6.1 The Basics of Different Drinks
When it comes to different drinks, various flavours will help to really bring out the best in the food within a restaurant. As the manager, it is always going to be your advantage to have a good understanding of drinks to then pass on this advice to the customers. By doing this, you are going to enhance their experience at the restaurant and they will also then think more favourably about the food since the taste will also be greatly improved.
6.2 Which Wine Works Best With Which Food?
The drink that is at the absolute heart of most restaurants is wine. The range of wine that is available is extensive, but luckily your restaurant will have a limited range that covers a variety of food due to the way in which certain wine works better with certain dishes. When dealing with this, it is best to work in conjunction with the head chef as they will also have a better understanding of the way in which certain wines manage to balance out dishes and bring out the flavours in a completely different way.
However, there are a number of general rules that can be applied to wine and how certain types work best with certain food, and being aware of those rules will certainly make life easier for you as the restaurant manager and being able to help the customers out with choosing their wine The main thing to remember is that this is not rocket science and you only need a limited amount of specialist knowledge.
For example:
1. They Could be of a Similar Flavour
There has to be some kind of match up with part of the dish that can work well with the wine in question. If a wine has a citrus tone to it, then it is often perfect with any dish that also has a slight
tangy taste to it.
2. Think About the Weight and Texture
There is more to wine than just the taste, as the weight and texture of it will also play a role in determining the food that it works best with. You have to remember that wine can either be light, medium, and full-bodied, so match it up with food that is the same.
3. Think About Pairing the Sweetness
It is important to take into account the sweetness of the food with the sweetness of the wine, so bthere should be a roughly equal amount of sugar in both. Some people are often mistaken in their belief that this would lead to things being overly sweet, but that is not the case as it is all aboutbalance and this works perfectly.
4. Salty Needs a Crisp Wine
Any dish that is generally salty needs a fine, crisp wine to balance it out or else one flavour will simply overpower the other. Yet again, this is all about balance.
5. Think About the Sauce
If the customer has ordered a dish that contains a sauce, then use that sauce as your base for working out the wine that best accompanies it. Once again, take into account the weight of the sauce, the sweetness and the basic flavours to help you to work out which one works best with it.
6. Use the Meat as a Base
If the customer has ordered a dish that does not contain a sauce, then you should always use the meat as your base with the wine. You need to use the same basic steps mentioned above when helping you to decide which one works best, but generally speaking red wine works best with most red meat and white wine works best with chicken and fish.
7. If Dealing with Spicy Food
If you are serving food that contains spice, then you need to take the spice into account when deciding on the wine that best accompanies it. The wine should complement the spice rather than adding a strong flavour on top of a dish that is already quite powerful. Generally speaking, a sweet wine will give the customer some kind of relief from the spice.
8. Be Careful of the Tannins
Remember that certain wines have more tannins in them and you have to be careful in then balancing that with the food, but they are wonderful wines to use when a dish contains fat. For example, a Cabernet Sauvignon is going to pretty much slice through that coating that tends to be left on the tongue by fat allowing the customer to fully enjoy the flavours.
9. Use the Colour of the Wine to Your Advantage
The colour of the wine can also be used as a guide to help with selecting which wine works best with
which food. Generally speaking, we are looking at a light wine for light food through to rich foods being accompanied by darker wines.
10. Think of the Acid Levels
The final point to take into consideration at this moment in time is the acid level that is in the wine when thinking about how to pair it up with food. Generally speaking, the acid level should either be the same or higher than what is in the dish although this does require some further knowledge of
the food that may be beyond some staff members. There are a number of things that have to be taken into consideration when you are dealing with wine and how it pairs up with certain dishes. However, getting this correct can have a major impact on how the customer enjoys the entire experience in the restaurant, so it is certainly in your best interests to get it correct and to study the concept of wine pairing.
6.3 Specific Wine Types with Specific Food
However, to further help with the understanding of wine and food, these are some tips on certain wine types and how they can be used to not only accompany certain food, but also bring out the best of the dish.
1. Sparkling Wine and Salty Food
In general, sparkling wine works very well with anything that is salty. They may be seen by many as being quite dry, but there is also often a slight hint of sweetness that then helps to balance out the salt that you would be experiencing.
2. Sauvignon Blanc with Tart and Tangy Dishes
Sauvignon Blanc has a real kind of zing to the taste, and that is why it is perfect for any dishes that have a tangy flavour or a tartness to them. You will find that one is unable to completely overpower the other, so you ultimately have a dish that becomes very well balanced.
