Miles Collins

A snapshot of a restaurant dinner service

Dinner service is the reason chefs do what they do, it’s the culmination of a hard day’s graft, it’s their chance to show off the fruits of their labour. It’s three hours or so of intense pressure, pleasantries are put to one side, bollockings will ensue. It’s hard, sweaty and stressful, the food has got to be as good as it can be and everyone is relying on each other.

It’s saturday night, fifty two covers in the restaurant, new menu, new style of service and the pressure is on. A table of six have ordered, the moment we are ready to invite them into the restaurant they go outside to smoke, some come in, some don’t. The food is ready, we have to go with it, the mains are cooking, timing is vital, we have other tables to consider. Right then I want to be Prime Minister and put “Smoking seriously drops chefs in the s**t” on every pack.

Dishes start to go out, It’s full on now, scallops are cooking, we need a waiter right now, the ovens are full, everything wants cooking to a different degree, the smokers have disrupted the flow of service, the pressure builds. The new dishes are all in my head, somewhere. Three chefs cook and serve the main courses, we dodge each other in the mad rush, the plates come out, the food is passed to me, meats are sliced, garnishes are added….

My sous chef finishes the new lamb dish, rump of lamb cooked pink with moroccan herbs, chick peas flavoured with ras en ranout, mint and coriander and a puree of sweet potatoes are quennelled alongside. I ’sauce’ the lamb with a reduction of fresh lamb stock then grab my camera. The dish is finished with a vinaigrette flavoured with harissa, I take a couple of quick photos, no time for checking appertures and the like, I want to look at the dish after service and decide if any changes need to be made.

Salmon is up next, savoy cabbage cooked with caramelised onions, Italian bacon and a little caraway finished with cream, a cylinder of potato cooked long and slow in goose fat stands up against the cabbage. The sauce is an infusion of cream, milk, fish stock and fennel…

The sauce is ‘frothed’ at the last minute, air is incorporated into the sauce to lighten the load, once it hits the plate then it has to leave the kitchen or the impact is lost on the customer. The final garnish goes on last minute because it adds texture, it’s there for a reason and I want the customer to see that….

Fifty two plates later and the lights go off, it’s the pastry sections turn now, the desserts start to come in. Here we go again….