Happy Friday everyone :D In today's video I talk about a few dining mistakes you should avoid and some tips that might help you. I hope you guys had an amazing week and enjoy the video. Don't forget to like it and give it a thumbs up (it's free).
In an well organized restaurant(=where "professionals" are working and not "wanna-bes") you would never get the food for everyone of the party by bits...you ALWAYS will get every course - for all together - at the same time (there you can see if there are professionals working or not)..and I worked in "good" restaurants for years and it is simply a NOGO for a good restaurant to bring just one (or how many) the food and others of that party on that table have to wait PERIOD. And the knife is right and the fork is left..and if there is already a table-setting with multiple silverware for every course then you start from the outside to the inside..and the silverware for desserts/cheeseplate is usually on the frontside.. If you want that the plate should be taken then put the silverware - paralelle - in the middle of the plate.. And after finishing the Soup (usually you got an bottom plate + soup plate) put the spoon on the bottom-plate and don´t leave it in the soup-plate that´s also a Nogo(=bad manners)... And in fancy restaurants are usually cloth-napkins (artful folded) and those are never ever laid on the table..they are just on your lap..and if you have to stand up(e.g Restroom- visit) those where laid on the chair... after use (usually everytime before you drink to avoid fatty imprints on the glas) fold it with the used side within and lay it back on your lap.. That´s how it should be done..That are "good table manners"
Apart of the silverware and the left hand on the lap you also want to make sure never to put your elbows on the table or the forearms on the edge of the table. Even if officially the fork is held left etc. I believe that switching when required is no problem. I also want to clarify one very good item from fellow viewer Michael Grabner: indeed when you have finished your plate and you want it to be taken away by the waiter, put fork and knife neatly aligned next to each other horizontally on your plate. Mind you it will then even be picked up if there is food left on it. So if you want to keep the plate for now put them left and right, pointed towards the center or accross each other. Then the waiter will leave it alone. This is very convenient at a buffet. If you have multiple silverware (menue /à la carte) and something is unclear and there is a host, spy on what he does or for that matter, what anybody else does who does not appear confused. ;) Michael's point about the textile napkins is that you don't want to dump that napkin on the table with the stains visible to everybody because it is... uuh... gross. :) And this is obviously also applicable with tissue napkins. ;) There are also rules about how exactly the silverware is held in your hands but I will not elaborate on it now. Cheers!
No free bread? That must be a Munich or a Bavarian thing! In my area - north-western Germany - it's normal to be served a little basket of bread or baguette with some herbal butter or yoghurt or similar as a starter, and, of course, that's free.
That's not the case in the South. I lived in Baden-Württemberg for almost a decade, and I was quite shocked when I first went to an Italian restaurant and they didn't bring bruschetta like they do in Berlin usually after you placed your order.
I think this is due to reallly high touristic traffic to make a quick buck. i think it is very rude and unfair, because we germans, in a relatively rich country stoop so low to trick people for their money. If we go on holliday in a different country we hate all those traps that are laid for us, (like you get handed some fruit and if you take it and taste it, there will be 2 or 3 big dudes telling you to pay up or else, or they take your luggage and stuff before you can say a word and carry it to the hotel and then get all smug if you dont want to pay them) but those examples are set in countries that are pretty poor and it saddens me, that we are no better
Some extra things: There is a chance your waiter will not come to your table if you still are visibly reading a menu. So put it on the table. When you're finished eating (e.g. and still have something left on your plate), you can signal so by putting your eating utensils parallel horizontally on your plate. Servers taking away plates when someone at the table is still eating is considered rude. Also you have to ask for the bill specifically, otherwise they will just let you sit at the table (chatting, waiting, whatever you want to do). And you didn't go into tipping customs, but in Europe it's totally fine to not tip. If you do, it's usually a very small amount.
ahh yes I forgot those :D but those are very true. Didnt know about the finished placement of utensils until maybe .2 years ago... Very crazy. I have a whole video planned for tipping....It's a long one that goes into detail so I didn't want to talk about it too long/too much here
Yeah, that's another thing: To signal you're done eating, put the utensils next to each other on the plate. If you are not, just put them on the opposite sides, ready to be picked up. I don't know if there's a similar signal in USA but can imagine it feels weird to take the fork with your left to cut the food, then to the right to eat it, then to the left because you want a short break to drink or chat...
Every country in Europe is different when it comes to tipping. In France you usually don't tip, it's mostly considered rude to do so, whereas in Germany you round up and add a little on top.
MrAronymous, you are wrong when you say that it is okay to not give a tip in Europe. Like viomouse said it is different in every country. In Germany you should usually tip 5 to 10 % like Alyze09 said. And there are countries in Europe where you are definitely expected to tip more. In Italy they even have a special service fee on the bill but you should still tip a certain amount extra.
I have been to so many Turkish/Italian restaurants and never received free bread...I have received free bread with my meal BUT never by itself on the table... just for eating at the restaurant.
tidalwave76 yes thats what i mean,, i dont live in munich but thats how it is in my city. asking if they serve bread with it will normally get you a free basket
Yes... but that is not what I stated. I stated that i never had bread sitting on a table waiting for me for free without ordering a meal 🤷♀️It's hard to comprehend if you are not from the USA but I can go into a restaurant in the USA and order a coke and eat free bread....
For the non germans watching, you can ask a waiter or bartender (Wirtshaus) if there is a table for x ppl available, they will help you out. No big deal.
I learned something new about Americans today. I have some American acquaintances but never consciously observed this changing of fork and knife. Fun fact: I'm left-handed, and pretty hardcore (I even flipped my mouse pointers on the PC screen), but use fork in the left and and knife in the right hand like right-handed people. However, a few years ago, someone pointed out to me (I didn't realise myself) that I'm using them in a weird way. Instead of using the fork to fix the meat and using the knife to "saw" through it, I only did some rudimentary cuts with the knife and then used the fork to tear off pieces. I still need a conscious effort to do it the proper way, it's so unnatural to do the work with the non-dominant hand (and it's too late for me to switch the utensils from right to left).
I thought it was a thing in all western countries, and were I’m from it’s also just a normal thing, to wait for everyone to fill their plates, and sit at the table before anyone starts eating.
Kewonerdk I was taught to wait until everyone has food before beginning to eat. But I am noticing lately many eat soon as they have food. Seems people i’ve been around only wait if they pray before eating.
The Brezn in a tourist trap in Munich are gonna be charged, of course, but usually there will be a price tag on the Breznständer or somewhere. In a proper restaurant, if there is a bread basket on the table upon your arrival, this bread is free (or better, the costs are included in the price of your party's meal). Same for water: if it is on the table, it's included. Tap water is always free and you may just ask for it. But: unless your table is reserved, you may sit at your table in the restaurant however long you want - so, you might be so polite as to order at least the odd glass of mineral water, because they won't ask you to leave unless they're closing down.
I always noticed that US waiters tend to take away an empty plate immediately when a person has finished their meal (while the other is steal eating). That makes it a little ungemütlich. :) In Germany waiters leave all plates and cutlery on the table until the last person has finished, which I find nicer...
It's not "Reserviert bis XX", but "Reserviert ab XX". "Reserviert bix XX" would mean "Reserved until XX". But "Reserviert ab XX" means that the table is reserved from XX with open end.
The table manners part was flawless as far as I can tell. But it is important to understand that not every German has perfect table manners. Your observations will get you through a formal dinner. Like many others I can't confirm the bread-story. I never paid extra for bread, breadsticks, peanuts etc. on the table that I didn't order. It is common in every single Italian restaurant I've ever been to to have a bread basket with either garlic butter, some fancy cream/cream-cheese or lately olive oil and balsamic. It NEVER showed up on my bill. What I find quite different is the service in the US and Germany. Many Americans find the German way rude (at first?) while I personally don't like the American way. The waiter won't ask aver few minutes if everything is okay (We're German, we let you know if anything bothers us =;-)) ) or if you need something else. What Americans often describe as rude or unmotivated I call discrete, In Germany a good waiter shows up at your table if you make eye-contact or flag him down with a small hand gesture. He should not interrupt while you are reading the menue. Another differnce is that you have to order the cheque. This is part of "Gemütlichkeit" that you are not rushed to pay, but stay as long as you like. However it is polite for the guest to order a drink every now and then if he stays for a long time. Free water/ refill- discussion is a classic. The better the restaurant in Germany the less money they make of the meal. They earn with the wine or other drinks. I always find it amusing when Americans say on youtube how comparably cheap German restaurant are but that they don't serve free refils.... Tipping is another cultural thing: Waiters don't make a lot of money. But compared to the US they get a real salary. That's why tipping isn't such a big thing in Germany as in the US. I was raised to aim at a 10% tip. Mostly it is rounding up. 18€ are 20€ 19 the same (which is significantly less than 10%), But I have seen (and felt ashamed at) somebody who paid a 98€ bill with just 100€.
A normal portion of bread, the first one, is usually free in Köln and here almost every restaurant has a hostess. In Europe, in general, you don't normally order tap water in a restaurant. The "sitting with a stranger" is a German thing. For example, in Romania, if you are a couple you stay at a table for 2 people and so on, but if you stay at a bigger table and is a very appreciated restaurant, than maybe someone will ask you if they can stay with you, but if the restaurant has a hostess and she put you at a large table from the begining, nobody will disturb you to stay with you.
Well Hayley, the reason, why water is not free, is simple. They have the most profit with it ( percentage ). The prices for food and drinks are a mixed thing in restaurants. If they would sell you a Filet Steak for the real price, you would never order one. So they give you the steak for less money, but have a higher price on the water. Customer is ok with it and reastaurant also, tricky. Someone I know from a restaurent explained me that it is like this. Maybe it has changed now, but makes still sense for me.
