I add neither sugar nor milk in my coffee until I taste it. I prefer to taste the fresh brew before deciding how much sugar or milk I want to add into the coffee. I get puzzled looks every time I do that. For many, adding a certain amount of sugar or milk into the coffee is routine but I beg to differ. I taste all my food or drinks before deciding if I’d like to enhance the flavor with the help of seasonings. Well, I guess we are habitual beings and I’ve had that habit for a long time. From my observation, Malaysians are an impatient lot when it comes to food or drinks. The moment the piping hot soup is served, many of us are guilty in adding pepper or soy sauce nary a second thought… This may be a common sight in many restaurants in Malaysia, but I bet many foreigners are amused by our dining etiquette, or rather, lack of it. 
This brings us to my recent mini dining etiquette lesson at the Bon Appetit fine-dining training restaurant at KDU College, Penang. The dining etiquette lesson is part of the Executive Development Training (EDT) program which is a short program to give graduating students finishing touches before they venture into the working world. Fifteen graduating IT degree students attended the short albeit informational course. Table manners are vital as all of us want to leave favorable impression on our clients, colleagues or bosses. Table manners are also visible signals of the state of our manners and therefore essential for professional success.
I was taught not to make too much noise on the dining table, place my elbows on the table and chew with my mouth open as a kid. And I still diligently follow those rules. These are some common etiquette many Malaysians are familiar with. Enter the Western dining etiquette and many of us will be clueless and overwhelmed by the elaborate table setting, cutlery and stem wares, and not to mention the many unfamiliar customs and practices.
The mini dining etiquette lesson I attended was a good crash course for those who are unfamiliar with Western dining etiquette. Aptly themed ‘Dine with Confidence’, the lesson was easy to follow and the instructor, Mr. Prakash from the School of Hospitality, Tourism & Culinary Arts at KDU College, Penang is accommodating and has a good sense of humor. We began with an overview of dining etiquette and Mr. Prakash agreed that there were so many things to learn in a proper dining setting and the mini lesson was meant to provide a general understanding on how to behave or avoid making embarrassing mistakes when dining in a fine-dining restaurant. We had a good 2-hour lunch cum lesson at Bon Appetit. We had a hands-on experience as we were fed while we were following the lesson. It was a fun session and everyone was enjoying their meals, almost forgetting that we were in a lesson. Mr. Prakash was kind enough to answer all sorts of questions and shared some tips with all the diners. Good food, good company and nice ambiance…sound pretty much like the perfect meal, isn’t it?