3. Pinot Grigio and Fish
As most fish dishes are quite light in nature, it means that a light and refreshing wine such as a Pinot Grigio is going to be perfect. The wine is delicate just like seafood and if there is no Pinot Grigio on the menu, then consider a Chablis as it does the same thing.
4. Chardonnay for Heavier Fish Dishes
However, if a fish dish has a sauce, or it is generally heavier, then forget the Pinot Grigio and instead turn your attention to a Chardonnay. This wine is smoother and is not as light as the Pinot Grigio, so it can tackle the heavier dish with aplomb.
5. Riesling with Spicy Dishes
A white wine such as a Riesling, which is classed as being off-dry, works well with spicy dishes. It is often the perfect accompaniment with dishes from various parts of Asia as it prevents the spice from becoming too much in the mouth and makes it a far more enjoyable experience.
6. Asti for Fruit Desserts
If a customer has ordered a fruit dessert, then the perfect wine to accompany it will be a slightly sweet sparkling wine along the lines of an Asti from Italy. The slight bubbles and crispness of the wine adds something extra to the fruit leading to a dessert that will really blow their mind.
7. Rose can Cover a Range of Dishes
If there is some uncertainty as to the wine that should be used for a particular dish, then often a rose
wine is going to be your saviour. This wine will tend to be perfect with a wide range of main courses since it sits in the middle of the sliding scale of wines. It has flavour and a slight richness to it
without it being too much.
8. A Dry Rose with Cheese
The only time where it is slightly more specialised with a rose wine is when there is a cheese dish on
offer. With this, you are best to recommend a dry rose wine, as it has the fruitiness of the red wine and yet the acidity of the white. Pairing wine with cheese is an art form all on its own, so opting for a
dry rose is a pretty safe bet.
9. Pinot Noir for Dishes that are Earthy in Nature
If a dish has an abundance of earth flavours in it, for example anything with mushrooms as a base, then you should turn to a Pinot Noir to really help to bring the dish to life. They are, of course, a red wine although they are not as heavy as most of the others and yet they still have that depth of
flavour that works perfectly with dishes of this nature.
10. Use an Old World Wine with an Old World Dish
This sounds very basic, but it is actually a logical way of looking at wine and food. An Italian wine will tend to work best with Italian food while a French wine works best with French food. You must remember that both have been developed together, so try to stick with like for like to get the best out of both.
11. Malbec for Sweet and Spicy Sauces
If you have a sweet and spicy sauce that is dominating the dish, then a red wine such as a Malbec is going to be the answer to your prayers. Other options are a Shiraz or even a Cote-du-Rhone as the main thing is that they are quite powerful wines that can cope with powerful flavours in the food.
12. Zinfandel with Pate or Mousse
When a dish has pate or a mousse, then a rich Zinfandel is going to be a wonderful wine to really bring the entire dish to life. It is powerful and yet balanced enough to deal with the depth of flavour in a pate whereas lighter wines would do nothing.
13. Cabernet Sauvignon with Wonderful Red Meat
If the customer is having a gorgeous, juicy steak, then a Cabernet Sauvignon is going to be something that they will really enjoy. They are rich in tannins and those tannins will work through the fat in the steak, allowing you to really taste both the wine and the food together.
14. Syrah and Highly Seasoned Dishes
Finally, if the dish includes meat that is highly seasoned, then a wine such as a Syrah is theperfect choice as it tends to have slightly spicy undertones that helps to balance out the flavour of the food. This wine is rich and full-bodied, and that is what then works well with the seasoning.
There is a lot to take on board with choosing wine that goes best with certain dishes, but things can be summed up in the following points:
Match up the key flavours in both the food and the wine.
Match up heavy food with full bodied wine and vice versa.
Take into account the sweetness of both the food and the wine.
If salty, look for a crisp wine.
If there is a sauce, use that as your base flavour for comparing.
If no sauce, use the meat as your base.
Sweet wine gives relief from spice.
Tannins help with fat and bring out the flavour.
Colour of wine often links to the colour of the food.
Make sure the acid level of the wine either matches the food or is higher.
Sparkling wine goes with salty.
Sauvignon Blanc works well with tart tastes.
Pinot Grigio is perfect for light fish dishes and seafood.
