Restaurant timing

Last night was meant to be a pleasant meal out in our local fine dining restaurant - the wonderful Mercers - as a birthday dinner for our Sydney guests' son and a thank you to us from our friends. And it eventually was, but it was fraught with potential disaster - not on the part of Mercer's I hasten to say, but on our part. And it made me realise that our disaster of timing (which I shall explain) is what makes a place like Mercer's so impressive, because they took it all in their stride, with tact and good humour.

What happened? Well without going into the full story - missed plane, late substitute flight, delayed flight - the original booking of 7.30 got changed to 8.15 (just about alright) and eventually ended up as about 9.15. David and I arrived at the 8.15 appointed time, explained the extra delays (they knew about the missed plane), and agreed with our hostess to restrict ourselves to a main and a dessert and all would be well. And it certainly was. The food, was, as ever, exquisite, the service was so friendly, knowledgeable and efficient, that by the time we left we had caught up with other diners and were not actually the last to leave. So well done Mercer's. We love you.

But it did get me to thinking a little bit about meal times. If we had been in Spain, a 9.15 starting time would have been absolutely normal - even marginally early. In France we have found that people often do not dine out until around 8.00. We are often the first ones there at about 7.00. Ditto for Italy really. In America, on the other hand, they eat early, sometimes as early as 6.00 - or they have two sessions. And it is important for the restaurants is it not to know roughly when their customers are going to turn up? Particularly for fine dining. Because they presumably have a time at which their staff want to go home - or else it's overtime, and even more importantly sufficient time in which to prepare the dishes. I guess somewhere like Lygon Street with it's anytime dining and not many bookings operates differently.

And what about home dining? I really don't know much about dining times in Asia or Africa or the Americas come to that, but even between England and Australia there are differences. The big meal in England tended to be lunch - with a lighter dinner. Work and school often provided lunch in the form of a hot meal. Ditto for France. When I was staying there as a teenager, we had our biggest meal at lunchtime and in the evening it would have been just soup or something eggy. I don't know whether this is still what happens though. If you're a tourist you can eat either at lunchtime or in the evening, but it's usually cheaper to eat at lunchtime. And it is supposed to be better for us is it not? You really shouldn't go to bed having recently consumed a large meal. Here in Australia the big meal seems to be in the evening - and I think it must be something to do with no cooked school dinners. The children just have lunch boxes. They are not made to sit down and consume a hot meal. And this is certainly how we operate. Our big meal is in the evening. Lunch is just a brief break in the day. Though this summer I am trying to do more lunchtime entertaining. And there's always breakfast - if you're into breakfast that is.