1 / 1
When you’re hosting a dinner party in a restaurant, you’ll want to stay on the chef’s good side; guest writer Chef Eugene Lee of Tanzini has some helpful tips.
If you’re a connoisseur of good food and have hosted numerous dinner parties, you probably think you know all about etiquette in reservations and event booking in restaurants.
However, speaking as a chef, I’m here to share my experiences in the things often overlooked by diners and hosts. To prevent us from cursing and shouting in the kitchen (and to help us help you!), here are some tips on how to be a considerate organiser.
1) DO: Book an event with a confirmed date
Unless you own the restaurant, you must provide the exact date of your event. Please don’t head over to a restaurant and ask for a menu proposal without knowing the exact date of your party. Do not ask for a booking “somewhere” in March – please be specific.
This is simply because the restaurant might have other bookings as well. If you provide a date, the restaurant could let you know the availability of the space immediately. This gives you (and the restaurant) a chance to come up with alternate plans.
Chefs are also then able to gauge the ingredients they’d need for your event and have ample time to order the best ingredients for your dinner party.
2) DON’T: menu shop
Keep in mind that when you are doing an event with an establishment, you have the liberty to ask for a customised menu. So decide on your budget and then speak to the sales personnel or get the chef to speak to you. I am sure they would be able to come up with something that floats your boat.
What if you like the menu but you do not like the restaurant? It is wise to decide on the establishment where you want to hold your event then take it from there rather than going around asking for menus.
It is like going around the grocery store sampling everything before deciding what you need to buy. I am sure when you go to the grocery store, you already know what you want to buy!
3) NEVER: ask a chef to duplicate a menu taken off the Internet or from another establishment
Unless you really hate the chef and wish to cause severe damage to his/her ego.
Taking a sample menu to the chef and asking him/her to duplicate it is like asking Elvis to do a Katy Perry number without any rendition.
Keep in mind that every chef is unique and carries a certain character; their food represents them. This usually happens if you are guilty of POINT 2 (above). Learn about the establishment before making a decision. Speak to the chef. Tell him/her your theme, type of menu preferred and then let him/her surprise you.
If you don’t trust the chef in the first place, why are you even going to this establishment?
4) DON’T: swap items between menus
If you are provided with 2 or 3 menus of a set dinner (or a degustation), do not try to play the artist by asking the chef to swap the dishes even the it is the swap of an expensive item to one of lesser cost.
It is not about price, it is about artistry and masterpiece. It is about progression and flow of dishes.
The chefs work their lives to achieve such precision. The big picture is not going to be the same and it wouldn’t be fair of you to express discontent at the end of the meal.
5) DO: confirm your event by a certain date with the restaurant
Restaurants receive many bookings on a daily basis. Your confirmation (signed Letter of Undertaking, Deposit, Credit Card Authorisation etc) enables you to secure your date and space for your event.
If the event is important to you, take the initiative to secure the booking.
This will help the chef for his ordering of the ingredients for your event, as these do not appear in the kitchen overnight. Raw materials can sometimes take weeks to arrive. Some may take 3 days while common items take a day to be delivered. However, the kitchen crew needs time to prepare the mise en place (setup of the ingredients). So being considerate actually does pay off!
Click here to read part two of this post with Chef Eugene Lee, senior sous chef at Tanzini.
One of Malaysia Tatler’s Best Restaurants winner, Tanzini is located at G Tower, Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur.
We recommend:
Tanzini's Christmas menu plays hide and seek with turkey [review]
How to make a graceful impression at a cocktail dinner party
