Garden Long Table

The long table is the warmest format in private dining and the most forgiving of kitchens. Food arrives on platters, so the twenty second plating window disappears and with it most of the stress; guests serve each other, which does half your service work; and the centrepiece, a fish on salt or a lamb shoulder, can sit five minutes without harm. For twenty guests it is both the cheapest good option and the one most likely to be remembered.

Its enemies are physical. Wind takes menu cards, napkins and eventually the table dressing, so runners are weighted, candles live in glass and bread comes covered. The ground decides everything: a level position is worth more than a view, and hosts who discover a slope at 17:00 end up eating indoors. Light matters more than on any other format, because at a table for twenty four the far end is a different room unless you light it deliberately.

Costs stay moderate: 90 to 180 euros a guest for food and kitchen, a service ratio of one per eight, and rentals that are mostly table, linen and glass. Spend the difference on two things: proper lighting, and one luxurious shared centrepiece that the table talks about while it is carved.