prapering the menu and leaning the menu is one of most important target o get mor guests to your restaurant.
[Music] preparing the menu one of the most important tasks that you will undertake as a service professional is the delivery and recommendation of the menu the guests have come to your dining area to experience the Delights that the kitchen team can produce this all starts with the menu menus are a description of the food wine and experience that guests will enjoy in your dining area whether the menu at your establishment is a one-page menu a booklet or even a Blackboard menu they serve the same purpose to get the guests excited about the dishes on offer and let them know what’s available in this lesson we’ll take a look at the following points in preparing the menus cleanliness Supply and additional reading material let’s start with cleanliness [Music] always prepare menus before service begins so that they’re ready when your guests arrive clean the menus make sure that they are neat and up to date and that they are neatly displayed check each page to make sure there are no stains on the menu now let’s move on to supply ensure that you have enough menus to give each guest if you have a large group of guests arriving at the same time and you are not prepared you will only be able to give menus to some of your guests and the others will feel left out lastly let’s finish off with additional reading material if your establishment has any promotional material or information sheets make sure that you know what they are about and that you have found out the best way to deliver this information also ensure that they are clean neatly displayed and that there are enough if you have prepared correctly once the guest arrives you are in a position to present their menus to the guest with confidence so to recap preparing your menus involves cleanliness Supply and additional reading material well done learning the menu as servers we are guides for our guests in their dining experience while guests are at your dining venue you are their expert guide it is up to you to guide them through the delicious dishes on the menu to recommend special beverages wines and Cocktails also it is vital that you understand how the dining experience will unfold in terms of timings and the Order of events thistle starts with preparing your menu knowledge learning the dishes on your menu is a lot easier if you break the dishes up into groups and ingredients the dishes on the menu can be broken down into three steps step one the course the dish forms part of step two the main ingredient and step three the accompaniments such as starch vegetables and sauce let’s start with the courses [Music] step involves breaking up our menu into courses you’ll remember from level 1 that there are multiple courses the main courses being starters entrees or the fish courses main courses and desserts now instead of having to remember 20 or more dishes in a row you can simply remember how many each of these dishes you have for instance five starters three entrees eight main courses and four desserts next let’s take a look at step two the main ingredient and its cooking method [Music] The Next Step involves taking each of the dishes on your menu and highlighting the main ingredient of each dish the main ingredient is often the first ingredient that is mentioned in the menu description for instance take the dish grilled beef fillet with roasted Vine Tomatoes Butternut mash and a red wine juice it is built around the main ingredient beef fillet now note whether the main ingredient is meat such as beef game lamb and pork poultry such as chicken turkey duck and quail fish or a vegetarian dish containing no meat also make a note of how the main ingredient was cooked the cooking method has a big effect on the overall flavor of the dish for instance if a piece of fish is steamed it will have a certain flavor and texture but if it was deep fried it will have a very different texture and flavor this is why it is so important to make note of the cooking method of each main ingredient so with audish we know the main ingredient was beef fillet and the cooking method was grilling let’s finish off with step three the accompaniments [Music] now we know which dishes fall into each of the courses and we also know what the main ingredient is for each dish and how it is cooked so now we need to learn the rest of the dish what you will find is as a general rule starters entrees and main courses contain the following a main ingredient which we already know a starch such as potato rice or pasta a vegetable and a sauce so now you can break up each dish into those four sections that way when we are trying to remember a certain dish on the menu we can say what is the main ingredient and how is it cooked what is the starch and how was it cooked what is the vegetable and how is it cooked what is the source and how is it prepared the whole dish when you can answer these questions you will be able to use all of this information to describe dishes in detail for your guests for example Mr Jones may I recommend the grilled beef fillet with roasted Vine Tomatoes Butternut mash and a red wine juice in this simple description you have mentioned the main ingredient be fillet and how it was cooked grilled the starch butternut and how it was prepared mashed the vegetable Vine tomatoes and how it was prepared roasted the sauce red wine and how it was prepared made into a Jew you will find that some dishes do not have all of these parts for instance some will not have a source or some will have a starch but no vegetables every dish is made up in its own unique way and it is up to your kitchen team to decide how to compile each dish simply ignore the part that is missing for that particular dish and only remember the parts that are on the plate now that you have all the menu knowledge you are able to tailor your recommendations and answer questions about the food tailoring the menu recommendation means making recommendations to your guest that you know best suit what they like and enjoy so that your recommendations fit the guest perfectly for instance if you know a guest doesn’t eat meat you would suggest a vegetarian dish not a steak but to do this you need to know the dishes to recap this lesson the dishes on the menu can be broken down into three steps the course the dish forms part of the main ingredient and the accompaniments or side dishes such as starch vegetables and sauce good luck learning the menu at your establishment foreign [Music]