Mar 21, 2024 | Guest Service, Superyacht Crew Training, Table Settings
From Cutlery Chaos to Dining Delight: How To Set A Table
Ahoy there, fellow stewards and stewardesses of the superyacht world! While we’re busy ensuring our guests are sailing smoothly through the seas of luxury, there’s one task that can sometimes leave us feeling a bit like we’re navigating uncharted waters: setting the table. But fear not, for I’m here to guide you through the choppy seas of cutlery confusion and onto the shores of dining delight!
Now, setting a table may seem like a simple task, but for those of us in the world of superyachts, it’s an art form. After all, we’re not just setting a table; we’re creating an experience. So, grab your napkin folds and let’s dive in!
Guidelines for Setting a Table
1. Know Your Space:Before you start arranging cutlery like a game of culinary Tetris, take a moment to assess your table space. You don’t want your guests feeling like they’re dining in a cutlery jungle gym.
2. **Consider the Menu:** Just as a captain charts their course, plan your table setting according to the meal being served. Different courses may require different utensils, so make sure you’re prepared. Just allow your FRIENDLY chef some time to brief you properly.
3. **Mind Your Etiquette:** A superyacht stewardess is a paragon of etiquette, so remember to follow proper dining protocols. Forks to the left, knives to the right, and napkins neatly folded – let’s keep it classy, folks.
Imagine, if you will, a pristine white tablecloth gently billowing in the sea breeze. At each setting, gleaming silverware rests atop fine china, while crystal glasses stand at attention, waiting to be filled with the finest vintage.
**How to Set a Table with Cutlery:**
1. **Start with the Basics:** Begin by placing the dinner plate in the center of each setting. To the left, arrange the forks in order of use – salad fork, dinner fork – with the prongs facing up like little culinary antennae.
2. **Knife Knowledge:** On the right side of the plate, lay the knife with the blade facing the plate. To its right, position the spoons, each one ready to tackle its designated course with gusto.
3. **Don’t Forget the Extras:** Depending on the meal, you may need to add additional utensils. For example, a soup spoon or a seafood fork can elevate the dining experience from ordinary to extraordinary.
The Superyacht Stewardess’s Guide to Setting a Table – **Basic Table Setting Rules:**
1. **Keep it Balanced:** A well-set table is like a perfectly trimmed sail – balanced and poised for adventure. Make sure there’s an equal distance between each place setting to maintain harmony.
2. **Mind Your Space:** Avoid overcrowding the table with unnecessary clutter. Only include the essentials for each course to prevent a cutlery catastrophe.
3. **Stay Neat and Tidy:** Just as we strive for immaculate cabins, our table settings should be pristine. No crumbs, no smudges – just pure, unadulterated elegance.
**The Stewardess Bible:**
Consider this your holy grail of table setting wisdom, passed down through the ages by generations of superyacht stewards and stewardesses (ha ha, not really, it was just written by this old girl). Treat it with reverence, for within its pages lie the secrets to creating dining experiences that will be remembered long after the anchor is raised.
In conclusion, setting a table as a superyacht stewardess is no mere task – it’s an opportunity to showcase our skills and elevate the dining experience to new heights. So, polish those silverware, straighten those napkins, and let’s set sail for culinary excellence! Bon appétit, my fellow stewards and stewardesses!
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Sep 15, 2022 | Guest Service, Superyacht Crew Training, Table Settings
How to Set a Table for a 3-Course Dinner
A three-course meal on board a super yacht would be classified as a casual dinner, consisting of an entree’, main meal and dessert. It would often be reserved for just the family or primary charterers onboard.
As a superyacht stewardess is just a part of the job, right? Well, yes and no. It is in the steward/ess job description, but what makes a dining experience just that little bit extra is all the effort you go to. Please let me explain further.
For an informal three-course dinner, you will need to consider the following to create a truly magnificent dining experience:
Table linen.
In this instance, as it is an informal dinner, I would recommend using the evening placemats and serviettes. Depending on the menu, choose colours that will complement the food. If the yacht doesn’t have evening placemats, or you are just purchasing new table linen, then look for delicate fabrics such as fine linen in gold, silver, black and intricate lace weaves for that luxurious feel. If you need a little inspiration on opulence, have a quick look at the CHRISTOFLE website.
