What are the different types of services in gastronomy

Within the gastronomy we find different ways of serving or providing table service. Some of them are used in very formal places such as hotels or 5-star restaurants, others of informal or medium service. Although the service or way of serving that is most used globally is the «American service», it is always useful to know the different forms of «Service». 

American service or plating service. The main feature of this is that, both the food and the dishes leave the kitchen already prepared, individually and the waiters take them to the table. This is the most widely used service globally.

French service, in this type of service, the waiters bring the food sources (with all the dishes on the menu) to the table and the diners must serve themselves. The fountains are not supported by the tables, the waiters circulate diner by diner offering the food.

Russian service offers the dishes of food sequentially to customers. Food dishes are prepared in the kitchen by the chef and served on silver plates. The waiters must politely teach the dishes first to the diners and then place them on the table. This is a very formal and elegant service, not very used today.

English service, in these types of service, the waiters serve the food individually to each of the diners.  In this case, the food does not come directly prepared by the cooks, but the waiters themselves serve and plate one by one.

Gueridon service, a very exclusive table service, for hotels and some select restaurants.  A gueridon is used, which is a small table that helps the waiters/chefs to present and prepare the pre-plating meal. The particularity here is that this table is equipped with several elements to complete the cooking. The dishes must leave the kitchen half finished, the staff with the gueridon, are responsible for finishing cooking and preparing the food to be served freshly made to the table in front of the customers. This service is offered both with the appetizers, as well as with the main ones and/or desserts.