If there's an obvious choice of tables, a polite hostess or waiter will suggest a table and ask if that's ok, at which point you can ask for a different table if there appears to be a free table you would prefer. If you're with a group of more than four people, you should ask a waiter where you can sit, unless there are obviously plenty of large tables available.
Praying at the table isn’t usual in a restaurant in Germany, but not completely out of the way at the family table at home. But as the society is getting more secular this is getting to be more uncommon nowadays.
Sitting with strangers is only common in cheaper places like Biergarten or fast-food places. If you go to a real restaurant, you will not have to share your table.
Another funny note: When you sit in a restaurant with a large party, people usually clink glasses with each other before they start drinking. Once, when I was in the US with a few coworkers, and we clinked glasses, people around us looked at us as if we were coming from Mars! :D Some people in Germany further have the custom to look into each others eyes when they clink glasses, for good luck! :D (They say it's bad luck not to!)
@@albrechtkusei5085 Just letting you know theres actually a meaning behind it. Back in the day it was done to mix up the drinks to make sure it's not poisoned. For example I offer you a drink we hit it as hard as you need to so some of it spills over into the other ones cup/glass w.e (glass for sure is a bad example since it tends to break, but you get the point. ;)
lol meine Freunde und ich schauen uns beim anstoßen auch immer in die Augen und wer es nicht tut hat "7 Jahre lang schlechten sex" :D Irgendwie machen das viele junge leute hier und ich habe keine Ahnung woher das kommt.
I would only clink glasses at celebrations (Sylvester or Birthdays) and only with glasses which have a stem, and you would hold the glass by the stem, because only then they ring, and then when drinking "auf dein Wohl" you would be looking at another
Have you ever been to a typical Franconian or Bavarian Wirtschaft? Because the portions there are so huge, you don't want to eat any bread before the meal, your waiting time is usually short, so why ruin your appetite and fill your stomach wirh cheap bread, and then have leave a part of the precious meal on the plate, because you're too full?
Yunz06 -- Du gehörst also auch zu den Vertretern, die sich über die Unpünktlichkeit der Deutsch Bahn aufregen. Ich stehe da vor einem Rätsel. Ich bin Deutscher und lebe seit fast 60 Jahren hier. Bis auf wenige Vorfälle, wo der Zug vielleicht mal fünf Minuten später kam oder ähnliches, kann ich mich über eine besondere Unpünktlichkeit der Bahn nicht beklagen. Ich frage mich, wo die Leute, die sich vielleicht zu Recht beschweren, wohnen oder leben und inwiefern es dort zu regelmäßigen oder ernst zu nehmenden Verspätungen kommt.
@@groppermilk Wo wohnst du? Region Berlin ist eine Verspätung der Regionalbahnen um 5 Minuten täglich zu erleben. Im Winter gern auch mal 20-30. ICE fahren 1h später, habe ich auch schon mehrmals erlebt. Die Verspätungen kommen duch "Verzögerungen im Betriebsablauf", oft wird ein S-Bahn Strang lahm gelegt durch Polizei- oder Rettungswageneinsätze, im Winter eingefrorene Weichen, kaputte Signale. Es ist einfach Alltag hier dass ein Drittel Verspätung hat, wenn man pendelt. Trotzdem (!) oder gerade weil ich dort aufgewachsen bin, finde ich Verspätungen nicht schlimm sondern eher amüsant und ein gutes Mittel, sich zusammen mit wildfremden Menschen über Bahngeschichten auszutauschen. Ein noch besseres Thema als das Wetter.
@@emmynoether9540 -- Ich bin in Hannover geboren und habe dort meine Kindheit verbracht. Regionalzüge (damals noch rote Triebwagen) und auch Fernzüge waren da kein Problem. Da meine Familie aus (damals noch) West-Berlin (Reinickendorf) stammt, bin ich teilweise auch dort aufgewachsen. Ich kann mich da wirklich an keine wesentlichen Verspätungen erinnern. Nur an der Zonengrenze und auf den Transitstrecken von und nach West-Berlin kam es immer wieder mal zu Verzögerungen. Nur war nicht klar, ob es sich dabei um technische Probleme etc. handelte oder ob von Seiten der DDR (zu Zeiten des kalten Krieges) absichtlich ein gewisser Schlendrian herrschen sollte. Mittlerweile lebe ich schon seit langem in München, und auch hier läuft alles wie am Schnürchen. Nur neulich gab es im Stadtverkehr (Bus/U-Bahn) aufgrund des heftigen Schneefalls in München Verspätungen. Aber in Bayern ist man auf sowas gut vorbereitet, und die Schneeräumdienste hatten bald alles wieder im Griff. Außerdem denke ich wie du: Ich finde es gar nicht so tragisch, wenn es mal nicht hundertprozentig klappt. Man hat etwas, worüber man sich gemeinsam (!) aufregen und auch darüber hinaus weiter unterhalten kann.
🇩🇪 So glad you are addressing table etiquette in Germany, my husband has to remind me to remove my elbows from the table!!! LOL 🤣 And the way he holds his fork and knife I jokingly tell him that he is wrong! 🙃
Some small points: a) Praying before eating depends on the group of people you're eating with (and the location). In my family, it is common practice to pray before a warm meal (usually lunch especially on sundays), and of course in religious communities they also might pray. But in more public or mixed group settings this is not usually the case, since more than a third of Germans are Atheists anyway (and you don't want to push your religion on other people) b) Knife and fork habits seem to be very much internalized. The first time, I had dinner with my boyfriend at home, I put the fork for him to the right and the knife to the left (since he's left handed), but he switched it back to the "normal" setting... And I almost forgot c) if you are not sure where to sit in a restaurant, you can still ask a waiter for help/advise. They will look for a table for you, even if they are not specifically there for this job.
On the "sitting with strangers" bit: Just to clear up, normally you won't sit with a stranger, don't worry. It's done in Biergärten where they have really long tables so it still feels like sitting separately. Otherwise it will only happen if the restaurant is extremely crowded. They (or you) should ask politely if they're allowed to sit with you and then you tell them it's alright. Like Hayley already said: You don't have to hold a conversation with them.
i have always felt that etiquette/table manners was introduced and used to make the guest feel comfortable and at ease, but there are people who do use it as a weapon of superiority and if those people are running a restaurant i will not be a customer or if i an invited to a home of those people--oh wait i will never be invited by those people since i will not attend, etiquette rules should never be elaborate and confusing--keep it simple for all and empathize to your guest
Sooo accurate :D All of these things occurred to me when I went to the states two years ago! I was so surprised by the free bread, the tipping and the free water PLUS free refills! And also how the server will sometimes say their name and that they will be the server for the evening:D That was so strange to me!
The common way is to hold the knife in the right and the fork in the left. But cutting with your weak hand is easy, I always do it, as I am left-handed. You do not precut your food, you cut something, maybe also use the knive to push some stuff on your fork (like rice or whatever might be difficult to pick up, it is quite common to use a fork similar to a spoon, not sure right now, how common that is in the US, it is uncommon in some countries) and then you eat it. Switching for every bite would be very inefficient and precutting makes the food look less attractive. One would use the fork in the right hand if only a fork is used, like for eating pasta (side remark: do not cut spaghetti).
Instead of just finding a table yourself you can also walk up to a waiter/waitress and ask for a table for the number of people you are with. Like when you're a group of four you can ask them for "ein Tisch für 4".
You won‘t get water out od the tub in a lot of places cause it‘s not always a good quality of water amd they can‘t risk that you might get sick because of it and they‘re responsible for it and might even get closed because of it, we‘re not mean or anything, just don‘t wanna risk that
awww Oh mein Gott I love you so much!! I‘m a Münchner There‘re so many true things you‘re mentioning in your videos. It doesn’t matter if it‘s about the US or Germany, you‘re so right. We need more people on earth with your ethical understanding.
Hey Hayley, thank you for this video! It nicely sums up all the most important parts of table manners in Germany. The general rule of thumb is: if it is convenient, it's probably not allowed. As a German or as someone who had a grandmother who valued table manners a lot, it would say the cutlery-thing is central because that is where you can recognise not only foreigners but also people of low social status. I am sorry to put it that way: but that is why would want to avoid that kind of behaviour. There is just one thing I would like to add: I am not sure whether this applies to all guests from the USA, but I recognised it while dining with Americans. You do not cut your whole meal into pieces so that you can just lay aside the knife. You actually mentioned that you keep your fork to the left and your knife to the right at all times. But I think one should emphasise that you are also supposed to cut your meal bit by bit while you are eating and not all at once. However, I would never mention this while eating with someone. It would be very rude to point out that someone doesn't know german table manners, especially when they are foreign and do it inadvertently. It is probably also interesting to know that there is nothing in the Knigge (the german book on how to behave by Knigge) regarding cutlery. This is because Knigge was well aware that table manners vary between countries and societies. Most of the Knigge is actually outdated today, i.e. the parts where he explains how much money you give to your wife so that she can run the household. Yet I would say that the central theme running through the Knigge is still valid today: you must not make someone uncomfortable or embarrass someone in your presence. Hence, you must not point out that someone doesn't know how to hold fork and knife. Of course, the rule that you must not make someone feel bad ceases to apply when someone attacks you or intentionally provokes you. In that case it is good manners to put such people "in their place" and tell them off for being an asshole. Please excuse my strong language, but that's how to read your Knigge and I don't like censorship.
