他她話題:餐桌布置藝術最顯身份(完)

Today's show plates have a pattern on the front which must be aligned perfectly to the diner. On days when the aesthetic of the food requires plain ones, Defremont explains, they are set so that, should the diner decide to flip them over to read the manufacturer's name on the underside, they will be able to do so without the need for any troublesome rotation.

如今的裝飾盤前面都有花樣，它必須與用餐者完全保持在一線上。德弗雷蒙特解釋道，有時食物的美觀需要搭配花樣簡單的裝飾盤，它們這樣擺放的好處是：用餐者若想翻看盤子背面廠商的名字，可以直接翻看，而無需再麻煩地轉個查看。

Sessions followed on napkin folding and the selection of the correct glass for various kinds of wine. Every single element was entirely logical, and planned so the customer's experience should be seamlessly enjoyable. In fact, my abiding impression was of the incredible amount of work that goes into the setting that should never be noticed – a kind of antithesis of ostentation created with some of the most reassuringly expensive kit I've ever been allowed to handle.

培訓課接下來講授的是餐巾紙的疊法以及如何選擇品味各種葡萄酒的玻璃酒杯。每一個環節都完全條理分明，安排妥當，讓用餐者的體驗至始至終是一種享受。事實上，本人一貫的印象是：佈置餐桌所付出的N多努力可能永遠難以覺察——這種佈置並非出於賣弄，而是本人通過親身操弄那些最貴重餐具器皿後的真實感受。

As Ducasse represents the very highest level of three-star table art, there is an opposing doesn't have a name, but you'll sense its presence in restaurants that use plain white crockery and simple, even unmatched, cutlery. Probably the best example is St. John – no "art" to distract, no background music and staff in something more like chef whites than the starched outfits of traditional waiters. Simplicity usually extends to doing away with the side plate altogether and relying on the clean expanse of white tablecloth or paper slip on which to break the hand-made sourdough. Places such as Andrew Edmunds or Hereford Road have a similar, almost monastic, aesthetic which is intended to focus attention on the food while escaping any of the social pressures of formality.

杜卡斯代表的正是米其林三星級餐廳最高水準的餐桌布置藝術，另外還有另一種截然不同的餐桌布置哲學。它沒有具體名稱，但很多餐館裏可以感覺其存在——使用純白色餐用器皿與簡單、甚至不配套的餐具。最好的例子也許要數聖•約翰餐廳(St. John)了——沒有所謂的"藝術"去分散用餐者的注意力，也沒有背景音樂，員工穿的是廚師的白色工作服而非傳統服務員所穿的那種刻板工裝。更有甚者，簡約得乾脆把小寸盤悉數去掉，只留下平整的白桌布或紙卷，徑直在上面切手工酵母麪包。安德魯•埃德蒙茲(Andrew Edmunds)與禧福道(Hereford Road)等餐廳的審美情趣大同小異、幾乎堪比修道院，目的就是讓用餐者專注飯菜質量，同時可以避免正式社交場合之繁文縟節。

At both ends of the scale the table setting remains a social bellwether – cutlery and crockery are still about class. We either espouse the pretensions of our forebears in new and subtle ways, or knowingly subvert them to show how little we care for bourgeois values (while remaining resolutely bourgeois). In the end, both positions rely on a forensic reading of social convention. Betjeman would have approved.

不管是簡約型還是繁雜型，餐桌布置依然是社交中的重頭戲——餐具與器皿的放置仍攸關用餐者的身份地位。我們不是以全新微妙的方式奉行先祖們繁文縟節的那一套，就是有意顛覆之，表明對這套布爾喬亞的價值觀多麼不屑一顧（同時依然信守布爾喬亞式的生活）。不管怎樣，這兩種方式都取決於對社會傳統習俗的辯論式解讀。我想貝傑曼肯定也會贊成這麼做。