The table centrepiece.
The centrepiece or table decorations again would be kept to a minimum. Consider a less is more approach. Use elegant hues such as creams, whites, and gold to bounce the soft candlelight around the room.
Cutlery.
Next to go onto the table is your freshly polished cutlery. As previously mentioned, this will consist of entrée, main and dessert cutlery. Forks on the left and knives on the right, the main cutlery is laid down closest to the plate, and then entrée will sit next to the mains on the outer side. Should soup be on the menu, then the spoon will be placed on the right side of the main fork. The placement of the dessert cutlery has been debated over and over, but as a traditionalist, I would lay the dessert cutlery in two ways. The first would be to like to lay the cutlery directly above the main plate with the spoon below the fork, with the spoon handle facing to the right and the fork to the left, which the service staff will pull down once the mains have been cleared.
Or I would leave it off the table together until the main has been completely cleared, then I would lay the appropriate cutlery just before the service of the dessert. It really depended on how many guests were eating and how formal the guests liked to be served.
Glasses.
Lastly, consider the crystal wear. Do your guests drink wine? What wine will compliment the food. Because it is a three-course dinner, consider just placing a water glass and a wine glass on the table. I know this may upset some people, but nowadays, our guests know what they like, and indeed, the chef knows what wine will compliment the food. Of course, it is not a big deal if you would like to set the table with a water glass, a white wine glass and a red wine glass. But for an elegant dining experience, I would lay the table with minimal glass wear.
Finally, as a superyacht chief stewardess, you would always consider cultural diversity and differentiating service customs when you are briefing your junior crew onboard.
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How to Set a Table for a 3-Course Dinner
- Table Linen
- Table decorations
- Place mats and napkins
- Cutlery: (soup) Entrée, main, and dessert
- Glasses: Water and wine
Soupspoon only if required. Accompanying condiments, salt and pepper, and extra wine glasses to be kept on the waiter’s station to be served if and when needed.
Nov 1, 2017 | Guest Service
How to Set up a Luxury Dinner on the Beach
As a Superyacht stewardess, providing excellence in service is just what you do and providing a luxury dining experience on the sand is one way, which will create lasting memories for your guests. Your guests are probably used to dining in luxury, so it is your job to provide them with beautiful experiences—something they can’t do at home.
Preparations:
Before you start gathering everything you need, consider what you want from the dining experience for your guests. It could be the sight of the sun setting on the horizon, the evening breeze, or the view of stars and the moon late in the night.
Having the best possible moment for your guests in mind will help you find the perfect location. This could range from the sandy stretches with a graceful touch, to rocky ocean shores and to a place where the last rays of the sun are most visible as they disappear into the horizon.
The logistics of setting up a luxury dinner on the beach from a yacht can be a little bit of a challenge. However, remember you are a professional superyacht crew, and making magical moments for your guests comes naturally to you.
How to set up a luxury dinner on the beach.
You will need to consider the following items when planning this dinner.
Lighting:
Lighting is an essential factor because you will not have a power source. Candles, hurricane lamps and tiki lamps are a great way to add ambience and practical lighting to this remote area.
Dinner candles are selected depending on your preferences. The most common candle styles include those that are 100% beeswax, bayberry tapers, colonettes, dollars, tapers and Aristas.
The candles could be patterned, coloured, and preferably non-scented (you don’t want this messing with the delicious menu that the chef has prepared).
Other essential factors included when setting candles are holders and warmers. Choose your most preferred warmer from a list of Aurora pewter, hurricane black, hurricane oil, hurricane rustic brown and the brushed bronze.
The Furniture:
This is a tricky one because you will need somewhere to store this furniture. And as we all know, space on a superyacht is a precious commodity. Therefore, the obvious statement here to make is that the furniture must be able to fold away.
The chairs should be strong, firm to the ground, padded to improve comfort, meticulously neat, heroically arranged and not make screeching sounds due to movements. great choices when purchasing the furniture would be a royal palm beach solid wood chair, Moseley, fine view, parsons, Caravella, Chastain side chair or Aubrey.
Attractive chairs welcome you to the table and make the mealtimes more inviting the above image clearly demonstrates this point nicely.
