The Art of the Table

thank you actually is a a great honor actually being in front of the house I don't speak much and I can hear all your time rambling and I'll be very quickly like a good quick service is always been good when it's quick 50 years ago when I started my career as a as a waiter in the restaurant I mean I was I come from Padua which is the region of Venice if you like and there was the catering School of avano terme and my mentors was one of the best Methodist Awards in in the region it was a metro d which was the battle as one Peron of Argentina and it was our it was my mentor at the catering school and they always said service is an art and what I want to talk about is these are the latan 50 years ago when I started I mean the the the master of the the house was not the chef who was the metro d you never saw the the the the the the chef the chef always been on the background they were from the kitchen they were sending big dishes with the meat and and the vegetables usually you add two or three vegetables a meat and you were serving serving from a Gary Dome you were putting the food down into the plate always if you like six o'clock the the fish are meat and on top either 10 o'clock or 12 o'clock and two o'clock there were two or three vegetables which they were then so that's what was what was the service and some time if the chef would have if the the customers with all the the same dish they will send the same dish cooked together the chef so it was the job of the waiter to go in front and the carving them and carve whatever it was given and that was what the the the the the the meat was done and then you add also the other way to serve the Savage which was which we call a service or silver service a chef would send a again prepare for for whatever they were four or five the food and so on and you were with the clips going around from the left-hand side and so on and you were doing that and that was always a majority of the case and then you you have to prepare you know the beef we're carving a joint of beef you were disjointing a chicken you I got to to choose the word since I heard the lecture before from the professor not to use the same carving a chicken the on the section a chicken so I got to be choose the word and they were deboning a fish and preparing all those sort of things that was a craft which you had to do in front of in front of the customers and and you know they those are to be skillful you know in certain restaurants also you are the the chef coming into the restaurant at that time you know big trolley silver trolley were coming big joint so be for Lambo whichever they were changing every day according to the day of the week and the the chef which were called Chef transfer would come and carve in front and you added the service of the trolley and that those one were cool these are the La Table that's what where all these are there you know the preparing a crap Suzette uh you know more important was the customer more you will put Brandy and the flame were going up and the cost of us were happy all the circle of the front of the house and that's that's this was a little but you know little by little those skills went out of the window unfortunately and that coincide with a very fashionable Chef which arrived at that time those chefs were still of them are around I mean I've got my dear friend Mr Sanders which is around there and that's what they are the the the the region of the the middle of the 70s the book used the drug rule like as I mentioned before girarde Michelle Guerra you know all those ones were start and that was the beginning of the Noel Cuisine so what they did actually is uh little by little start plating I'm preparing plates like that and from that I've changed completely the nature of service the the waiter become instead of they lost their skill they become plate carrier as simple as that you know which is a was he a good reason or another reason is because that arrive I don't know was it because there was no more skilled waiter and was it because the chef realized that the food would look much better on the plate and then being spoiled by the weight and in front of the customer sometimes that's you know sometimes you got you have to think about that so the fact is that uh we are carving the flambe and so on thus went out from the capture that went out from the menus completely they disappear there is no more uh those dishes I mean these very very unusual as you find an interesting modern restaurant now every day which you'll see carving few carving still happen but I mean more flambe and so on they Disappear Completely you know that's that decayed change completely the job description of the waiter completely day and night that was the the the policies where those work were done that were done into London Paris Maxim in Paris was the best actually of those things but those places little by little disappear and they were supplemented by Chef Patron you know Dance World command and they were the chef started to be interested in the the and that's changed no more carving No More flambe all that went uh you know out of the world so you know that's that's a a very very different change of service and the service is changing completely even now I mean you know if you if you look at it what was impressed me more and more and I saw that at normal the other day there's a lot of Chef going in front of the customers which is fantastic I think you know there is no better person to explain what's going on into the dish then the chef who has prepared the dish you know that's that's for me is a new generation of service which is starting we'll be standing if you like for the last 30 years on service and that's how I welcome it very amply full ugly because you know okay even for us waiters which know about the the bit of the kitchen but we don't know exactly how the the plate and the dish is prepared so that's that's a fantastic welcome to see that you know but all you describe service now I will question the question for you you know can you visualize service can you describe can you take a picture of service you cannot you cannot you know for the chef it's very easy you can prepare you see normally you can take a picture you can take a bite you can taste it you've got a recipe before that's fantastic but can you take can you take a a picture of a good service you know I don't know I don't think there is you know they want what um it is the the the most important is uh you can only see the service when he's missing it and that's the point you see the service is exactly the point you see when it's missing you know when you go to a busy restaurant sometimes you feel frustrated you see uh you know they the waiter is not looking at you is maybe looking at the sky and contemplating or looking at the floor or then you go to the customers clipping is under the and the waiter see his rule no it's not true he wants attention he won't he wants the waiter to look at him not to look at the floor not to look at the ceiling he won't he wants that action that's what he's got to be service and you know that's that's the the also the majority of what you would call them journalists who write about service and I got to give a little bit go of them because always right when when when the service is missing the Southern Southern they write where the service is perfect because they don't see it you know the the best service in the restaurant is a service you don't know this that's what should be serviced you know the the story of the invisible weather the waiter should be invisible you know you should when you go into the restaurant you should been asking if you want a drink say hello to you good welcome fantastic welcome the best welcome I had it was the other day when I went in at NoMa all the chef all the way they were in front of you welcoming the people what a beautiful welcome thank you again you know that's that's that's that's what what it is and and you don't see that so what when you go to a restaurant you know going through the sequence you want to be given a drink you want to be given the menu somebody will take in the order giving you food and wine to be served and giving the bill when you ask for and that's it what you