Dining Experience In Western Cuisine Restaurant

What do i learned from the Western Cookery subject so far, is Western cuisine, or alternatively European cuisine, is a generalized term collectively referring to the cuisines of Europe. Formal Western/European dinners are served in distinct courses. European presentation evolved from service à la française, or bringing multiple dishes to the table at once, table d'hote. 

As our assignment for this semester is we have to dine in a fine dining restaurant with title "Dining Experience In Western Cuisine Restaurant". As a culinary student it is crucial to learned how the kitchen operation and services that is provided in the fine dining restaurant. Starting how to greet the customer, how to serve them right, how to pour their drinks or how to promote the menu to the customer effectively. 

So, this time i got the chances to dine in a Fine Dining Restaurant which was operate by our senior for their subject International Cuisine at our College. It totally feel whole different situations and scenario from dine in the Mamak restaurant. The best part of dine in the fine dining restaurant is you don't have to move around so much just to get the right spoon and fork to eat. It has been prepared for us according to the dishes that will be served. You just haveto sit back and relax as the course will be served. 

The menu that i and my course mate will be served in the restaurant today is Table D'hote menu which is the menu that has been arrange properly for a fix price starting from the Appetizer, Soup, Main Course,  Desserts and the Beverages. So, below are the menu that i have been served.

Menu:

Appetizer

*Crostini toasted bread with vegetable and cheese topping.

Soup
*Creamized French Onion Soup With crispy chip potatoes

Main Course
*Pan-fried sea bass with crispy Parmesan potatoes, broccoli puree, fresh salad and 
creamy dill sauce.

Desserts
*Chocolate torte with fetch pop rocks and cream

Beverages:
*Apple juice, Sparkle, Coffee and Tea.

Recipes:

Appetizer

*Crostini toasted bread with vegetable and cheese topping.

Ingredients:

• French Loaf
• Red Bell Pepper
• Yellow Bell Pepper
• Green Bell Pepper
• Tomato Ketchup
• Pizza Seasoning
• Chopped Parsley
• Garlic Paste
• Salt To Taste
• Mozzarella Cubes
• Dry Oregano
• 1&1/2 tbsp Butter
• Olive OIl
• Pepper

Directions: 

1. Cut the French Loafs into thin Slices
2. Take Butter, Dry Oregano (Hand Crushed), Garlic Paste, fresh Parsley in a Bowl and mix well. Apply this Butter mixture evenly on the Loafs on both the sides.
3. On a baking tray wrapped in Aluminium Foil, Put these Bread Loafs and put it in the Oven (Bake this Slices at 180 Degree Celsius for 5 mins). Meanwhile, In a frying Pan put some Oilve Oil. Add Garlic Paste (1/4 Tsp), Bell Peppers, Fresh Parsley, Pizza Seasoning, Dry Oregano, Tomato Ketchup, Grated Black Pepper and fry them for a few minutes. Turn off the Flame. 
4. Let the Topping cool a little and salt to taste.
5. Take out the Bread Loafs from the oven. Top the Bread Slices with the Vegetables
6. Lastly top it up with Mozzarella cubes and sprinkle pizza seasoning on the cheese cubes. Put the Bread Slices back in oven for 5 - 6 Minutes and bake it till the cheese cubes belts. The Dish is ready to be Served hot.

Soup
*Creamized French Onion soup with crispy chip potatoes

Ingredients:

• unsalted butter
• olive oil
• onions
• beef broth
• dried thyme
• salt & pepper to taste
• French loaf

Directions:

1. Melt butter with olive oil in an 8 quart stock pot on medium heat. Add onions and continually stir until tender and translucent. Do not brown the onions.
2. Add beef broth, sherry and thyme. Season with salt and pepper, and simmer for 30 minutes.
3. Ladle soup into oven safe serving bowls and place one slice of bread on top of each (bread may be broken into pieces if you prefer).

