Sydney caters to some of the finest fine dining choices
in Australia. Given that, I wouldn’t want to be caught off guard while sampling
fancy food without knowing how to actually eat them in a not “stuff them up my
mouth” way. From what I’ve learned, knowing the basics is key so here is a
quick explanation on how the confusing stuff (read as: utensil set up) works.
This is an artistic representation of what is to be
discussed
Yeah, I drew that. Imagine how I chow down in real life with
that kind of drawing finesse. But going back to the point, how to go by using
the above utensils are as follows.
Napkin, Knife and
Dessert Spoon and Fork
These are represented as A, B, and C respectively. The napkin
is placed on the lap to catch food that falls. It is also used to wipe the
mouth in little quaint dabs. B is comprised of a saucer and small fork for when
appetizer bread is served. The pair of small spoon and fork is used at the end
of the meal for the dessert.
Soup and Salad
The main thing about using the utensils in the left and
right sides of the plate is that it starts from the outside going in. The lone
spoon on the right end is to be used first for the soup. The second set of
utensils, the fork and the knife with 2s on them are for the salad. Remember,
you can’t just fork big salad leave into your mouth. You have to cut them into
sophisticated portions. And only then can you fork the bite size pieces into
your mouth.
Fish and Main Dish
Others forego the fish dishes which leaves you with only
utensils number 4, 3 being the removed utensils. This means that, in a complete
set of formal-ware, expect that after the salad, there will be a fish dish and
number 3 knife and fork will be used for this. You can also see that the last
set of utensils to be used will be bigger than all the other. These are for the
main dish which, in most cases, are red meat dishes. Always remember that, as
when eating salads, cut your fish and meat into little chunks and use a fork to
bring them to your mouth.
Wine and Water
There will be less confusion in using these two since the
server will most likely pour your wine and water into the glass themselves. But
just to explain, the bigger glass (actually called a goblet) will most likely
be used for water. There are many variations of the wine glass are made
specifically to enhance the taste of different wines like the one used for
champagne; it has a very narrow opening. The long stem of the glass is so that,
when holding the glass, it won’t lose as much of its cool as when you’re
holding it. The narrow opening makes sure that less bubbles escape from the drink.