want is for all that with a fantastic and sincere approach to welcoming the people that's what you want that's what these Services you know that's that's what is the craft the the proper service in a restaurant is the the attain the attention the weight I give it to you the high attention which you can put you know that's as I mentioned before uh that that's you should look at the customer you should you should not look at the sky and so on those are the the attention which you got to do you know when you need a way to look at you and you see you don't have any more bread and you bring you the bread even before you ask for it when you see your glasses almost empty to go and refill it and not to overfill it as well because that's bad service as well if you ever see also the weather sometimes they don't have anything to do so what they come around and filling up your full glass of wine already so that's not service for me there can can you they stay away you know that's that's what that's what you want you know you want the the the real good service which you which you got and you know that that's what what you've got he you know the waiter will know when you know the discretion of the waiter to know when to start a conversation when to stop a conversation that that's that's to stop a conversation is even more important you know he's a you know it's not to start the conversation you want a guy you know that you know you want the guy who says yes I want to talk to the cosmos but I got all the customers talking which need to be served so you're not you you need to have that report and sometimes you know when you got a table of two and you got a waiter go and talk to them that's fine when they go to the table or four you don't want to talk to the weather you want to talk to your friends so you know that's it that's can you leave us alone please that's what is service you know that's that's what uh that's always I said a silent waiter that's what it should be you know that's that's uh that's what is for me the most important so there are those are what you would call the new art of service now before you are the the people carving and so on now you want those silent think which you need that's what you got the the invisible art of service uh you know that's that's a good way to actually you know obviously what's the kind of food is preparing and and politely described to the chef yes that's that's very important the waiter is the the another thing which I always want to say that's the waiter is the chef ambassador the waiter should be the one which convey the chef's philosophy to the customers without patronizing the customer sometimes as well because then you go to the chef which is we've got big ego and tell the way the waiter tell them that tell them that and the poor people hey leave us alone I've ordered my food I know what i'm older don't try to bother me more than that please I know I always take you give me a second the against Jeff he's the chef we just take yes I know I got the stack and so was to give it to me you're going to eat it so you know that's that's what the what is that's what it is you know they are now Chef modern Chef which employ psychologists to talk to the to talk to the the staff because they're going to approach the customers which is fantastic so you know for our lesson now we got the waiter got to be a good psychologist as well actually to do those things so that's that's more or less so what what um you know we we should ask now to do all those powerful chefs which are which are uh the the the the the visual point of the cooking now they're all fantastic beautiful Chef what we got to ask them can they please invest a little bit into the service can the waiter when they arrive the first week instead of sending them in front of the customers can they take them behind and show them what is the food what is the poor people they're going in front of the customers sometime with the two places that they're like that they don't even know and they jump them and say oh my good I got bad waiter have you ever thought about training them a bit have you ever thought about giving them a bit of training in the kitchen you know those are and you know and then they say we don't have any more waiter yes of course you know you don't give them a job anymore uh and that's it so you don't spend your time to teach them anymore and you know that's that's what it is we've got to be I don't say we got to be patient but we got to go through the process of teaching them what is what we is the food what is the wine send them to a Vineyard to know how the wine is prepared to know how the wine look how we taste how we smell you know so they can convey sit them down and thanks to your produce with a waiter and they say well this is the combination of the wine go with it and so on I know that's a lot of professionals to respect with you do that but what we would like to have all the mass doing that and doing that by doing that you know you will love again waiters you will like have again on that and you know that's that's very very important and you know having said that for me the best way to retain the way there is paying them well is very important but give them knowledge give them knowledge you've got to wait and the old time you always to say if you don't pay them enough at least to give them a job that's when they go out from that place they can go and learn the job somewhere else you know and that's what it is and then my real plea for the chef who always say they don't find any chef yes you know what you got to do is respecting them teaching them well feeding them well is very important how many how many how many restaurants to do that here how many how many waiters of top wrestling today yeah my God we're having fantastic food but our food is terrible and you know that's that's doesn't take much doesn't take much for the chef to prepare those food and you got to think that if you got happy stuff you got to have happy customers if the customers if they you see it on the face on certain time you go to restaurant and you see the the the the guy don't want to talk because they worry to be judged to make a mistake and they they are not flourishing themselves you know if they are properly fed and they're probably they will go and they will be happy to do their job so as I said the four rules is respecting them teaching them well feeding them well and pay them properly that's also very important so that's the four quality which you have for service will be your ambassadors and they will be your Ambassador forever I was lucky enough and I spent all my about few years before I arrived to London but I spent something like 40 years now still working for the same owner the same family um which is fantastic and you know they I'm retired now and they still pay me which is very nice you know that that's that's very good and you know the retaining retaining stuff is very very important and you know when you got when the place go when you got to say a customers uh when they go inside the the premises and they recognize one person is fantastic uh one celebrity one top celebrity one day I was a talking to him it was coming to me a lot of time I said to him what is your what do you think is your best restaurant for you um he said look I go here I go there I go there but my best restaurant for me is the best that is the restaurant which I've been which I'm recognized you know so when if you if you when your customers your regular customers are coming in you recognize them and the people which you don't know you don't know but try to make them regular you know that's what got to be the skillful of the the staff try to make your guest regular to come back you know sell most of the time most of the time if the service is not good they they guests are not coming back if the front of their if the sorry if the restaurant they got very good food uh and the the the front of the house is not nice the people are not coming back the majority they want to be welcome they don't want to have a fight they want to have a good food and good entertainment a good service hospitality that's what we got to teach our dear young writer and with that thank you very much for listening to me thank you