Fine Dining

I was on breakfast again this morning. It seemed to be going well at first – the same cook as yesterday was on and seemed to be friendlier to me. But then I told her I was going downstairs to put the orders away. I was gone for a while because three orders came in and a bag of peas spilled all over the freezer floor, and I decided while I was down there I may as well tray up the scones, pastries, and bacon. She probably didn’t want me to do that during service but I knew she would get me to do it later, so why not get it done now while I was not busy? Service wasn’t that busy, she must be able to handle two orders at a time on her own. She seemed a little upset that I had been gone so long, and was mad that I came upstairs with mushrooms, tomatoes, and parsley because she hadn’t asked me to bring them. But she needed more of them prepped anyway, and I was just trying to be efficient. I helped her with more orders and prep tasks and then cleaned up after service.

Then I knew I was working in the bar until 4:00, so I asked the cook if there was going to be a dessert of the day special on. He gave me his base recipe for panna cotta and told me to go make it, to choose whatever flavor I wanted to add to it. I headed up to pastry and quickly whipped up a milk chocolate orange panna cotta. When I brought the mix downstairs, he seemed skeptical that I had been able to cool the cream mix so fast, but told me to make the mashed potatoes then pour the mixture into glasses and chill it to set. Since it would take a while to set, it would be the dessert of the day tomorrow when I would be in all day. Chef told me my jobs of the day would be to take care of any more orders that came in and to organize the spice rack.

This kind of seemed like a make-work project for me, except I knew it wasn’t because there was plenty of prep work to do. He just really wanted this shelf all organized and clean. I had to hunt down all the small square containers and empty any bagged spices into them, then create labels with them on the label maker along with their best before dates. I did all this, and even alphabetized the shelf. 

My beautiful organized spice rack

Next I decided to tidy out the big walk-in fridge, organize that and check dates and labels as technically that is part of my job with tending to orders as well. It took me awhile to go through it, but I did. Afterwards Chef asked if they had locked me in the fridge, and said it looked really good. I decided to stay until 5:00 and vacpac a bunch of soups I had found in the fridge.

At the start of the week I had decided to book a six course dinner for two in the fine dining restaurant I have been doing some pastry service in lately, to treat my boyfriend before he went back home. Tonight seemed like the best night, since I would be off early and wasn’t on breakfast the next morning, and the restaurant was open but not too busy today. The chefs were all aware I would be in, and would be sure our meal was perfect for us. They kept asking me what I would be ordering, or saying I should leave work early to get ready, and whatnot. 

I had been trying to surprise my boyfriend, but since we are in a small village and I had told him to make sure his dress shirt was ready to wear and not to eat a big lunch, he kind of figured it out. Oh well, it was still a nice treat for him. We really enjoyed our meal, we went right when the restaurant opened at 6:00 and I recognized all of our servers of course. I didn’t really care what I had to eat, since I have tasted most it it all already, so I asked my boyfriend what he wanted to try most, so we could share things. 

gravalax starter

Our menu was as follows:
Bread, Me: Parmesan
Him: Tomato Basil
Appetizer, Me: Salmon Gravalax with cucumber salad, orange beetroot puree and dill crème fraiche
Him: Guacamole in Red Pepper Jelly (vegetarian option)
Starter, Me: Sweet Port and White Onion cream soup with gubbeen cheese crouton
Him: Tomato Tasting Plate with pressed tomato and basil terrine, tomato sorbet with basil, tomato sorbet with parmesan foam, tomato essence tagiatelle and gazpacho jelly
Soup/Sorbet, Me: Parsnip Soup with hazelnut oil
Him: Mango Sorbet
Main Course, Me: Fish of the Day, Pan-fried Halibut with French-style peas and onions soubise

tomato starter

Him: Provençale Vegetable Gateau, courgette and tomato with red onion compote topped with crisp aubergine, red and yellow peppr, honey dressing
Vegetables and Potato Side Dish To Share, honey-glazed parsnip chips, tomato confit, champ mashed potatoes
Dessert, Me: Hot Chocolate Mousse Soufflé, vanilla ice cream
Him: Mojito of Lime Confit, mint and white chocolate ganache, dark rum crumble, lemon sorbet foam
Petit Fours To Share, lollipop, mango marshmallow, blueberry financier, vanilla canelle
Drinks, we both had sparkling water, a glass of Snapper Rock Sauvignon Blanc, and with petit fours he had a Bailey’s coffee. 

fish of the day

It was much more relaxing for me to be on the other side of the kitchen – you can take the chef out of the kitchen, but you can’t take the kitchen out of the chef. We chose such a table that gave me a view of the semi-open kitchen when the swinging doors were opened, and I could clearly make out the voices of all my coworkers. I could also see them working at times, and heard our orders being called out. I easily made out the sound of the oven buzzing and the blender whirring. I heard the starter cook ask chef what I had for my main course. My boyfriend could hear these things when I pointed them out to him, but otherwise didn’t really notice them. Our food was amazing, as usual in this award-winning restaurant, and the evening was lovely – someone played piano in the restaurant and afterwards we sat out on the patio overlooking the stables since it was a warm and pleasant evening.