In Germany we learn „Ellenbogen, Ellenbogen sei doch nicht so ungezogen. Auf dem Tisch darfst du nicht sein, alle Kinder essen fein.“ in Kindergarten. 😉
Its not allowed to serve ice in mineralwater unless you ask for it. Only if the ice is made out of mineralwater aswell and not normal "Kranwasser" but nobody does that. And where Im from you always get free bread in a restaurant.
To the tipping business... in Germany most give about 10% of what the price was so like 25 euro would be 2.5 euro tip but it's a little inconvenient so most make it 28 euro instead of 27.5 euro
Even in America, when you walk into a diner, I think it’s polite/common courtesy even if you are waiting for the host(ess) to seat you or inform you to sit anywhere you like. I think it also has to do with knowing they acknowledge a new customer arrived.
Here in my area in Northern Germany I have never had the bread-experience you are describing. Either you get free bread or you don't, but they never put anything on the table without you having ordered it and then make you pay for it if you touch it. I had to smile about your decription of the handling of the water jug. I had never noticed it, but it is totally true that we always look around if someone else might want some more water when we take some for ourselves. Lastly, for me and my family, I can say that keeping your hand in your lap is not frowned upon, because you might hide a gun down there (this is Germany, people are not allowed to carry guns in public), but rather, because it draws down your upper body so that it is a lot harder to sit with a straight posture. While the times where you had to sit at the table completely straight up are long past, it is still looked down if you look like a limp sack of rice or your shoulders are too far drawn down. Keeping a welcoming posture is simply easier if your hands are on the table.
I lived 5 years in Munich and always got tap water when i asked and never got charged for it. I think the important thing is that you have to be specific about it, if not they will bring you mineral water.
I live in Sweden and I eat and cut with the fork in left hand and knife in right hand. Almost everybody else seem to do the opposite though, so I usually choose a place on the left side of the table so that our arms won't tangle up while eating. :)
Me, as a German, totally agree with the Video. Exapt the Part of the Bread. Usually, when you order a Meal, and they offer you some Bread, its a free Appetizer. (Like you order for 15 € and they give you Bread first, that costs them a few Cents) Just in Case you are too hungry to wait for the real Meal. There might be a Difference to some Kind of a Bar, where you didnt order an "expensive Meal". In a Bar you might get some Nuts or small Stuff like thats (but its also for free, when you didnt ask for it). If they put big Beazels (not that tiny ones, which would be in the same Class as Nuts) you should ask for the Price. But I would be emberresed, if I get a Bill for something, that was offered to me, and I didnt ask for it. Anyway, a very funny Video, that shows me, what might be strange for Tourists, but is absolutely normal for me XD
Hi! As a german I like your videos ... du sprichst sehr gut Deutsch! 😊 And I know exactly how it feels like, because I was living in the states 1991 for one and a half years ... it is quite different, but you get used to it. I love listening to people who make similar experiences, and than you'll see, what we call in german: "Alle kochen nur mit Wasser!", which means "Nobody's perfect." 😉
Regarding bread: I worked in both hotels and a restaurant for some time, and we always served (free) bread right after the guests made their order, mostly even prior to this There are always a few little baskets available for the waiters to head to the guests with bread to get the order(s)
If someone puts bread on my table when I didn't asked for it, I would never pay for it. ABZOCKE! Du kannst doch einem Gast nicht etwas zu essen hinstellen und das später weiter verkaufen. Ekelhaft.
Ich glaube das ist eher eine Münchner Angewohnheit als eine bayrische. Ich komme aus Franken und hab es bisher noch nicht erlebt, dass Brot extra kostet.
Mein *appetizer* (so zu sagen) brot in Berlin, Frankfurt, Mannheim/Pfalz und so weiter... hat extra gekostet 🤷♀️Es kommt wirklich drauf an was und wo du isst. Wenn du ein salat, suppe, nudeln oder was bestimmtes bestellst denn naturlich kostet dein brot nicht extra.
rein rechtlich kann man auch nicht zur Kasse gebeten werden wenn kein Kaufvertrag zu Stande kam. Es muss KLAR sein, dass es was kostet oder nicht sonst darf der Kunde annehmen, dass es kostenlos ist.
For the tip you give around 10% on average, but you dont have to. many say they just go for the next "5€ mark" if i order food and have pay 12,50€, normaly i give 15€ instead of 13,75€
but what type of meal did you order? A lot of meals come with bread included so they bring you the bread after youve ordered your food... Then it is complimentary with the meal you ordered and brot gehort dazu... But in the USA you will usually go to a table, sit down and the people will bring you a bread basket, chips or crackers before you even give them your order or it will be at the table already waiting for you.
True about not just getting a breadbasket for sitting down and just ordering a coke, this will hardly ever happen in Germany. But once you have ordered your meal you usually get a basket of bread with some spreads or just butter in most places. At least most places I go to.Italiener or Griechen for example. Some Places call it Gruß aus der Küche or amuse-gueule. You are probably right that it is not as much a „rule“ as it seems to be in the states, but a free breadbasket is definitely not unheard of ;-) Your experience having to pay for a breadbasket sound appalling and on the other hand is something I never have heard of. One thing maybe worth mentioning is, that Germans usually tend to finish their meals at the restaurant, portion sizes are usually copeable. Doggy bags are pretty uncommon, but not unheard of. Most places will probably pack leftovers if you asked them. ( never tried myself though ) Just know that years ago a waiter probably would have frowned and looked upon you as if you had escaped an Institution, if you had asked.
Hey Jens :D Yeah that was the point I was trying to make but the Germans I guess don't get it because they haven't lived in the USA. Of course I have gotten free bread after I have ordered my soup, salad or pasta BUT never for just sitting at the table. In Munich they always pack my food :p because the portions there are ridiculous and huge. I have noticed that in other parts of Germany (even upper Austria) the portions are ALOT smaller but also a lot cheaper ;)
@@jensgehrke8975 so than its not free. You have to order a meal. I even got a bread basket in the US when I just sat down to tie my shoe (it was an outdoor restaurant).
great video - for once I read most of the comments. Most agree or go into more detail (I live in Hamburg - what you would call "free-bread" country). One point I did miss because even many Germans incl. not all restaurants are aware of this : place fork and knife on the same side of your plate and you indicate I am finished - even if the plate is not empty! Good service will ask if you want the plate removed. Place fork and knife on opposite sides of the plate and you are just pausing or need you hands for something else - like a really full mug or a hanky or a napkins. Lastly : doggy bags - taking leftovers home - though it is becoming more common these days, the better the restaurant the less likely it is that you will see this.
On the free bread that surprised me. Typically, you get free bread with spreads (butter, schmaltz, some home-made cream cheese) at more rustic places for free, and also Italian restaurants often serve free pizza rolls ahead of the meal. Sometimes, Greek or Turkish restaurants will often a free aperitive or a small Ouzo or Raki on the house. Maybe depends on the region?
Yes your right about the fork and the knife. In Germany you can get it very easy fork->gabel end with a l so left and knife -> messer ends with r so right.
2:30 "bis 20 Uhr" means "until 20:00". What you explained though was as if it said "Reserviert _ab_ 20 Uhr". 3:50 "you should look around and see who else doesn't have water and ask them if they want water" but only those which you can easily reach! you don't have to reach all over the table or even stand up and walk around (may even come across as weird to do so). 5:33 wow, i could have made the same mistake. i'm from Nordrhein-Westfalen, and usually if in a restaurant bread or something like that is already on the table without you ordering it, it's a free appetizer. (I have seen exceptions, rarely, but then there always were pricetags on or next to the thing) 6:50 you are right about the silverware. thanks i learned something new. did not know that in the US people switch it around. Wie umständlich! ;) 7:00 what is even worse than leaving a hand in your lap is putting an elbow, let alone both, on the table! also seems that whole hands thing, elbow thing included, isn't frowned upon much less today than it used to be.
Just look how the silverware is layed out on the table - use it exactly like that, when in a multi course dinner, from the outside to the inside, spoons for soup and dessert at the top.
Normally you will be asked for the water to be "still" (not carbonized) or some phrase for carbonized. Some might have 2 variants of carbonized ("medium" for the less strong carbonization(?) :-) ). However if the restaurant has a special thing about the water (2 (or 200) brands for example) you might need to be more specific.
LMAO, imagining how americans learn german based on your video, meeting a wonderful german tourist somewhere in Florida and call him "scheiß Ausländer" . Hayley, you made my day.
Whether sitting with strangers is normal or not depends on the area of Germany, you're in. In Bavaria it is quite common to sit with strangers, whereas in Württemberg if you come to a restaurant and every table is "occupied" by one person, you go away and say: "It's full."
yeah only cheap people do that. Still weird for me seeing so many people do this split bill thing for like 10 minutes. If you don't want to come off as "geizig" one should pay and the others will give the paying person their share after he or she paid.
Usually if you are in a bigger group the waiter will ask if it‘s together or separate and then it‘s down to their billing system. By law they are required to bill everything. So they might run a tab on a piece of paper and then put it in the till separately when people want to pay and bill according to who ate/ drank what. But some restaurants take orders, bill them together as a table automatically and might not be able to make their till seperate the orders. Of yours there are systems where you order together and then bill separately, which is often what you see in bars, but I have hardly seen it in restaurants.
German waiters as a whole are very good about splitting bills, even for large parties. In most other countries, especially in the US, waiters usually refuse to split the bill, leaving it to the party to divvy it up themselves.
A lot of restaurants serve free bread actually 😂 my parents own a restaurant and they serve free bread same for the restaurant of a family friend ... and usually when you order a salad you will get free bread with it ... I actually never had to pay for bread in germany and I‘ve lived here my hole life 🤔
You have to order a meal. Right? You don't just get it for ordering a coke. I even got a bread basket at a restaurant when I sat down to tie my shoe (it was an outdoor restaurant). Technically the restaurant would have to throw it away because it already touched the table, but a group asked for the bread. If this is true the bread isn't free.
