The full evening
The Eight Course Tasting Dinner
The classical arc: three small bites, a raw course, a soup, a fish, a meat, a cheese moment, a pre dessert and a dessert. Four hours, three cooks, one long day.
Preparation
What happens when
- Two days aheadStock on, ferments and pickles finished, ice cream churned, bread dough started.
- The day beforeSauces reduced and held, vegetables cleaned, dessert elements built, glasses counted.
- The dayFish collected, mise en place from noon, table set by five, brigade briefed at six.
Service
How to serve it
A course every twenty to twenty five minutes, wine changed between courses and never during. Seat the table within fifteen minutes or cut a course. Plates hot for hot food, cold for cold, which is the one rule nobody sees and everybody feels.
At home
The four course version for eight
The same arc, cut to four courses and a domestic kitchen: one cold, one warm, one large, one cold again. Everything except the main is finished before the guests arrive.
- Raw: 500 g of the best sea bass or beef fillet, sliced thin two hours ahead, kept covered and cold. Dress at the table with olive oil, lemon, flaked salt and a little grated horseradish.
- Broth: roast 1 kg chicken wings and 2 onions dark, cover with 2.5 l water, simmer three hours, strain twice. Reheat and pour at the table over a spoonful of vegetables in each warmed bowl.
- Main: a 2.5 kg chicken or a shoulder of lamb, roasted slowly and carved in the room. One pan sauce from the roasting juices, one green vegetable, one potato dish.
- Dessert: a set cream made the day before with a sharp fruit compote and a thin crisp biscuit.
Editor’s tip: Four courses cooked calmly beat eight courses cooked in panic. If you want a fifth, add one cheese with bread, not another plated dish.
Plan it
Quantities and timing
How much to buy
Quantity Calculator
Guest count, service style and menu shape turned into a shopping list in kilos, litres and pieces.
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Menu Composer
Build a menu course by course and see the balance: weight, technique, temperature, colour, repetition, oven conflicts and a wine suggestion for each course..
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Service Timeline
A backwards plan from the minute your first course leaves the kitchen: crew arrival, prep, table setting, briefing, doors, courses, speeches, coffee and strike..
OpenFormats
Where this menu belongs
Format
Restaurant precision, private roomTasting Menu for Eight
Eight to nine courses, a brigade of three, wine paired by the glass.
Read on
Format
The kitchen is the stageChef’s Table at Home
One chef, up to ten guests, everything finished in front of you.
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Format
Discretion, timing, dietary certaintyCorporate Dinner
Twelve to forty guests, a purpose, a clock and a dietary list that must be right.
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Where it eats best
Market
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France gave the trade its vocabulary, and the Parisian traiteur still behaves like a restaurant that happens to travel.
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Market
Townhouses, mews kitchens and a trade that never sleepsLondon
No city hires out a kitchen brigade faster.
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Market
Six flights of stairs, one service lift and the best brigades in AmericaNew York
New York has the deepest American talent pool and the hardest buildings.
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Market
The best organised private dining market in AsiaSingapore
Singapore combines a serious chef scene, formal service and regulation that actually functions.
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