served too fast, it will make the guests eat badly. To be just right, we must know the timing of serving different catering methods.

cold dishes should be served within 11 minutes of ordering, and hot dishes should be served within 21 minutes or 15 minutes. When there are few guests, it usually takes about 31-45 minutes to serve all the dishes, or you can master them flexibly according to the requirements of the guests.

For banquets, cold dishes are required to be served five minutes before the banquet begins. After the guests sit down and begin to eat about 1/2 or 1/3 of the cold dishes, the first hot dish is served. Generally, pay attention to the guests' eating situation and control the serving rhythm. If it is a marriage, all the hot dishes should be served quickly within 31-45 minutes. At the same time, it depends on whether there is a speech or a toast. If there is a speech, when will it be said (the general habit in our country is to sit down and talk)? How many guests and hosts will speak? Do you have a speech? How long will it take? You can get a clear understanding of this situation from the staff of the organizer before the banquet begins. If you are not sure before the banquet, please ask the staff of the organizer to ask the guest of honor and the host directly and tell them after the banquet begins. Some banquets can't determine the situation of the speech for various reasons, so the service personnel need to pay attention to observation and master it flexibly. Sometimes before the banquet, you are told not to make a formal speech during the dinner, but to make a speech temporarily in the middle of the banquet. At this time, if the dishes in the kitchen are officially made, you should immediately inform the master to suspend the production; If the dishes have been cooked, temporary measures should be taken to keep them warm.

Secondly, we should communicate with the kitchen in time and inform the kitchen of the speech at the banquet and the speed of eating during the dinner, so as to master the cooking. Service personnel should be familiar with the cooking requirements of various dishes and the approximate time required for cooking, so as to be aware of them and serve them in time. If the guests have not eaten the food or eat it slowly, they should inform the kitchen to postpone the next dish. If the guests eat it quickly, they should inform the kitchen to serve the food quickly. For banquets with more than two tables, the serving should be done in a unified way, and it is not allowed to go its own way. For small banquets, the serving should be done according to the action of the guest. For large banquets, an indicator light can be installed in the hall, and the yellow light signal is used to replace the food plate to prepare serving, the green light signal is used to start serving, and the red light signal is used to stop serving.

2. serving speed: unless there are special circumstances, the serving speed is mostly determined according to the guests' dining situation. The serving speed should not be too fast or too slow. If it is too fast, the waiter will have no time to distribute it and the guests will have no time to taste it. If it is too slow, it will appear that the dishes on the table are not rich, or the guests will be empty. Therefore, we should grasp the speed of serving. Generally speaking, the banquet should be served in about 11~15 minutes to serve a dish or snack.

(3) Serving position

1. Restaurant waiters should choose the correct position when serving food for guests. The service of serving a la carte meal is flexible, and the waiter should pay attention to choosing a spacious position to serve so as not to disturb the guests. Do not serve food beside the elderly, children and ladies.

Generally, serving food at a Chinese banquet is chosen between the accompanying guests and the secondary guests, or to the right of the secondary host (which is beneficial for the secondary host to introduce the dishes to the guests), and always stays in one position. Pay attention to the overall atmosphere of the banquet and the serving position between different tables.

2. Generally, the dish serving and soup serving should be on the right side of the guest, and a dish serving table can only serve one guest; Guests first, guests first, ordinary guests first, ladies first, men first, or according to the instructions of the guests, clockwise in turn.

(4) Serving actions and requirements

1. Preparation before serving. Take a look at the menu first, write down the name of the dish and the dining characteristics, so as to answer the questions that the guests may ask, remove the plate of the previous dish, and replace it with appropriate tableware according to the variety of the dish to be served (replace the ordinary dish with the plate, and serve the soup or the dish that is inconvenient to be picked up with chopsticks with a small spoon). If you need to take food directly by hand, such as roast duck, hand-grabbed mutton, roast whole sheep, etc., you should first put a towel (on the right) for guests to wipe their hands. When serving dishes with ingredients, you should keep up with them in time after serving them, or serve ingredients before serving them.

2. The waiter puts the dishes on the inside of the tray to the table, holds the tray with his left hand, puts his right leg in front, and stands between the chairs of two guests, with his left leg behind. He serves the dishes sideways with his right hand, sends the dishes to the turntable, declares the names of the dishes, and then turns them clockwise. After the guests have finished watching the dishes, they turn to the host for tasting. When the next dish is served, move the previous dish to another position, and put the new dish in front of the guest of honor. The leftover dishes should be removed at any time, but not too much. The dishes should be adjusted in time, pay attention to the distance between plates, and keep the desktop clean and beautiful.

3. How to operate the dishes on the table. For banquets with higher specifications, the main and guest tables usually serve food by eating alone. The basic method of serving food is: remove the plate of the previous dish from the right hand side of the guest, and then use the tray to serve a corresponding number of dishes. On the right hand side of the guest, put your right leg into the gap between the two chairs, pick up the plate with your right hand, and gently and steadily place it in front of the guest. In the process of serving, the left hand of the tray should be extended outwards, and pay attention to keeping your body balanced.

Chinese food served on a loose table is basically the same as that served at a banquet, but it should be noted that the location of serving food should not be near the elderly or children to avoid accidents.

(5) serving service specifications and safety requirements

1. General requirements. The dishes on the table should be arranged in a pattern. We should pay attention to plastic arts, respect guests and guests, pay attention to manners and facilitate eating.