As usual, nicely presented and mostly accurate! The bread thing really depends (where in Germany you are): Italian style resteraunts usually serve it for free. There is also a small difference you did not cover (but maybe that's more with the British people?): Spoons & soup: If you put a full spoon to your mouth, you can sip it (carefully) from the side of teh spoon (holding it like a transverse flute), or from the tip (with spoon pointing right to you).
The thing about praying is interesting, because my grandmother who was born, raised, and lived most of her life in germany, was also heavily christian. So she insisted that we pray before meals. To this day there are some things she did that i'm not sure if they were because of her being german or being religious.
7:27 I am german, and when I grew up we always prayed before our warm meals at home, when we were family only, but never did so when eating out in restaurants. Religion is considered to be private, so I think this is why you usually don't see it in germany as a tourist or as a foreign person in general.
Another point that I've noticed is that in US, the waiters will come and check in on your A LOT, sometimes overkill and after you are done they will bring you a check. In Germany, or Europe in general, they typically don't check in on you as much. You have to call them when you are need something or call them when you are ready to pay the check...I kind of love that you can eat and then enjoy chatting with your friends without being rushed to leave the table (unless obviously there is a reservation after you - as you sated)
I have a video coming up about this... It will go into detail about this topic.... It's a big cultural difference and there are a lot of good points from the USA and Germany... in regards to tipping and everything that involves tipping.
I'm a left handed German and I do it exactly your way..Always switching my hands, because it's more comfortable for me! Now I know that you do it that way too!! Great!!😅
the waiter will not bring you the check until you specifically ask for it, because asking for the check in germany is synonymous with wanting to leave. if you have eaten and just want to stay and talk without ordering anything else you can do that, you don't have to order or rush for the check. my fave thing and my most hated thing in usa when they rush you out while you're still chewing...
Yeah, that perfectly sums up the German dining manners. Well done, Hayley! 😊 I would love to have free bread in German restaurants but you’re right, they don’t give it for free very often unless you’re at a rather expensive restaurant. Which is a pity because I love some slices of fresh bread with garlic sauce or butter with herbs. But then again I tend to eat so much of the bread that I‘m not hungry anymore. So probably it‘s better to not start with the bread! 😅
Oh we are spirit animals. I could eat only bread and forget about the main dish :p I love bread and it's a bad obsession!! Thank you so much for watching :D
"they don’t give it for free very often unless you’re at a rather expensive restaurant." Total bullshit. Particulary in the cheap restaurants, i.e. Schweinske in Hamburg, at Greek, Italian, Yugoslawian and Turkish restaurants you always get some - often even freshly baked - bread or rolls with spicey butter, aioli or tzatziki. It's usually delivered while you study the menu.
Yeah, some people do pray before eating but only at home, not in public. I mean, you could pray in a restaurant I guess but you would get some strange looks for sure.
Praying before you eat just depends on your environment. When I was little we would all say a little non religious, verse, while holding hands, before our meals (eventough we are catholic). Many of my friends families did that too, either religious or not, but it was something only done at home. I went to a catholic kindergarten and school and we did prayers before our meals. There it was because of the catholic backround, but also to give a kind of regulation and community feeling we would wait until everyone had their food, then do a group prayer and then start eating. In other places you would do a non religious version, at least in my experience, but at least for me that was all only when I was a child:)
Many German people also switch their fork and knife. I’m doing it the exact same way as you and I’m German. I also don’t care if somebody’s keeping his hands on the table or not, I just do it because I’m used to it and I think it’s more comfortable. You’re right about the praying point, but that does depend on the religion of somebody, my grandparents f.ex. always pray before eating (they thank god for the food). At each German dinner party I’ve been to, nobody cared about the host to sit, it’s just rude to start eating when not all of the other people are sitting and having their food.
You should use an "Eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher" to prevent from the big mess with the egg shell. I don't like cutting my eggs, because you can get eggshell pieces in your boiled egg.
The fork goes to the left and the knife to the right. Fork/ Gabel ends with L for Left And knife/ Messer ends with R for right. Easy to remember when you speak german ;)
Usually, the portions in Bavarian "Wirtschaften" (restaurants) are BIG. Like you can get a "Wiener" Schnitzel that is hanging over the plate and a huge heap of fries or potatoe salad covering the rest of the plate. Or, you get 2-3 slices of "Braten" (roast) with "Kloß und Soß". That means, 1-2 big Klöße, and lots of sauce !. Along comes a mixed salad. After eating all this, you will be very full. And as an experienced guest in Bavaria, you know that, and don't fill the precious space in your stomach with bread. You want to have enough space for the really good things, and perhaps a little dessert afterwards! So you typically get no free bread, but huge portions in the average restaurants, and smaller portions but free bread in the classier restaurants. --Nothing is for free in business....you just have to keep your eyes open and not be blinded by "freebies".
Ich habe fast mein Getränk ausgespuckt ( vor Lachen), als Du sagtest " Don`t eat the bread, it`s not free!" Ich musste sofort denken: " Oh my god, i can`t eat anything, because they charge me for that." Nicht bös` gemeint.
But usually, at leastr in my region, we also usually talk to a waitress and ask for a table, before we search ourselves :) Except fastfood "restaurants" of course.
I switch cutlery for convenience sake, because nobody ever told me not to (my family isn't really that much into table manners, I guess.... :) ) but I'm aware it's not what people normally do in Germany... :)
My husband and I have stopped going out to dinner in Munich because we would end up eating alone, essentially! Servers in Munich NEVER get the food out at the same time. So annoying.
My mom always taught us that eating with your fork in your left hand is impolite! So we cut and then switch hands. I'm French-Canadian and we all do this. I'm finding it hard to change my method now that I live in Germany.
I'm a German and I mostly eat with one hand (my right hand), except when I have to cut something, then I switch the fork to my left hand and take the knife in the right hand. Nobody ever complains, because nobody cares.
I am German and right handed but I have always used my cutlery like a lefty: fork in right hand and knife in the left hand. Nobody in my family eats this way or knows where it came from. It's just how is convenient for me. I am very clumsy the other way around. :D
The bread thing is maybe special for beer gardens? I was never in a restaurant that had bread on the table for which you have to pay. Yes, the brezels at the bar. You have to pay for them. I switch also knife and fork. It is okay eating with the fork in the left when I can stick the food on it. But I can't balance food on the fork with the left hand. Ok, I can but I have to concentrate on this. So it isn't a relaxed meal. I guess my family started to late to introduce me to this. Billiards I play left handed, although I am right handed. Holding the queue like a right handed feels strange as holding the fork with the left hand. I have no clue what this means. I am just weird.
In my family we use to pray before eating just at home if we eat out we don't, if we have guests we may skip the prayer if this guests are not used to it or if we don't know if they are (because we think it would be rude to press our religion to others). When i was younger i was eating out in a fast food restaurant (Burger King) with some other peoples and we did pray and sang a gospel song before eating, the people around was a little confused about that. You can do a prayer before eating but people will look at you because religion is something very private to us, we are not used to pray outside our home unless we are in a religious service. If you are not sure if you have to look for a place in restaurant yourself, if you sit at the outside tables you have to look yourself, if you eat inside in most of the restaurants where they give you the place there is a information sign near to the door which reads "Sie werden platziert." but is common that the waiter is very quickly to welcome you so you really rarely notice this sign (in my town there is a very nice Chinese restaurant i visit since 9 years now and i noticed this sign just late last year but it was always there). In nice restaurants especially with Greek or Italian or Chinese cuisine it is very likely the waiter brings you a little aperitif this is free, they want to make sure you enjoy your evening if they really like you much and you are very enjoyable guests it is possibly not the last one (especially in Greek restaurants if you enjoy a Greek BBQ plate it is possible the waiter or the restaurants owner him self will bring you one ouzo more they are very hospitable).
with the bread stuff , in every restaurant i have been, they NEVER brought us bread on the table that costed extra. eventually they ask you if you want bread or not. AND, when you eat at a turkish restaurant, the bread is included in the menu, no extra charge. maybe in your case it is a Munchen thing
That fork thing applies in Finland as well. I'm right handed but I tend to do some things "the wrong way". As a kid I always wanted to cut with my left hand and use the fork in my right hand but my mom always told me to switch. I had trouble eating that way at first but eventually I learned.... nowadays I sometimes eat the wrong way just to show my mom that she didn't manage to convert me xD
I've never told the waiter how much I want to tip verbally, only by typing it into the card reader. Usually if you pay cash (I'm not German but that is how things have been done whenever I traveled in Europe), you get the full change back, take what you want from that and what you leave is the tip.
Where I work we have lunch from the kitchenet we have at work, we buy Essenmarke 4 Euro and with it we eat a salad what ever you want to eat and also the main dish and time to time also a desert. I have noticed even Germans to switch fork and knife when ever it is convenient for them.
In some of the more expensive restaurants I know you get always an „free“ amuse guelle (Amuse-bouche/Gruß aus der Küche) consisting of bread 🍞 and depending on the restaurant a high-quality olive oil 🍈 and salt 🧂 or a variety of spreads. But probably it‘s not free, because you have to pay for your order anyway and which is of course a little bit more expensive than in let‘s say a traditional German restaurant which serves Hausmannskost 🍖🍳🥔😊.
Maybe the bread thing is a Munich thing? I'm from Baden-Württemberg and I NEVER had to pay for bread. Sometimes at Italian restaurants you even get bread with oil to dip in and some olives for free as a starter.
