While I appreciate the effort, and I was happy to find the image so highly ranked on the Google search engine, there are many mistakes with the illustration:
1. The napkin would never be placed in a water glass or any other glass. This is a bad restaurant procedure, not proper formal table etiquette; better to use a simple bookfold napkin and place the napkin on top of the forks on the left hand side of the lay (center) plate or atop the lay plate when there is nothing already there.
2. The glass is fine, but generally water at a formal dinner is served in a stemmed glass.
3. A formal dinner almost always has two or more wines served.
4. The bread plate is fine but 5. it is a butter spreader, not a bread knife.
6. That may be a soup bowl but it would never be placed on a 8. dinner plate without a liner beneath it--how else would a server remove the bowl and where would you put your spoon to rest when finished?
9. A salad plate would not be on the table at the same time as a soup bowl or dinner plate--a formal meal is served in courses. Yes, there was a time when a salad was a side course in a meal, but that is no longer the case, and salad is served now in the center of the place setting.
10. If you have a salad fork, it is most likely that you will have a salad knife. The salad knife and 12. dinner knife are not the same utensil.
13. A dessert spoon is almost always accompanied by a dessert fork, and sometimes even a dessert knife. You do have it placed in the correct position.
14 and 15. Coffee cups and saucers are never in place at the start of a meal. The placement is correct, but most often now, coffee is served away from the table.
There are many exceptions to many rules, and often you will find house rules trump formal etiquette but I'm suggesting only what the basics are here.
FYI, I did try to leave a comment for The Sophisticated Student but the ability to do so is disabled. Maybe the Student will find me here.
7 comments:
Your comment about the napkins is very interesting. When I was in Boston, I had lunch at a lovely restaurant on Charles St. (Beacon Hill) but something bothered me about the table settings. Glancing around, I noticed that all of the napkins were stuck in the wine glasses which made them look a bit like rabbit ears. What's worse is that some of them were flopping down towards the table. SInce I wanted to take some photos, I waited until the waiter went in the back and straightened the napkins at the next table.
The restaurant did, however, serve the champagne in a coupe of which I think you would have approved.
Indeed, I approve of champagne in coupes.
Did you post a photo of the restuarant? I don't recall seeing it.
And again, I emphasize, house rules trump etiquette, either right or wrong. When I work with a client I advise on the proper and most-often-used forms of setting a table, but sometimes that is dismissed due to simple preference, availability of items or mysterious customs.
No, I didn't post any photos of the restaurant. I thought about it but then I started talking with an interesting couple from New Orleans and forgot all about floppy napkins and taking pictures of my food.
I like your adage that "house rules trump etiquette".
This makes me reach for my copy of the The Age of Innocence DVD. The table settings, the flowers, the lighting. So beautiful and elegant.
Awaiting more posts!
Never thought blogging could be soo fun and interesting. Man you know how to do it brother.
Great blog. I am finding the whole idea of the salad knife slightly bemusing. I appreciate that it might be different in the US, but in Europe, and especially in the UK, France and Switzerland, I guess, we would not only refrain from using the knife when eating salad, but would also find it to be a faux-pas if such a knife is served (even if not metal) ...
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