2. Specific requirements for serving specifications

(1) The main dish should be facing the main position, and the other dishes should be facing around. The noodles of dishes are the ones that are suitable for viewing, such as those with plastic heads, such as proud as a peacock in the cold spell, the magpie in the plum blossom, etc., whose heads are noodles. And the dishes with hidden heads, such as roast duck and Babaoji, are full of faces. The most exquisite part of the pattern carving of cup dishes is to look at the

surface. In general dishes, the part with fine knife work and beautiful color is the noodles.

(2) When placing all kinds of dishes, we should pay attention to plastic arts, and put them symmetrically according to the color, shape, taste, vegetarian dishes, containers and shapes of raw materials. The principle is to pay attention to modeling and color matching.

(3) If there are several groups of guests at a table, their dishes should be placed relatively centrally with a certain distance between them, and the menu should be verified when serving to avoid mistakes.

(4) When serving, attention should be paid to prevent the phenomenon of empty plates and tables; It is also necessary to prevent food from being served too fast and too frequently, and there is a phenomenon of food accumulation; It is also necessary to prevent the withdrawal from being too fast, and the guests will leave in a hurry before they finish eating.

(5) The first hot dish should be placed in front of the first host and the guest of honor, and the unfinished dish should be moved to the side of the deputy host. The following dishes can follow the same principle.

3. Safety requirements. Restaurant waiters should ensure safe operation during the dinner service.

(1) When serving all kinds of dishes, you should be flat and steady, take it gently and put it gently.

(2) When serving, it is forbidden to "push" and "block", "pull" and "drag", and the bottom and edge of the dish should be clean.

(3) dishes with soup should be brought to the table with both hands to avoid spilling on the guests.

(4) When serving food, never pass over the shoulders or heads of the guests, so as to avoid accidents and impoliteness.

(5) When serving, do not put your thumb into the dish plate, and pay attention to serving hygiene.

4. Basic footwork of serving. The waiter must master the pace of marching in order to ensure safety and security. In the process of taking dishes, the common footwork requirements of waiters are: general dishes take regular steps; Huohou dishes go quickly; Soup dishes are broken; Take clever steps when encountering obstacles. (For details, please refer to the service section)

(6) Serving requirements of special dishes:

1. Operation method of serving large dishes: Before serving, first move the last dish to the side of the deputy host, and there are three dishes (hot is appropriate) on the table at the dinner table slightly to the side of the host, leaving enough room for putting down the dish. When the dishes are delivered to the workbench, first take two sets of spork with your right hand, then take up the dishes with your left hand (fingers should not touch the dishes), put your right leg into the gap between the two chairs from the position between the accompanying staff or translators, lean forward slightly, hold out the dishes and put them on the table safely. Then put two sets of spork (spoon on the top and fork on the bottom) on the edge of the big dish on the right hand side of the master and assistant. When serving the big dish, the precautions should be paid attention to: ① Keep the dish flat and steady, and do not let the soup spill on the guests, the desktop or the ground. If you accidentally spill the soup on the guests, you should apologize "Sorry for the trouble" and use a towel. (2) after the dishes are served to the position where they are ready to serve, don't serve them in a hurry. Make the guests at the seat realize that the waiter should serve them from this position before serving them. Otherwise, the guests may knock over the dishes when they act or sit next to each other. (3) when serving food on the table, be careful when extending or retracting your arms. Don't make your elbows touch the guests or rub your cuffs on the dishes and hang things upside down on the table.

2. When serving a cooked dish, the waiter must master the link of quick action, so as not to delay the time and make the dish lose the characteristics of the cooked dish. He should also introduce to the guests in time that it should be tasted in time, so as not to lose the burnt, crisp, crisp and tender flavor characteristics of the dish.

3. When the soup is served. Don't use a rag to cushion the soup, use a saucer; When serving soup, fingers should not be immersed in the soup; If there is oil or chopped green onion in the soup, use a spoon to skim it out, and don't blow it off with your mouth.

4. There are packaged dishes on the table. Such as shrimp with lanterns, steamed chicken with lotus leaf powder, paper-wrapped pork chops, beggar chicken and other dishes are packaged before cooking. The dishes should be served on the dining table for guests to watch, then taken to the workbench, or unpacked directly in front of the guests to facilitate their eating.

5. Serve stewed dishes. The stew should be served before opening the lid, so as to keep the original flavor of the stew and make the aroma of the dishes distributed on the table. After opening the lid, turn the lid over and then remove it to prevent the soup from dripping on the guests or themselves or on the dining table or other dishes.

6. Serve iron plate dishes. There are many kinds of iron plate dishes in restaurants, which are more common. In serving, the sound of iron plate dishes can set off the atmosphere of the banquet and keep warm, but attention should be paid to safety when serving to avoid burns.

7. Serve silk-drawing dishes. Drawn apples, bananas, potatoes, etc. are all easy to burn your mouth. Such dishes are usually served as a dessert at the end of the banquet. Its service requirements are speed and agility. When this kind of dishes are served, because the skin of the cabbage is covered with a layer of syrup, the temperature is high and the appearance is not easy to see. Be sure to keep up with the cold water quickly to prevent scalding the guest cavity. Therefore, in order to make it convenient for guests to eat, cold boiled water should be filled in a small bowl in advance, and placed in the main and deputy hosts respectively, so that guests can soak the picked-up cabbage in the water bowl first, so that the sugar can be cooled down slightly and solidified before eating, so that the sugar is crisp and does not stick to teeth, which can not only taste the taste, but also avoid the pain of scalding. In addition, the waiter should also remind the guests that this dish should be used up as soon as possible, because the pulp of cabbage is sugar melted at high temperature, which will form a big lump when cooled down, which is very inconvenient to eat.

8. Service procedures for dishes with bones and shells: serving knives and forks → serving dishes → serving cups.