Main Course
*Pan-fried sea bass with crispy Parmesan potatoes, broccoli puree, fresh salad and creamy dill sauce. 

Ingredients:

Grilled sea bass:

• Olive oil
• Butter
• Two 6- to 8-ounce fillets sea bass, skin on
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Fresh thyme

Crispy Parmesan Potatoes:

• Red potatoes
• Garlic powder
• Paprika
• Vegetable oil
• Margarine - grease 
• Salt & ground black pepper
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Broccoli puree:

• Broccoli
• Leek
• Butter
• Salt & freshly ground black pepper 
• Zest and lemon juice

Creamy Dill Sauce:

• Sour cream
• cream
• Soft goat cheese
• Fresh Dill
• Green onions
• Capers
• Lemon juice
• Salt & pepper

Directions:

1. To prepare the fish: Season the filets with salt and pepper. Heat the butter and oil in a skillet. Fry on both sides until golden and cooked through, about 4 minutes per side.
2. To make the broccoli puree: Bring a pot of water to a boil. Cut the florets off the broccoli stem in even sizes. Peel the stem and thinly slice. Slice the leek into rings and rinse well.
3. To prepare the parmesan potatoes: Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Grease a large baking tray with margarine. Pour in 1 teaspoon vegetable oil to coat the bottom. Place the potatoes cut-side down on sheets of paper towel to remove excess moisture (this helps them get crisp in the oven). Place potatoes in a bowl and drizzle with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil; toss well. Mix Parmesan cheese, salt, garlic powder, paprika and black pepper together in a bowl. Sprinkle over the potatoes; toss to coat. Arrange potatoes, cut-side down, onto the prepared baking tray. Roast potatoes in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Turn over and return to the oven until golden and crispy, about 15 to 20 more minutes.
4. To prepare the Sauce: In a blender pour sour cream, goat cheese, dill, onions, capers and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste; cove & refrigerate until ready to use. 

Desserts
*Chocolate torte with fetch pop rocks and cream

Ingredients:

Chocolate torte:

• 225g of 70% Amedei “chuao” chocolate, or dark cooking chocolate
• 225g of unsalted butter
• 340g of caster sugar
• 6 medium free-range eggs
• 1 drop of vanilla essence
• 160g of ground almonds
• 140g of white breadcrumbs

Biscuit base:

• 175g of digestive biscuits
• 85g of butter, melted
• 1 tbsp of cocoa powder
• Chocolate ganache
• 110g of 70% Amedei “chuao” chocolate, or dark cooking chocolate
• 125g of icing sugar
• 225ml of double cream

To plate

• 1 punnet of strawberry and watermelon, fresh, weighing 250g
• 1 piece of macaron
• 8 tbsp of cream

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 160˚C/gas mark 3 and line a 22cm spring-form cake tin.
2. tart with the cake by melting the chocolate over a bain-marie. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, beat in the eggs one at a time followed by the vanilla and whisk thoroughly until well combined. 
3. To make the biscuit base, blitz the biscuits and cocoa powder to a fine crumb. Pour over the butter and pulse until fully combined. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and spread until level. 
4. In a bowl, mix together the ground almonds, breadcrumbs and melted chocolate, add to the egg mixture and combine well. Pour the cake mix into the spring form tin and bake in the oven for 55 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
5. For the chocolate ganache, break up the chocolate and place into a large bowl. In a separate pan, bring the cream and icing sugar to the boil and then pour over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool.
6. Spread the ganache over the cooled chocolate torte using a hot palette knife to ensure it is distributed evenly. Slice up the torte and serve with some raspberries and cream.

At the end of the service, i really enjoyed the dish. It is a quiet a distinct dish. But unfortunately some of the dish are not able to reach the satisfactory of the customer taste. The service that the waiter are excellent and meets the customer satisfaction. Furthermore, there are a lot of things that we needs to learned before we are ready to send out to practical work. In other words, a  preparation for career path.