What is French service?

The French way of serving is, amongst all the others, the most refined one and with a higher level of elegance and care, and therefore, the least used in our most common daily celebrations. This way of serving should, normally, only be performed on special occasions, such as weddings, formal dinners, amongst others. 

For many of us, special occasions comprise, for example, a simple Sunday lunch with our family and friends, and why not surprising them and host them at the highest level?

Organizational Rules and Etiquettes 

In order to achieving excellence and quality through this way of serving, you must consider a number of rules, aiming to ensure the event’s success, as well as its perfection and elegance. 

A fact, which, for many people, might be consider as excessive, is the number of requested waiters, for each one of the guests. French Way of Serving sets a total of five waiters for each one of the guests, in order to satisfying everyone’s requests and needs. The meal is served on a platter, thus inviting people to feel free into serving themselves.

On what concerns to the menu, this one should be thought out based on the theme of the meal or event, and, of course, on the guests and hosts’ personal taste. The menu should be divided into starters, hot dishes, side dishes and, finally, desserts. 

The same goes for the drinks. First, water is served, followed by several types of wine and finally champagne, which shall be served accompanying desserts or during the toast. 

How to arrange the table 

Under the French Way of Serving, all the mise en place follows a very specific sequence of this way of serving. Each one of the guests should have a flat plate, placed over the presentation plate, accompanied by a napkin.

The cutlery should follow an order, from the inside onto the outside. The knives are placed on the right-hand side of the plate, under the following order: meat knife, fish knife and a soup spoon. The forks are placed on the left-hand side, also under the same order.   

The glasses are placed under the following order: the red wine glass towards the tip of the meat knife, the water glass to the left, the white wine glass to the right and the champagne glass between the water and wine glasses.

How to serve 

Under the French Way of Serving, the ladies are served first and only then the men. Normally, the first lady and man to be served are the hosts. And pay attention, they can only start the meal after all the guests have the meal in front of them. 

The plates are lifted from the left and placed to the right of the person serving, as well as the drinks. 

These are the main characteristics and advantages of the French Way of Serving. 

We hope that, under our help, you may be able to recreate it, with refinement and excellence and, more importantly, under Costa Verde’s products, which offer a multitude of solutions, through collections and pieces of recognised value and quality, used by the most demanding Chefs, which will certainly provide you with a very special touch, when serving.

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