Chardonnay is the best option for heavy fish dishes or those with a sauce.
Use a Riesling for spicy dishes.
A slightly sweet sparkling Asti is best with fruit desserts.
A rose wine can save the day as it works with most main courses.
Use a dry rose for cheese.
A Pinot Noir works well with mushroom dishes.
Match up old world wine with old world dishes.
Use a Malbec or Shiraz for rich, spicy dishes.
A heavy Zinfandel is perfect with pate or mousse.
Cabernet Sauvignon is your saviour with heavy red meat dishes.
A Syrah is perfect with those dishes that are highly seasoned.
By following these points, it should at least make life easier when it comes to selecting wines for customers. However, always play it safe and ask them if they have any personal preferences and we will cover this in the next section that focuses on giving actual wine recommendations.
6.4 Giving Wine Recommendations
You will often find that a number of customers will refer to your knowledge when it comes to ordering wine.
They will ask you to give your recommendations in accordance with what they have ordered with regards to their meals, and that is where all of the knowledge that we have provided above will come into play.
However, in order to provide your customers with the best possible experience there are several things that you can do to really wow them with your intricate knowledge of wine. The points we mentioned above are key, because even if you do not have as much knowledge as you may want to have, there is no doubt that the information mentioned here will give you a strong basis upon which to work from.
Clearly you can help yourself by asking the customers for their own ideas as to which kind of wine they would like. You will often discover that around the table there will be a variety of personal preferences, so you need to be able to recommend something that will fit with all tastes.
Look at the food, think about the information that they provide you with and then come to a conclusion. However, it is also very important that you tell the diners why you have opted for a particular wine as it may be the case that you have suggested something that they themselves would have never considered. By telling them the logic behind your reason, it will open up their minds to enjoying the wine even more.
6.5 Other Alcoholic Beverages
There is more to a restaurant than just having wine available as the bar will be fully stocked with a range of alcoholic beverages that are suitable for every individual preference. As a restaurant manager, you need to have a firm understanding of what is available at the bar including the range of beer that is available. The same can be said with whisky as people will tend to ask about the brand names and it is always advisable to have that information to hand in order to help them to make their decision as quickly as possible. If we now jump back slightly to the point about beer, then there are a few tips that will help you in talking to customers about the beer that works best with certain food.
6.6 Giving Beer Recommendations
The concept of beer being linked with certain food is something that is really gaining in popularity thanks to the range of beers available. It is easy to get into the actual ins and outs of different types of beer, but we should focus more on what they are capable of doing with food rather than specific brands.
1. A Sweet Dessert Needs a Sweet Beer
Generally speaking, if there is a sweet dessert, then you need a sweet beer to really compliment the
flavours and tastes.
2. A Robust Beer Works for Red Meat
If the main course is something such as a hearty steak, then a robust ale is going to make a difference to the meat in general. The heaviness of the beer goes with the dense flavours in the meat bringing it to life.
3. Irish Stout for Seafood and Oysters
If it is available, then recommend something along the lines of Irish stout whenever a diner has ordered oysters or most seafood dishes. However, do not include fish in this, as you need something different to compliment those flavours.
4. German Lager or Pilsner for Fish
When it comes to fish dishes, you are best to advise the diner to take a German lager or pilsner as it is light and there is a crispness to it that works brilliantly with the fish dish.
5. Strong Dark Lager for Pork
Stronger lagers work better with pork rather than any other kind of beer. There is still a bit of a crisp taste to them, but they balance the flavour of the pork very well indeed.
6. Lager is Refreshing for Spice
There is a reason why people love to drink lager with curry and that reason is simply because the lightness of the lager fits in perfectly with the spice in the dish. It cleanses the taste buds allowing
you to get the full experience of the spice, so always recommend light lagers with any Asian cuisine as it tends to work well.
7. The Flavour Should Match the Meal
Understanding the actual flavour of the beer is essential if you are to correctly match it with food. This works along the same lines as it does with wine, so you have to strike that balance to give the diners something to remember.
8. Lagers and Pilsners with Italian Dishes
Due to the common bases that form the core of Italian food, a lager or pilsner is the best option when it comes to beer. They cut through the sauce and cleanse the mouth allowing you to enjoy the food even more.
9. Dark Beer with Lamb
Because of the dense flavours in lamb, it needs a dark beer to really bring it to life. Lagers are going to be too light to make much of a dent on the flavour, so avoid them at all costs.
