Townhouse Banquet

A banquet in a private house is a restaurant built for one night in a building that resists it. Twenty four guests at two round tables need a service lane, a plating room within twenty metres, hot cabinets and a butler who can run ten staff silently. The kitchen part is straightforward for a professional brigade; the building part is where evenings are won and lost, which is why a serious caterer will spend an hour measuring your stairs and your dining room before quoting.

Service style is the decision that drives the price. Plated service needs one server per six guests, silver service one per four and a team that has done it together. Add a sommelier if the wines justify it. For twenty four guests, service alone runs 1,400 to 2,400 euros, plus chef and kitchen, plus rentals of 30 to 45 euros a head once you count four glasses, chargers, silver and linen.

The small things carry this format: plates hot enough to matter, bread served and cleared properly, wine poured from the right side without a word, candles replaced at the second course, and coffee in another room so the table can be cleared in peace. None of it appears on the menu card and all of it is what guests describe afterwards.