Just for the bread. Don't know where you have been, but it is usually free if they serve a basket. Different thing with brezelsbin a beer garden. Sorry it is that complicated. We Germans also do not really know, if a bread or creme or some nuts that are served will be free or charged...
also, if youre finished eating.. dont throw the crumbled napkin into the leftovers on the plate, especially not with cloth napkins (seen that a million times in the US) .. thats considered really bad style here in Deutschland.. just fold it and place it in between the plate and the cutlery...
In Germathere is no rule in which hand you take your forke and knife. It's just depending if you are left or right handed. Knife will be used with the hand you sre normally writing.
I was always told NOT to tip in Germany at all. I tried to when I first got there and got snapped at by a waiter and a waitress. Both said some version of "I get paid a living wage" and took it as an insult. The only time I'll make an effort to tip is if I know the waiter is Russian or Turkish (most common immigrants in the Mosel region) and I know they won't be offended.
About the free water and free bread and free everything. If the staff gives you something without really asking if you want it (like water with espresso or bread with salad or noodles) it's free. They may ask you first and then you can ask how much it would cost and they may say how much however I have never been in a restaurant where they offer you bread and then they tell you it's not free. Usually if you go to an Italian restaurant in Germany they give you free bread to salad or noodle dishes and they may even give you some bruscetta before the actual meal. If you go to a German restaurant the bread is not really free (if they have some at all) but we are very proud about our bread. But you wouldn't order bread with nothing. You might order bread with Mettwurst or butter or something else.
Happy Friday everyone :D
In today's video I talk about a few dining mistakes you should avoid and some tips that might help you. I hope you guys had an amazing week and enjoy the video. Don't forget to like it and give it a thumbs up (it's free).
In an well organized restaurant(=where "professionals" are working and not "wanna-bes") you would never get the food for everyone of the party by bits...you ALWAYS will get every course - for all together - at the same time (there you can see if there are professionals working or not)..and I worked in "good" restaurants for years and it is simply a NOGO for a good restaurant to bring just one (or how many) the food and others of that party on that table have to wait PERIOD.
And the knife is right and the fork is left..and if there is already a table-setting with multiple silverware for every course then you start from the outside to the inside..and the silverware for desserts/cheeseplate is usually on the frontside..
If you want that the plate should be taken then put the silverware - paralelle - in the middle of the plate..
And after finishing the Soup (usually you got an bottom plate + soup plate) put the spoon on the bottom-plate and don´t leave it in the soup-plate that´s also a Nogo(=bad manners)...
And in fancy restaurants are usually cloth-napkins (artful folded) and those are never ever laid on the table..they are just on your lap..and if you have to stand up(e.g Restroom- visit) those where laid on the chair...
after use (usually everytime before you drink to avoid fatty imprints on the glas) fold it with the used side within and lay it back on your lap..
That´s how it should be done..That are "good table manners"
@@michaelgrabner8977 I hope I'll never eat at a restaurant where the food is a curse.
@@imrehundertwasser7094 Ha,Ha...I wouldn´t too..although I´m not superstitious in any way...."course" of course I will fix this..
... free maybe, but not carbonized.
Apart of the silverware and the left hand on the lap you also want to make sure never to put your elbows on the table or the forearms on the edge of the table.
Even if officially the fork is held left etc. I believe that switching when required is no problem.
I also want to clarify one very good item from fellow viewer Michael Grabner:
indeed when you have finished your plate and you want it to be taken away by the waiter, put fork and knife neatly aligned next to each other horizontally on your plate. Mind you it will then even be picked up if there is food left on it. So if you want to keep the plate for now put them left and right, pointed towards the center or accross each other. Then the waiter will leave it alone. This is very convenient at a buffet.
If you have multiple silverware (menue /à la carte) and something is unclear and there is a host, spy on what he does or for that matter, what anybody else does who does not appear confused. ;)
Michael's point about the textile napkins is that you don't want to dump that napkin on the table with the stains visible to everybody because it is... uuh... gross. :) And this is obviously also applicable with tissue napkins. ;)
There are also rules about how exactly the silverware is held in your hands but I will not elaborate on it now.
Cheers!
Why should we pray befor we eat? We know how to cook! :-)
Anyway u have to pay for the eat :)
😂
🤣
😂😂
Hahaha
No free bread? That must be a Munich or a Bavarian thing! In my area - north-western Germany - it's normal to be served a little basket of bread or baguette with some herbal butter or yoghurt or similar as a starter, and, of course, that's free.
also never heard of paying for bread in a restaurant. @ >Frankfurt
Same in Berlin.
In Rheinland-Pfalz ist das Brot auf dem Tisch in einem Restaurant auch kostenlos.
That's not the case in the South. I lived in Baden-Württemberg for almost a decade, and I was quite shocked when I first went to an Italian restaurant and they didn't bring bruschetta like they do in Berlin usually after you placed your order.
I think this is due to reallly high touristic traffic to make a quick buck. i think it is very rude and unfair, because we germans, in a relatively rich country stoop so low to trick people for their money. If we go on holliday in a different country we hate all those traps that are laid for us, (like you get handed some fruit and if you take it and taste it, there will be 2 or 3 big dudes telling you to pay up or else, or they take your luggage and stuff before you can say a word and carry it to the hotel and then get all smug if you dont want to pay them) but those examples are set in countries that are pretty poor and it saddens me, that we are no better
Some extra things: There is a chance your waiter will not come to your table if you still are visibly reading a menu. So put it on the table.
When you're finished eating (e.g. and still have something left on your plate), you can signal so by putting your eating utensils parallel horizontally on your plate. Servers taking away plates when someone at the table is still eating is considered rude. Also you have to ask for the bill specifically, otherwise they will just let you sit at the table (chatting, waiting, whatever you want to do). And you didn't go into tipping customs, but in Europe it's totally fine to not tip. If you do, it's usually a very small amount.
ahh yes I forgot those :D but those are very true. Didnt know about the finished placement of utensils until maybe .2 years ago... Very crazy. I have a whole video planned for tipping....It's a long one that goes into detail so I didn't want to talk about it too long/too much here
No, not tipping is definately not ok unless you were dissatisfied with the service. But it's usually 5 to 10 % compared to 15 to 20 % in the US
Yeah, that's another thing: To signal you're done eating, put the utensils next to each other on the plate. If you are not, just put them on the opposite sides, ready to be picked up. I don't know if there's a similar signal in USA but can imagine it feels weird to take the fork with your left to cut the food, then to the right to eat it, then to the left because you want a short break to drink or chat...
Every country in Europe is different when it comes to tipping. In France you usually don't tip, it's mostly considered rude to do so, whereas in Germany you round up and add a little on top.
MrAronymous, you are wrong when you say that it is okay to not give a tip in Europe. Like viomouse said it is different in every country.
In Germany you should usually tip 5 to 10 % like Alyze09 said. And there are countries in Europe where you are definitely expected to tip more. In Italy they even have a special service fee on the bill but you should still tip a certain amount extra.
free bread is offered especially at italian and turkish restaurants, and the german fancy ones
I have been to so many Turkish/Italian restaurants and never received free bread...I have received free bread with my meal BUT never by itself on the table... just for eating at the restaurant.
Hayley Alexis you normally have to ask for it and theyll give you a basket of bread immediately, they even refill it if requested
In regards of the bread this seems to be a Munich thing. When a restaurant serves bread as an appetizer this usually free of charge.
tidalwave76 yes thats what i mean,, i dont live in munich but thats how it is in my city. asking if they serve bread with it will normally get you a free basket
Yes... but that is not what I stated. I stated that i never had bread sitting on a table waiting for me for free without ordering a meal 🤷♀️It's hard to comprehend if you are not from the USA but I can go into a restaurant in the USA and order a coke and eat free bread....
For the non germans watching, you can ask a waiter or bartender (Wirtshaus) if there is a table for x ppl available, they will help you out. No big deal.
The knife and fork stuff applies to the whole of Europe and most civilized cultures, not just Germany.
I learned something new about Americans today. I have some American acquaintances but never consciously observed this changing of fork and knife.
Fun fact: I'm left-handed, and pretty hardcore (I even flipped my mouse pointers on the PC screen), but use fork in the left and and knife in the right hand like right-handed people. However, a few years ago, someone pointed out to me (I didn't realise myself) that I'm using them in a weird way. Instead of using the fork to fix the meat and using the knife to "saw" through it, I only did some rudimentary cuts with the knife and then used the fork to tear off pieces. I still need a conscious effort to do it the proper way, it's so unnatural to do the work with the non-dominant hand (and it's too late for me to switch the utensils from right to left).
In Europe we call that juggling with the silverware "american way", but we don't practice it.
I thought it was a thing in all western countries, and were I’m from it’s also just a normal thing, to wait for everyone to fill their plates, and sit at the table before anyone starts eating.
Kewonerdk I was taught to wait until everyone has food before beginning to eat. But I am noticing lately many eat soon as they have food. Seems people i’ve been around only wait if they pray before eating.
WaywardPondering I have no idea about that, because I never meet a single person who pray.
The Brezn in a tourist trap in Munich are gonna be charged, of course, but usually there will be a price tag on the Breznständer or somewhere. In a proper restaurant, if there is a bread basket on the table upon your arrival, this bread is free (or better, the costs are included in the price of your party's meal). Same for water: if it is on the table, it's included. Tap water is always free and you may just ask for it. But: unless your table is reserved, you may sit at your table in the restaurant however long you want - so, you might be so polite as to order at least the odd glass of mineral water, because they won't ask you to leave unless they're closing down.
Yeah, never had to pay for the bread I got at a pizza restaurant, for example. It's probably a tourist trap thing.
