To think less of ....

[HappyAgainOneDay]

...a restaurant that does not provide a dessert fork with the dessert spoon for pudding / dessert / sweet? It doesn't matter what the pudding is; a fork ought to be there.

Just in case of what? What can happen with a creme brûlée that would need a fork to deal with?

Why not velcro the creme brulee to the table?

How do you manage to eat soup OP? That must make you feel terribly unbalanced?

I am well aware of what a pudding fork is, and use it for some puddings like cake or pie. But I don't get all snobby if one isn't offered!

Depends on where I was eating if I'd expect a dessert fork, generally though I wouldn't. I can however be pretentious and put them on the table if I'm entertaining but most people ignore them.

I've not been to a restaurant that does not have dessert forks as a standard place setting. Or come to that, a meal with friends at home, ours or theirs.
www.cutleryandcatering.co.uk/setttingthetable-g-16.html

I'd be surprised to see only a dessert spoon where a place has been set at the table.

You hold a soup bowl? Dear God.

If there's no fork to help eat pie for pudding, DH uses his left thumb against the side of the plate to push the spoon against

If someone gave me a dessert fork and then served me a lemon posset in a shot glass I'd think they were a clueless cunt.

I've never worked in a restaurant where the dessert cutlery we put down wasn't dictated by the way the dessert in question was presented.

How do you fit a pudding fork and spoon in a ramekin of creme brulee?

LineRunner You hold a soup bowl with one hand to tip it away from you while spooning with the other.

I would definitely expect a schmancey restaurant to provide dessert forks.

I've largely stopped using them as I've lost the knack but I still want to be given them - the restaurant should expect me to be 'upping my game' if it's fancy.

Yeah I was a bit taking the piss. Sorry.

I always though they were put there so people had the choice of fork or spoon and could use whichever they prefer. I tend to go for the fork for things like cheesecake and the spoon for something like chocolate mousse. Never had any problem just using one or the other really, most puddings are gooey/sticky enough to lift up with a fork or spoon with no additional prodding from another piece of cutlery.

Funny :o

OP I prefer to have a fork and spoon too. At school some of the staff expected us to eat all puddings with a fork and spoon even if it was yoghurt (although I did draw the line at that!).

I just find I can't eat 'apple crumble' or whatever it is without a fork to help and yes, I do judge restaurants who don't lay dessert forks as well as spoons - I do not want to use my fingers to shovel it onto my spoon

Thank you, Pigeon. You're right. I was taught at home but school drummed it in more securely.

TCF

To think less of .... Rob Brydon.

Like Whoknows I thought you have to pick one or the other - doesn't matter which - but you are not supposed to use both...

I'd only expect it in very upmarket English restaurants. Is it pretty upper class etiquette, the desert fork? The only people I've known to use forks for puddings are upper class. I'm not very up on all this though, so pardon my ignorance.

Very posh restaurants don't tend to lay any cutlery for pudding as what is needed would depend on what is ordered. A large dessert spoon isn't going to be appropriate for a pudding served in a narrow glass for example.

YANBU. And don't get me started on fish knives...

I'm with you op!

It's not right to not have a properly laid table in a restaurant!

Happy I have been known to mutter to DH about a lack of fork. Naturlly, my parents also know how to lay the table properly, DGrandpapa was a stickler for forks and DS1 (age 8) insists on it now too [that's my boy]

A restaurant wouldn't 'lay' the dessert cutlery though, not before it was ordered anyway.

They would bring the appropriate cutlery for the dessert ordered. So if someone ordered ice cream they would only provide a spoon as most people can manage to eat it without needing a fork!

Hands up...

Who on this thread OWNS desert forks?