10. Lighter Beer with Chicken and Poultry
The flavours that come with chicken and poultry in general are rather subtle, so it is easy for them to
then be overpowered if you recommend a rich, full beer. This means that you should look at light lagers or even a pale ale to bring the best out of chicken. There are a number of different things that you should take into consideration when trying to matchbeer with food and it is certainly more of an involved science than you may have previously realised.
However, the key points to keep in mind are as follows:
Sweet will often go with sweet.
Red meat needs a full beer.
Stout works perfectly with seafood.
German lagers work perfectly with fish.
Strong and dark beer is required for pork.
Lager brings spice to life.
Chicken needs lager or pale ale.
A dark beer is best for lamb.
Always have lager or pilsner with Italian dishes.
Try to match flavour with flavour.
Finally, when it comes to alcoholic drinks. If the restaurant also offers any cocktails, it is important that you also understand what is contained within them rather than just allowing the customer to work it out for themselves.
6.7 Drinks Other Than Alcohol
If we now turn our attention to drinks other than alcohol. Whenever you are serving tea or coffee, it is important that you mention the variety of options that are available. If you have a range of different types of tea, then tell the diners as people can be very particular with the type of tea that they enjoy. It also lets them see that you are catering for various preferences which reflects well on the restaurant as a whole. You have to remember that different tea can have a range of tastes with some containing more of a citrus flavour while others can have almost a slight peppery taste. Spend some time looking at the range of tea that is available from your restaurant and get to understand the differences so you can then advise the customers. The same can be said for coffee. You must be prepared to explain the range of coffee that you have and it will be to your advantage if you know where in the world the coffee beans come from. Coffee can have various tastes, so understanding if it is sweet, or if there is a sharpness to it will help the diner to determine if they do indeed want it. Of course, you also have to understand how the different types of coffee are made, so you are not left feeling confused when somebody asks for a Mocha, Latte, or Americano. With coffee, you should also be aware of asking the customer if they want any flavour shots as it is often the case that people enjoy the likes of hazelnut or caramel in their coffee. This does of course mean that you need to have a wider knowledge of coffee in general, but it will often be the case that the customer takes the lead as they already know what they like and they will help you out. Be in a position to advise them on what is available rather than leaving it to them to ask you.
Soft Drinks
When it comes to serving soft drinks, you should ensure that you check if they want ice with it and, depending on the drink, a slice of lemon. The range of soft drinks that are available will of course vary from restaurant to restaurant, but you have to be fully aware of every single type that is available.
It will also be in your best interest to know soft drinks that are more suitable for children, as this adds an extra bit of customer service to families who want to know that their children are also being catered for. It is also important that you inform them of any deals linked to soft drinks as some places do include the option of free refills, but people will not be aware of this unless you tell them. The final thing that we should say about drinks in general is making sure that you ask the customers when they want them brought to their table. This is important as some may wish them immediately while others prefer to have their drinks brought with the meal, but giving them the opportunity to tell you is essential. This approach fits in with the general idea of providing the best possible customer service, so never just assume that you know when they want their refreshments or you could inadvertently upset your customers.
FACT
73% of hospitality operators see soft drinks as a growth area (Dec 2015)
bighospitality.co.uk
Summary of Module
Throughout this module, the aim has been to show how different drinks can work with different food and having an understanding of this will make a real difference to the experience that the customers will have in the restaurant. You have seen how it is not only wine, but also beer that can be paired with food and of course you cannot forget the importance of tea and coffee especially at the end of the meal. Drinks can bring things to life, so study them as part of your role as a restaurant manager.
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Class Sessions
1- Introduction to Front-of-House Hospitality
2- The Role of Restaurant Manager
3- Types of Dining Establishments, Restaurant Layouts, and Decor
4- Customer Service
5- Dealing with Customer Complaints
6- Know Your Drinks
7- Know Your Food
8- Restaurant Licensing Laws
9- Building Guest Services Around Excellence
10- A Restaurant System of Checklists
11- The Importance of Teamwork
12- Health and Safety Laws
13- Health, Safety and Restaurant Management
14- Dealing with Inspections
15- Digital Technology and Restaurant POS Systems
16- Dealing With Staff
17- Planning and Pricing a Menu
18- Restaurant Operations
19- Restaurant Entertainment and Music Licensing
20- Upselling Strategies
21- Restaurant Branding, Marketing, Promotions and Decor