The dinner tables should be stable to the ground and large enough to accommodate your guest’s needs comfortably. Linen should cover the entire table and add to the attractiveness of it. The colours and patterns of the soft material should blend perfectly.
The menu:
Your chef is probably very good at what she/he does. However, the challenge here will be to create a menu that is up to standard, but with limited resources. I mean the tender runs back and forth to the yacht’s galley would be a real mood killer.
Therefore the foods, drinks and music should blend excellently with the location and as best you can with the resources that you have available to you.
You are going to have to ask the deck department to help you with achieving a luxury dinner on the beach. First, you may need them to scout out a super romantic location. You will also need them to help you to carry all of the items your need ashore. Moreover, finally, you will need help setting up this romantic dinner.
Set the service tables away from the guests, make sure you have adequate lighting and make sure the chef has as much help as possible.
The crew demonstrate a degree of confidence, maintain physical and verbal neatness, be attentive, fast acting and approachable. Lastly, A sparkling smile and a sharp eye will help you gauge the right level of service for this unique location.
The sand may brush off and the salt may wash away, but the memories will last forever.
Image via Strada
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May 13, 2015 | Guest Service
A good cup of coffee is like warm liquid gold, and learning how to make a great cup of coffee is like one of the many things in life that “you just have to know”.
Traditionally a great cup of coffee comes from fresh coffee beans, but I believe you can produce a fantastic cup of Joe, with whatever you have at your disposal.
History:
The name Coffee in English was a word adapted from the Dutch Koffie, who borrowed it from the Turkish Kahave, who in turn borrowed it from the Arabs Qahwa.
A possible origin of the name is the Kingdom of Kaffa in Ethiopia, where the coffee plant originated.
The History of Coffee: The history of coffee goes as far back to the 9th century, when a humble Ethiopian goat herder called Kaldi noticed that his goats became spirited after eating the berries from a certain tree.
He reported this information to the monks who in turn made a drink out of the berries and discovered that they could stay awake longer to pray. From Ethiopia it is said that coffee spread to Egypt and Yemen.
As interesting as the goat herder story is, the first credible evidence of coffee as a drink is in the middle of the fifteenth century in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen.
By the 16th century it had spread throughout the world, reaching Europe, the Americas, Persia, Turkey and North Africa.
The 10 Steps of Coffee:
According to the National Coffee Association of America, there are 10 steps to producing coffee, these are:
- Planting
- Harvesting the cherries
- Processing the cherries
- Drying the beans
- Roasting the beans
- Milling the beans
- Exporting the beans
- Grinding the coffee
- Brewing the coffee
- Tasting
- Tasting the coffee
Buy Good Coffee:
Now this is an important step, buy the best coffee that you can afford! It’s one of those things that the better quality coffee you buy, the better cup of coffee you will make.
Storing Your Coffee:
Storage is integral to maintaining your coffee’s freshness and flavour.
It is important to keep it away from excessive air, moisture, heat, and light — in that order — in order to preserve its fresh-roast flavour as long as possible.
It has been a popular myth for years now that you should always store your open bags of coffee in the fridge or freezer, however, this may lead to the deterioration of the coffee as contact with moisture is a big no-no.
Instead, buy your coffee a quality airtight ceramic or glass container and store in a cool, dry and dark place.
How to Brew Your Coffee:
OK, here is the fun part. There is no right or wrong way to making a cup of coffee… it’s up to you and how you like your coffee.
- What is important is that you get the measure of coffee to water ratio right.
- You do not recycle used coffee grind.
- Your coffee has been stored appropriately for freshness and aroma.
- Whether you are using a top of the line coffee machine or a simple kettle for instant coffee, make sure your equipment is clean.
- The coffee you use should be no older that 2 – 3 weeks old.
- Use bottled water if the water in your area is not clean.
- If you are reading this article then that means that you can afford your own or have access to a computer… whenever possible buy fair trade coffee, your conscience will thank you for it.
- Enjoy Your Coffee
Now all the hard work is done, sit back, and take a minute to smell that beautiful aroma, and taste that amazing flavour.
Serving Coffee:
When serving coffee remember that coffee drinkers are very particular about the way they drink their coffee.