I always noticed that US waiters tend to take away an empty plate immediately when a person has finished their meal (while the other is steal eating). That makes it a little ungemütlich. :) In Germany waiters leave all plates and cutlery on the table until the last person has finished, which I find nicer...
It's not "Reserviert bis XX", but "Reserviert ab XX". "Reserviert bix XX" would mean "Reserved until XX". But "Reserviert ab XX" means that the table is reserved from XX with open end.
Yes it was an oopsie on my fault
The table manners part was flawless as far as I can tell. But it is important to understand that not every German has perfect table manners. Your observations will get you through a formal dinner.
Like many others I can't confirm the bread-story. I never paid extra for bread, breadsticks, peanuts etc. on the table that I didn't order. It is common in every single Italian restaurant I've ever been to to have a bread basket with either garlic butter, some fancy cream/cream-cheese or lately olive oil and balsamic. It NEVER showed up on my bill.
What I find quite different is the service in the US and Germany. Many Americans find the German way rude (at first?) while I personally don't like the American way. The waiter won't ask aver few minutes if everything is okay (We're German, we let you know if anything bothers us =;-)) ) or if you need something else. What Americans often describe as rude or unmotivated I call discrete, In Germany a good waiter shows up at your table if you make eye-contact or flag him down with a small hand gesture. He should not interrupt while you are reading the menue.
Another differnce is that you have to order the cheque. This is part of "Gemütlichkeit" that you are not rushed to pay, but stay as long as you like. However it is polite for the guest to order a drink every now and then if he stays for a long time.
Free water/ refill- discussion is a classic. The better the restaurant in Germany the less money they make of the meal. They earn with the wine or other drinks. I always find it amusing when Americans say on youtube how comparably cheap German restaurant are but that they don't serve free refils....
Tipping is another cultural thing: Waiters don't make a lot of money. But compared to the US they get a real salary. That's why tipping isn't such a big thing in Germany as in the US. I was raised to aim at a 10% tip. Mostly it is rounding up. 18€ are 20€ 19 the same (which is significantly less than 10%), But I have seen (and felt ashamed at) somebody who paid a 98€ bill with just 100€.
Yes, intrusive waiters are nasty. ruclips.net/video/oQE44zaB4R4/видео.html
1:16 Uh-huh. "Wonderful" tourist. Yup. That's what means.
😬
Lol. eff-ing tourist!
A normal portion of bread, the first one, is usually free in Köln and here almost every restaurant has a hostess.
In Europe, in general, you don't normally order tap water in a restaurant.
The "sitting with a stranger" is a German thing. For example, in Romania, if you are a couple you stay at a table for 2 people and so on, but if you stay at a bigger table and is a very appreciated restaurant, than maybe someone will ask you if they can stay with you, but if the restaurant has a hostess and she put you at a large table from the begining, nobody will disturb you to stay with you.
Well Hayley, the reason, why water is not free, is simple. They have the most profit with it ( percentage ). The prices for food and drinks are a mixed thing in restaurants. If they would sell you a Filet Steak for the real price, you would never order one. So they give you the steak for less money, but have a higher price on the water. Customer is ok with it and reastaurant also, tricky.
Someone I know from a restaurent explained me that it is like this. Maybe it has changed now, but makes still sense for me.
Yeah I worked in a restaurant and I totally get it... We made the most money from beverages (even with free refills) and I was astonished and amazed
Don't think of it has "having to find" your own table, but being allowed to :)
That bread thing certainly is not normal everywhere
Very good idea... I will start thinking of it like that ;)
I love that you can pick your own spot in Germany. At least you get to pick the nice window seats without specifically asking for it. 😂
Yes!! Exactly!! I love choosing where to sit.
When traveling, when being seated, 9 out of 10 times I'm like doh!! I wanted the neighbor table 🥺
If there's an obvious choice of tables, a polite hostess or waiter will suggest a table and ask if that's ok, at which point you can ask for a different table if there appears to be a free table you would prefer. If you're with a group of more than four people, you should ask a waiter where you can sit, unless there are obviously plenty of large tables available.
Praying at the table isn’t usual in a restaurant in Germany, but not completely out of the way at the family table at home.
But as the society is getting more secular this is getting to be more uncommon nowadays.
Sitting with strangers is only common in cheaper places like Biergarten or fast-food places. If you go to a real restaurant, you will not have to share your table.
Another funny note: When you sit in a restaurant with a large party, people usually clink glasses with each other before they start drinking. Once, when I was in the US with a few coworkers, and we clinked glasses, people around us looked at us as if we were coming from Mars! :D Some people in Germany further have the custom to look into each others eyes when they clink glasses, for good luck! :D (They say it's bad luck not to!)
I'm german and i hate this glass clinking habit. get real guys! it's just a bevarage! something to drink. don't make such a fuzz about it.
@@albrechtkusei5085 Just letting you know theres actually a meaning behind it. Back in the day it was done to mix up the drinks to make sure it's not poisoned. For example I offer you a drink we hit it as hard as you need to so some of it spills over into the other ones cup/glass w.e (glass for sure is a bad example since it tends to break, but you get the point. ;)
@@cH4iN123 thanks for the explanation. i just wonder why people having a coke don't fear to get poisoned by their fellow drunkards.
lol meine Freunde und ich schauen uns beim anstoßen auch immer in die Augen und wer es nicht tut hat "7 Jahre lang schlechten sex" :D Irgendwie machen das viele junge leute hier und ich habe keine Ahnung woher das kommt.
I would only clink glasses at celebrations (Sylvester or Birthdays) and only with glasses which have a stem, and you would hold the glass by the stem, because only then they ring, and then when drinking "auf dein Wohl" you would be looking at another
I'd say some people do pray before eating in germany but not in a Restaurant or with guests they just do it with the family alone. (my experience)
You know you are a professional youtuber when you upgrade to that colorful background thing
ITS PAPER!!! Don't let these RUclipsrs fool you.... Either they use a sheet or paper :p
‚Wonderful tourist‘ LOOOOOOOL 🤣🤣🤣
I cracked up at that one, too. :D
I've never been at a restaurant in Germany where the bread isn't included and had to be paid extra.
Me either. I'm from northern Germany.
Have you ever been to a typical Franconian or Bavarian Wirtschaft? Because the portions there are so huge, you don't want to eat any bread before the meal, your waiting time is usually short, so why ruin your appetite and fill your stomach wirh cheap bread, and then have leave a part of the precious meal on the plate, because you're too full?
Have you been in NRW?
They say Deutsche Pünktlichkeit yet look at our Bahn 😤
The DeutscheBahn is.... actually a Jamaican train..... I know it to be true 😂
Yunz06 -- Du gehörst also auch zu den Vertretern, die sich über die Unpünktlichkeit der Deutsch Bahn aufregen. Ich stehe da vor einem Rätsel. Ich bin Deutscher und lebe seit fast 60 Jahren hier. Bis auf wenige Vorfälle, wo der Zug vielleicht mal fünf Minuten später kam oder ähnliches, kann ich mich über eine besondere Unpünktlichkeit der Bahn nicht beklagen. Ich frage mich, wo die Leute, die sich vielleicht zu Recht beschweren, wohnen oder leben und inwiefern es dort zu regelmäßigen oder ernst zu nehmenden Verspätungen kommt.
To be fair: you can see how much the Germans value being on time by how much they hate on Deutsche Bahn. :D
@@groppermilk Wo wohnst du? Region Berlin ist eine Verspätung der Regionalbahnen um 5 Minuten täglich zu erleben. Im Winter gern auch mal 20-30. ICE fahren 1h später, habe ich auch schon mehrmals erlebt. Die Verspätungen kommen duch "Verzögerungen im Betriebsablauf", oft wird ein S-Bahn Strang lahm gelegt durch Polizei- oder Rettungswageneinsätze, im Winter eingefrorene Weichen, kaputte Signale. Es ist einfach Alltag hier dass ein Drittel Verspätung hat, wenn man pendelt. Trotzdem (!) oder gerade weil ich dort aufgewachsen bin, finde ich Verspätungen nicht schlimm sondern eher amüsant und ein gutes Mittel, sich zusammen mit wildfremden Menschen über Bahngeschichten auszutauschen. Ein noch besseres Thema als das Wetter.
@@emmynoether9540 -- Ich bin in Hannover geboren und habe dort meine Kindheit verbracht. Regionalzüge (damals noch rote Triebwagen) und auch Fernzüge waren da kein Problem. Da meine Familie aus (damals noch) West-Berlin (Reinickendorf) stammt, bin ich teilweise auch dort aufgewachsen. Ich kann mich da wirklich an keine wesentlichen Verspätungen erinnern. Nur an der Zonengrenze und auf den Transitstrecken von und nach West-Berlin kam es immer wieder mal zu Verzögerungen. Nur war nicht klar, ob es sich dabei um technische Probleme etc. handelte oder ob von Seiten der DDR (zu Zeiten des kalten Krieges) absichtlich ein gewisser Schlendrian herrschen sollte. Mittlerweile lebe ich schon seit langem in München, und auch hier läuft alles wie am Schnürchen. Nur neulich gab es im Stadtverkehr (Bus/U-Bahn) aufgrund des heftigen Schneefalls in München Verspätungen. Aber in Bayern ist man auf sowas gut vorbereitet, und die Schneeräumdienste hatten bald alles wieder im Griff. Außerdem denke ich wie du: Ich finde es gar nicht so tragisch, wenn es mal nicht hundertprozentig klappt. Man hat etwas, worüber man sich gemeinsam (!) aufregen und auch darüber hinaus weiter unterhalten kann.
