Up until the 19th century, the aristocracy around Europe were being served “à la Française”, which was very much like a buffet. A number of dishes was served at the same time on a table, and the guests would pick from them while standing.

Originally there was no particular order, but gradually dinners would follow a sequence that would begin with soups and fish, followed by roasted pieces, and ending with desserts. The aim was to impress by presenting as many dishes as possible, in the most artful way as possible.

However, more often than not the dishes were cold or would turn cold by the time guests would get to them. This was probably a rather uncritical detail in southern Europe, but probably more inconvenient in the dead of Russian winter.

That’s probably one of the reasons why in Russia dishes would rather be served individually to each guest seated around the table. But that’s not the only thing that would irk a Russian visitor.

The Russian playwright Denis Fonvizin wrote in a letter to his sister in 1778: “French cuisine is excellent, you have to do it justice, but service is detestable. […] I would often leave table still starving whenever I have dinner in town. I would sit in front of a dish I don’t like and wouldn’t eat from, and I’m too nearsighted to see what’s at the other end of the table. The Russian way of serving dishes around the table is more rational.”

Thirty-odd years later, Alexander Kurakin, the Russian ambassador to Napoleon’s court, famously introduced dinner in the style of the Russian aristocracy whereby seated guests would be served individually and in sequence, ideally by one waiter each and at the same time in a kind of choreography.

So the impressive part shifts from the dishes, their amount, quality, and presentation to the way they are being served. In other words, you could serve less but in a spectacular way, which keeps the guest happy. Waiters coming around to your table with an impressive roast piece on a trolley, and slicing smaller portions for you is something inherited in a straight line from ambassador Kurakin’s dinner parties. This is taught as “service au guéridon” (side table service) in catering schools today.

French restaurants gradually adopted the “service à la Russe”, mostly because it presented the great advantage of making the cooks job easier since it allowed them to prepare dishes in sequence instead of way in advance. And this change had a great impact on the logistics of catering and even home dining as we know it today.

Among other things, it led to the emergence of menus in restaurants, which was previously unnecessary since the contents of the menu were literally all right there on the table. And thanks to these menus, we know what people were eating in restaurants from the 19th century on, ranging from a 3-4 course menu to 10, 20, or 30-course banquet.

Sources:

The Dining Nobility: From the Burgundian Dukes to the Belgian Royalty, by Patrick Rambourg

À table… le menu!, by Patrick Rambourg

Letters from France, Denis Fonvizin

Tables d’Hier, Tables d’Ailleurs, by JL Flandrin

À table au XIXe siècle, collective.