Imagine your guests leaving your buffet dinner with great amusement. Wouldn’t it be great if they keep praising all your arrangements? How wonderful it would feel if they cannot forget how delicious, effortless, and fun everything was that night.
A combination of mind-blowing flavors with colorful platters and a subtle sweet at the end are all ingredients to a perfect buffet dinner. Whether you do it yourself or look for gourmet buffet catering, a lot of thoughtfulness and planning goes into creating a quality spread.
Here are some tips that can help you take your buffet from good to great and take all the applause from your guests.
- Look at the big picture
The buffet is often an assortment of dishes combining various flavors, textures, colors, and more. In such a setting, things can easily get scattered where your dishes taste or look drastically different, not giving a collective feel to the party.
One easy way to nail it is to go with a theme. You need not go overboard with it, like using the same taste in every dish. However, it will give a chance to connect all the platters on the table and make it all cohesive, a deliciously pleasant big picture.
- Plan and arrange things in advance
Doing slicing, carving, or dividing in front of your guests can be uneven and result in chaos. It can instantly ruin all your impressions and wash your efforts in vain. The only worse thing that can happen is to ask your diners to do this extra work while eating.
A better way is to plan and arrange all the things beforehand. For instance, slice the cake into thin slivers so that your guests can simply pick it from the platter and put it on their plates.
- Follow the one plate, one fork rule
Diners at any party or get-together are already worked up. They have to juggle their drink, food, and sparkling conversations. Also, in a buffet, they might not have enough flat space to keep their plates.
Making it more difficult for them by including multiple plates, bowls, etc does not make much sense. Even a knife could be tricky if it cannot put its plates flat down. The best is to keep it simple with a plate and a fork or at most a spoon if you are having an ice cream buffet.
- Avoid overloading it
Make sure that your spread is not too heavy for the diners. Lighter food is always more welcoming and engaging and people tend to appreciate and remember it for a longer time.
You can go with vegetable-forward fare that encourages guests for a second round. Choosing crisp and fresh meat options is also a great idea. A bunch of salad options is a perfect way to add colors and texture.
- Avoid sugar shock your guests
There is no better way to end the night other than a subtle sweetness that is also crowd-pleasing. Remember, not everyone loves sweets, but by keeping the sugar in check, you can have some delicious options to bring it all to halt.
For instance, if you are serving a cake, make sure it is not too sugary. Ditch the fussy toppings and sauces and choose an optional whipped cream dollop instead.