🇩🇪 So glad you are addressing table etiquette in Germany, my husband has to remind me to remove my elbows from the table!!! LOL 🤣 And the way he holds his fork and knife I jokingly tell him that he is wrong! 🙃
Some small points:
a) Praying before eating depends on the group of people you're eating with (and the location). In my family, it is common practice to pray before a warm meal (usually lunch especially on sundays), and of course in religious communities they also might pray. But in more public or mixed group settings this is not usually the case, since more than a third of Germans are Atheists anyway (and you don't want to push your religion on other people)
b) Knife and fork habits seem to be very much internalized. The first time, I had dinner with my boyfriend at home, I put the fork for him to the right and the knife to the left (since he's left handed), but he switched it back to the "normal" setting...
And I almost forgot
c) if you are not sure where to sit in a restaurant, you can still ask a waiter for help/advise. They will look for a table for you, even if they are not specifically there for this job.
On the "sitting with strangers" bit: Just to clear up, normally you won't sit with a stranger, don't worry. It's done in Biergärten where they have really long tables so it still feels like sitting separately. Otherwise it will only happen if the restaurant is extremely crowded. They (or you) should ask politely if they're allowed to sit with you and then you tell them it's alright. Like Hayley already said: You don't have to hold a conversation with them.
i have always felt that etiquette/table manners was introduced and used to make the guest feel comfortable and at ease, but there are people who do use it as a weapon of superiority and if those people are running a restaurant i will not be a customer or if i an invited to a home of those people--oh wait i will never be invited by those people since i will not attend, etiquette rules should never be elaborate and confusing--keep it simple for all and empathize to your guest
Sooo accurate :D All of these things occurred to me when I went to the states two years ago! I was so surprised by the free bread, the tipping and the free water PLUS free refills! And also how the server will sometimes say their name and that they will be the server for the evening:D That was so strange to me!
The common way is to hold the knife in the right and the fork in the left. But cutting with your weak hand is easy, I always do it, as I am left-handed.
You do not precut your food, you cut something, maybe also use the knive to push some stuff on your fork (like rice or whatever might be difficult to pick up, it is quite common to use a fork similar to a spoon, not sure right now, how common that is in the US, it is uncommon in some countries) and then you eat it. Switching for every bite would be very inefficient and precutting makes the food look less attractive.
One would use the fork in the right hand if only a fork is used, like for eating pasta (side remark: do not cut spaghetti).
Instead of just finding a table yourself you can also walk up to a waiter/waitress and ask for a table for the number of people you are with. Like when you're a group of four you can ask them for "ein Tisch für 4".
You won‘t get water out od the tub in a lot of places cause it‘s not always a good quality of water amd they can‘t risk that you might get sick because of it and they‘re responsible for it and might even get closed because of it, we‘re not mean or anything, just don‘t wanna risk that
5:52 - here in Berlin most restaurants offer free bread to the meal
so if you order a meal than your bread is free ;)
awww Oh mein Gott I love you so much!! I‘m a Münchner
There‘re so many true things you‘re mentioning in your videos. It doesn’t matter if it‘s about the US or Germany, you‘re so right. We need more people on earth with your ethical understanding.
Hey Hayley, thank you for this video! It nicely sums up all the most important parts of table manners in Germany. The general rule of thumb is: if it is convenient, it's probably not allowed.
As a German or as someone who had a grandmother who valued table manners a lot, it would say the cutlery-thing is central because that is where you can recognise not only foreigners but also people of low social status. I am sorry to put it that way: but that is why would want to avoid that kind of behaviour.
There is just one thing I would like to add: I am not sure whether this applies to all guests from the USA, but I recognised it while dining with Americans. You do not cut your whole meal into pieces so that you can just lay aside the knife. You actually mentioned that you keep your fork to the left and your knife to the right at all times. But I think one should emphasise that you are also supposed to cut your meal bit by bit while you are eating and not all at once.
However, I would never mention this while eating with someone. It would be very rude to point out that someone doesn't know german table manners, especially when they are foreign and do it inadvertently.
It is probably also interesting to know that there is nothing in the Knigge (the german book on how to behave by Knigge) regarding cutlery. This is because Knigge was well aware that table manners vary between countries and societies. Most of the Knigge is actually outdated today, i.e. the parts where he explains how much money you give to your wife so that she can run the household. Yet I would say that the central theme running through the Knigge is still valid today: you must not make someone uncomfortable or embarrass someone in your presence. Hence, you must not point out that someone doesn't know how to hold fork and knife.
Of course, the rule that you must not make someone feel bad ceases to apply when someone attacks you or intentionally provokes you. In that case it is good manners to put such people "in their place" and tell them off for being an asshole. Please excuse my strong language, but that's how to read your Knigge and I don't like censorship.
In Germany we learn „Ellenbogen, Ellenbogen sei doch nicht so ungezogen. Auf dem Tisch darfst du nicht sein, alle Kinder essen fein.“ in Kindergarten. 😉
Its not allowed to serve ice in mineralwater unless you ask for it. Only if the ice is made out of mineralwater aswell and not normal "Kranwasser" but nobody does that.
And where Im from you always get free bread in a restaurant.
To the tipping business... in Germany most give about 10% of what the price was so like 25 euro would be 2.5 euro tip but it's a little inconvenient so most make it 28 euro instead of 27.5 euro
Even in America, when you walk into a diner, I think it’s polite/common courtesy even if you are waiting for the host(ess) to seat you or inform you to sit anywhere you like. I think it also has to do with knowing they acknowledge a new customer arrived.
Here in my area in Northern Germany I have never had the bread-experience you are describing. Either you get free bread or you don't, but they never put anything on the table without you having ordered it and then make you pay for it if you touch it.
I had to smile about your decription of the handling of the water jug. I had never noticed it, but it is totally true that we always look around if someone else might want some more water when we take some for ourselves.
Lastly, for me and my family, I can say that keeping your hand in your lap is not frowned upon, because you might hide a gun down there (this is Germany, people are not allowed to carry guns in public), but rather, because it draws down your upper body so that it is a lot harder to sit with a straight posture. While the times where you had to sit at the table completely straight up are long past, it is still looked down if you look like a limp sack of rice or your shoulders are too far drawn down. Keeping a welcoming posture is simply easier if your hands are on the table.
I lived 5 years in Munich and always got tap water when i asked and never got charged for it. I think the important thing is that you have to be specific about it, if not they will bring you mineral water.
I live in Sweden and I eat and cut with the fork in left hand and knife in right hand. Almost everybody else seem to do the opposite though, so I usually choose a place on the left side of the table so that our arms won't tangle up while eating. :)
Me, as a German, totally agree with the Video. Exapt the Part of the Bread. Usually, when you order a Meal, and they offer you some Bread, its a free Appetizer. (Like you order for 15 € and they give you Bread first, that costs them a few Cents) Just in Case you are too hungry to wait for the real Meal. There might be a Difference to some Kind of a Bar, where you didnt order an "expensive Meal". In a Bar you might get some Nuts or small Stuff like thats (but its also for free, when you didnt ask for it). If they put big Beazels (not that tiny ones, which would be in the same Class as Nuts) you should ask for the Price. But I would be emberresed, if I get a Bill for something, that was offered to me, and I didnt ask for it. Anyway, a very funny Video, that shows me, what might be strange for Tourists, but is absolutely normal for me XD
All of this is spot on! Love the background and love the camo shirt! Keep the videos coming, Hayley!
Hi!
As a german I like your videos ... du sprichst sehr gut Deutsch! 😊
And I know exactly how it feels like, because I was living in the states 1991 for one and a half years ... it is quite different, but you get used to it.
I love listening to people who make similar experiences, and than you'll see, what we call in german: "Alle kochen nur mit Wasser!", which means "Nobody's perfect." 😉
Regarding bread: I worked in both hotels and a restaurant for some time, and we always served (free) bread right after the guests made their order, mostly even prior to this
There are always a few little baskets available for the waiters to head to the guests with bread to get the order(s)
If someone puts bread on my table when I didn't asked for it, I would never pay for it. ABZOCKE!
Du kannst doch einem Gast nicht etwas zu essen hinstellen und das später weiter verkaufen. Ekelhaft.
JAAAA!!! I have said this many times... One time I felt like throwing it away -_- but I have a lot more self control now since living in germany...😂
Ich glaube das ist eher eine Münchner Angewohnheit als eine bayrische. Ich komme aus Franken und hab es bisher noch nicht erlebt, dass Brot extra kostet.
Mein *appetizer* (so zu sagen) brot in Berlin, Frankfurt, Mannheim/Pfalz und so weiter... hat extra gekostet 🤷♀️Es kommt wirklich drauf an was und wo du isst. Wenn du ein salat, suppe, nudeln oder was bestimmtes bestellst denn naturlich kostet dein brot nicht extra.
In Schleswig-Holstein ist Brot auf dem Tisch immer gratis und auch Leistungswasser. Wenn es um essen geht legt man sich nicht gerne mit uns an XD
rein rechtlich kann man auch nicht zur Kasse gebeten werden wenn kein Kaufvertrag zu Stande kam. Es muss KLAR sein, dass es was kostet oder nicht sonst darf der Kunde annehmen, dass es kostenlos ist.
For the tip you give around 10% on average, but you dont have to. many say they just go for the next "5€ mark" if i order food and have pay 12,50€, normaly i give 15€ instead of 13,75€
You're probably one of the only people I know that does this....
