No matter whether you are running a restaurant or home kitchen, once the food is prepared, it leaves you with the most important task of presenting it in a way that impresses your guests. The way in which the food is presented actually promotes one’s appetite and desire for the same. In other words, a badly presented food can actually spoil its taste and effort behind.
Basic Food Presentation Tips
The following are some of the basic food presentation tips that can help you in your job – even before any major decoration aspects come into play, that is.
- Serve hot items in a hot plates and cold items in a cold plates or bowls (e.g. salads in a chilled bowl or plate, where as main course in a hot plate)
- ’Serve chilled’ food items such as beer should be served in chilled mugs out of chilled pitchers
- Never serve a colored food item in the same color plate
- Never serve in chipped or cracked crockery – People will read ‘dirt’ in that case
- The food items should be taken out the fridge or warmer just before serving assuming that there is no complicated decoration pending
- Coffee and tea should never be served in boiling hot condition. 80-90 degree centigrade is the best; in fact both should not be prepared in very high heat
- Always stack up the food wherever possible to make the food quantity look sufficient
- Your food and its garnish should contrast in color so that the overall appearance is great. And more importantly, all garnishes should be edible
- Never let the food spill or drip around the plate or its side – that really will let down your guest
- Never overload your plates which makes things difficult for those who serve as well as those who eat
- Use clean table clothes that are free from dust, hair etc
- If you do not have a dish washer, make sure that you wipe and clean the plates with a dry clean cloth
- …and most importantly, be clean yourself. Always have a clean hand, have a napkin with you and never cough or sneeze in front of your guests
I am sure that these basic presentation tips will be useful for you next time.