There is in excess of over 36 known coffee bean types in the world, with over 60 different ways of making coffee. So it’s no wonder that many stewardesses get a little intimidated by the thought of making a double macchiato skinny latte, for example.
However, in my experience the most popular types of coffee that my guests enjoyed are as follows:
- Cappuccino: Is an Italian coffee drink, which is traditionally prepared with espresso, hot milk, and steamed-milk foam. Sprinkle chocolate or cocoa over the top for something special.
- Espresso: Is coffee brewed by forcing a small amount of nearly boiling water under pressure through finely ground coffee beans. Espresso is generally thicker than coffee brewed by other methods.
- Café Latte: Is a coffee-based drink made primarily from espresso and steamed milk. It consists of one-third espresso, two-thirds heated milk and about 1cm of foam.
- Drip/brew/filtered Coffee: Is a method which involves pouring water over roasted, ground coffee beans contained in a filter.
- This was most popular in the mornings, where simple coffee was required.
- This should not be mistaken with Café Americano which is coffee prepared by adding hot water to espresso.
Regardless of the type of coffee you will be required to serve, you will need the following:
- A tray: ready, neat and clean
- Sugar bowl (white sugar, brown sugar, sweet’N Low and Candela)
- Coffee cup with underline and relevant coffee spoon
- Milk creamer with the coffee or tea orders as per the guest requirements
- Water glass
- Service napkins
Mar 27, 2015 | Guest Service
The Role of Etiquette in our Society
Etiquette is defined as a set of habits, manners, and practices that are performed in different situations. A lot of people think of etiquette as part of decorum or a state of appropriateness and general social deeds.
Every society has its own unique set of etiquette, and different cultures within a society maintain their own set of rules and social standards.
Learning and applying these sets of behaviour can pose a challenge for individuals who are new to a specific way of life. And there are times when even old residents of a community experience difficulty in blending in.
Etiquette sets standards for how people should behave. For instance, greeting people with politeness and respect is common to most world cultures. However, the way respect and civility are expressed vary.
In most Asian cultures, people take a bow or clasp their hands together whenever greeting others. On the other hand, in the West, people generally shake hands or embrace each other when greeting other people.
There probably is an etiquette set of guidelines for almost every situation, from courteously declining a meal offer to meeting a president. Since the social customs of various cultures are so unlike, some people try to learn a specific culture’s etiquette before joining their social circle.
They do this to make sure that they do offend their hosts or embarrass themselves. As a superyacht The Difference Between Food Service Styles. it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with the cultural norms of your international guests.
The Role of Etiquette in our Society
We need etiquette because:
- It makes you a well-educated and refined individual.
- It teaches you the appropriate way to behave within a particular society.
- It creates a good and everlasting first impression on you. The manner by which you interact with other people reflects your personality and the way you have been brought up.
- By following etiquette standards, you can earn the respect and appreciation of other people. We abhor interacting with an individual who does not know how to properly behave in social circles. You are perceived as a responsible and mature person if you show etiquette when you mingle with your peers and even with superiors.
- It helps people value relationships.
Different Types of Etiquette:
- Social etiquette teaches us how to behave in society.
- Bathroom etiquette is the set of rules that have to be followed while in public restrooms and even office toilets. This includes leaving the restroom clean and tidy for the other person.
- The set of behaviour that one has to follow while at work is referred to as corporate etiquette. A sense of decorum has to be maintained inside an organization and this is where corporate etiquette plays an important role. This includes avoiding unnecessary loitering and peeping into other’s work areas.
Mar 26, 2015 | Guest Service
The Difference Between Food Service Styles.
Food Service:
Broadly speaking, there are five types of service that a stewardess is required to competently master. These are as follows:
- Silver service.
- American service or plate service.
- English service.
- Buffet service.
- Russian service.
In addition to the styles of service a yacht stewardess must be well versed in table management, table settings, courses and order of service.
As a super yacht stewardess you are expected to offer impeccable service, but what happens when the owner or primary charter guest of chef wants service done in specific style?
- Do you feel lost?
- Do you feel silly for not knowing the difference between food service styles?
- Or do you just wing it and hope for the best?
Below is a brief explanation of the difference between food service styles. I hope it helps.
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Wishing you all the best, Safe travel & calm seas. K
