When we entertain, I try to find that balance between making guests feel comfortable and “at home” and giving them just enough flair to feel special and pampered. I call it “giving good host.” One of the things we try to do on many occasions is to serve pre-plated food in a slightly formal way.
When it comes to serving the table, I had heard the rule of thumb “Lift from the left” to mean that dishes should be cleared from the guest’s left side. Put I could never remember the rule for actually serving or placing the dishes. After scouring a few online sources, it seems there is no real consensus on the matter. The preponderance of guidance I found (which also seems the most practical to me) is to serve AND clear plates from the guest’s left. The primary rationale for this seems to be simply to avoid reaching over water and wine goblets which are set on the guest’s right. That said, glasses should be placed, filled and cleared from the guest’s right.
Assuming I now have a practical system in place, I think my new mnemonic will be: Lay and lift [plates] from the left, refill and remove [glasses] from the right.
What do others do?
Image from Flickr used under Creative Commons License
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