First Restaurant Shift

Today I worked in the restaurant for the first time. The restaurant is a fine dining restaurant, just upstairs from the bar and lounge, and holds two AA Rosettes. I was excited to work in this type of setting, a brand-new experience for me. Every night, we have a set number of diners arriving in groups at specific times, as reservations are required. We don’t know exactly what they will order, but we do have an idea of how many to prep for. There is an appetizer or chef’s choice, the same for everyone, then choice of starter, main, and dessert. There is also a set sorbet, cheese plate, and petit fours tray for each night.

I began at 12:00p.m., and was put in the pastry section. I started with balling tonight’s sorbet – black current, and slicing plums to make a plum compote. Then I made banana tarte tatins, which involved making caramel and placing a spoonful in ramekins, slicing bananas and arranging them in the ramekins, and cutting pastry to put over top, then baking them. I got to make lollipops – which was really just using a cool metal cone dispenser to pipe hot sugar, but it was fun. I also got to play with more caramel – winding it around a rolling pin to make fancy rings of caramel as a dessert garnish. I made three types of rolls – tomato basil, cheese, and pommery mustard, and chocolate mousse.
I really enjoyed today, of course I love working in pastry the most and the pastry chef is super nice. But also because it is more laid back, sure everything needs to get done, but there is no huge rush. Also the pastry section is quiet and I can be in my own world.

Dinner service began at 6:00p.m., and I was put in charge of making the appetizer for the night - foie gras duck mousse with sweet apple raisin chutney, microgreens, and hazelnut crisp. I was also shown how to do the vegetable side dishes of the day to accompany the main courses – cauliflower gratin, with béchamel sauce and herb bread crumbs, and snow peas with bacon and toasted almonds, as well as champ potatoes. I also helped with a few of the desserts, and was shown how to do most of the starters.

The appetizer I was in charge of plating.

I enjoyed plating fancy dishes, where each detail counts, quality is emphasized much more than quantity, and not one thing can be in disarray on the plate. The restaurant kitchen is semi-open, so although kitchen staff cannot be seen, they can be heard. This is the part I found the most difficult because the machines (ovens, fans, etc.) behind us are noisy, making it hard to hear the wait staff call orders and hear each other, yet we cannot yell. What I also found challenging was I was working with a group of four who basically do this every night. They barely need to communicate with each other, they have each other’s backs and know exactly what is going on. They also know the process. Being my first time working in the restaurant, I didn’t totally understand all their lingo yet, or what follows what and how fast to send orders, but that will come! Our last group was scheduled to arrive around 9:00p.m., and because six course meals take time, we finished cleaning up around 10:30p.m.