Well in most Restaurants I know, the breadbasket before the ordered meal is included, never heard of it being charged extra.
but what type of meal did you order? A lot of meals come with bread included so they bring you the bread after youve ordered your food... Then it is complimentary with the meal you ordered and brot gehort dazu... But in the USA you will usually go to a table, sit down and the people will bring you a bread basket, chips or crackers before you even give them your order or it will be at the table already waiting for you.
I highly doubt you could go to a restaurant in Germany, order a coke and get a free bread basket..... in the USA you could technically do that.
True about not just getting a breadbasket for sitting down and just ordering a coke, this will hardly ever happen in Germany. But once you have ordered your meal you usually get a basket of bread with some spreads or just butter in most places. At least most places I go to.Italiener or Griechen for example. Some Places call it Gruß aus der Küche or amuse-gueule. You are probably right that it is not as much a „rule“ as it seems to be in the states, but a free breadbasket is definitely not unheard of ;-) Your experience having to pay for a breadbasket sound appalling and on the other hand is something I never have heard of.
One thing maybe worth mentioning is, that Germans usually tend to finish their meals at the restaurant, portion sizes are usually copeable. Doggy bags are pretty uncommon, but not unheard of. Most places will probably pack leftovers if you asked them. ( never tried myself though ) Just know that years ago a waiter probably would have frowned and looked upon you as if you had escaped an Institution, if you had asked.
Hey Jens :D Yeah that was the point I was trying to make but the Germans I guess don't get it because they haven't lived in the USA. Of course I have gotten free bread after I have ordered my soup, salad or pasta BUT never for just sitting at the table. In Munich they always pack my food :p because the portions there are ridiculous and huge. I have noticed that in other parts of Germany (even upper Austria) the portions are ALOT smaller but also a lot cheaper ;)
@@jensgehrke8975 so than its not free. You have to order a meal. I even got a bread basket in the US when I just sat down to tie my shoe (it was an outdoor restaurant).
great video - for once I read most of the comments. Most agree or go into more detail (I live in Hamburg - what you would call "free-bread" country). One point I did miss because even many Germans incl. not all restaurants are aware of this : place fork and knife on the same side of your plate and you indicate I am finished - even if the plate is not empty! Good service will ask if you want the plate removed. Place fork and knife on opposite sides of the plate and you are just pausing or need you hands for something else - like a really full mug or a hanky or a napkins. Lastly : doggy bags - taking leftovers home - though it is becoming more common these days, the better the restaurant the less likely it is that you will see this.
On the free bread that surprised me. Typically, you get free bread with spreads (butter, schmaltz, some home-made cream cheese) at more rustic places for free, and also Italian restaurants often serve free pizza rolls ahead of the meal. Sometimes, Greek or Turkish restaurants will often a free aperitive or a small Ouzo or Raki on the house. Maybe depends on the region?
Yes your right about the fork and the knife. In Germany you can get it very easy fork->gabel end with a l so left and knife -> messer ends with r so right.
Reserviert bis 20 Uhr, means it's reserved until 8 p.m. Just you don't get confused the next time.
2:30 "bis 20 Uhr" means "until 20:00". What you explained though was as if it said "Reserviert _ab_ 20 Uhr".
3:50 "you should look around and see who else doesn't have water and ask them if they want water" but only those which you can easily reach! you don't have to reach all over the table or even stand up and walk around (may even come across as weird to do so).
5:33 wow, i could have made the same mistake. i'm from Nordrhein-Westfalen, and usually if in a restaurant bread or something like that is already on the table without you ordering it, it's a free appetizer. (I have seen exceptions, rarely, but then there always were pricetags on or next to the thing)
6:50 you are right about the silverware. thanks i learned something new. did not know that in the US people switch it around. Wie umständlich! ;)
7:00 what is even worse than leaving a hand in your lap is putting an elbow, let alone both, on the table!
also seems that whole hands thing, elbow thing included, isn't frowned upon much less today than it used to be.
yes!!! That's what I meant!! oopsie!!
GabeL L-inks.
MesseR R-echts.
No switching. (except kids) ;)
OHHHH thank you for this!!! such an awesome way to remember
@@HayleyAlexis You're welcome, Hayley. Maybe Mike has heard of this before. It's a pretty common Eselsbrücke in Germany. ;)
Just look how the silverware is layed out on the table - use it exactly like that, when in a multi course dinner, from the outside to the inside, spoons for soup and dessert at the top.
ich muss zugeben, das ich den spruch nicht kannte und trotzdem ausversehen (sehr selten) die Reihenfolge vertausche 😂
Das ist mir sowas von egal. Hab ich noch nie drauf geachtet, hat hier in Norddeutschland noch für keinerlei Probleme gesorgt
The water served with the espresso actually comes from Italy.. it's not a typical German thing 😁
Normally you will be asked for the water to be "still" (not carbonized) or some phrase for carbonized. Some might have 2 variants of carbonized ("medium" for the less strong carbonization(?) :-) ). However if the restaurant has a special thing about the water (2 (or 200) brands for example) you might need to be more specific.
LMAO, imagining how americans learn german based on your video, meeting a wonderful german tourist somewhere in Florida and call him "scheiß Ausländer" . Hayley, you made my day.
In Germany you are not supposed to tip. If you apprieciate the service given, than you usually give tip.
Nope. Tipping is very much appreciated and Guter Ton.
Whether sitting with strangers is normal or not depends on the area of Germany, you're in. In Bavaria it is quite common to sit with strangers, whereas in Württemberg if you come to a restaurant and every table is "occupied" by one person, you go away and say: "It's full."
If you are in a group, Germans often split the bill, so everyone pays its share.
And I always find it to be so confusing. Instead of asking beforehand if it’s separate so each person gets their own bill 😂🤦🏾♀️
yeah only cheap people do that. Still weird for me seeing so many people do this split bill thing for like 10 minutes. If you don't want to come off as "geizig" one should pay and the others will give the paying person their share after he or she paid.
Usually if you are in a bigger group the waiter will ask if it‘s together or separate and then it‘s down to their billing system. By law they are required to bill everything. So they might run a tab on a piece of paper and then put it in the till separately when people want to pay and bill according to who ate/ drank what. But some restaurants take orders, bill them together as a table automatically and might not be able to make their till seperate the orders. Of yours there are systems where you order together and then bill separately, which is often what you see in bars, but I have hardly seen it in restaurants.
German waiters as a whole are very good about splitting bills, even for large parties. In most other countries, especially in the US, waiters usually refuse to split the bill, leaving it to the party to divvy it up themselves.
Eric Trumpler I’ve only had a problem with a waiter not wanting to split the bill in New York (Long Island) never anywhere else.
A lot of restaurants serve free bread actually 😂 my parents own a restaurant and they serve free bread same for the restaurant of a family friend ... and usually when you order a salad you will get free bread with it ... I actually never had to pay for bread in germany and I‘ve lived here my hole life 🤔
You have to order a meal. Right? You don't just get it for ordering a coke. I even got a bread basket at a restaurant when I sat down to tie my shoe (it was an outdoor restaurant). Technically the restaurant would have to throw it away because it already touched the table, but a group asked for the bread. If this is true the bread isn't free.
As usual, nicely presented and mostly accurate!
The bread thing really depends (where in Germany you are): Italian style resteraunts usually serve it for free.
There is also a small difference you did not cover (but maybe that's more with the British people?):
Spoons & soup: If you put a full spoon to your mouth, you can sip it (carefully) from the side of teh spoon (holding it like a transverse flute), or from the tip (with spoon pointing right to you).
0.75ml is not a large water. It's about 2.5oz 😂 You were talking about 0.75 l.
No offense, but it sounded really funny to me.
stefan winterboer LMAO I just realized I said ML 😂😂😂😂😂 anyone want a syringe filled with water? A dang cup 😂
Where have you been in Munich where bread is charged? It's free if you order any other meal... (in nearly every restaurant)
The thing about praying is interesting, because my grandmother who was born, raised, and lived most of her life in germany, was also heavily christian. So she insisted that we pray before meals. To this day there are some things she did that i'm not sure if they were because of her being german or being religious.
7:27
I am german, and when I grew up we always prayed before our warm meals at home, when we were family only, but never did so when eating out in restaurants. Religion is considered to be private, so I think this is why you usually don't see it in germany as a tourist or as a foreign person in general.
Another point that I've noticed is that in US, the waiters will come and check in on your A LOT, sometimes overkill and after you are done they will bring you a check. In Germany, or Europe in general, they typically don't check in on you as much. You have to call them when you are need something or call them when you are ready to pay the check...I kind of love that you can eat and then enjoy chatting with your friends without being rushed to leave the table (unless obviously there is a reservation after you - as you sated)
That's because they get slave wages and absolutely need tips to survive. So they constantly harass you to show how attentive they are to your needs
@@S_Black True!
I have a video coming up about this... It will go into detail about this topic.... It's a big cultural difference and there are a lot of good points from the USA and Germany... in regards to tipping and everything that involves tipping.
I'm a left handed German and I do it exactly your way..Always switching my hands, because it's more comfortable for me! Now I know that you do it that way too!! Great!!😅
I'm left handed and always have the fork in my left hand and cut with the right one.
the waiter will not bring you the check until you specifically ask for it, because asking for the check in germany is synonymous with wanting to leave. if you have eaten and just want to stay and talk without ordering anything else you can do that, you don't have to order or rush for the check. my fave thing and my most hated thing in usa when they rush you out while you're still chewing...
Yeah, that perfectly sums up the German dining manners. Well done, Hayley! 😊 I would love to have free bread in German restaurants but you’re right, they don’t give it for free very often unless you’re at a rather expensive restaurant. Which is a pity because I love some slices of fresh bread with garlic sauce or butter with herbs. But then again I tend to eat so much of the bread that I‘m not hungry anymore. So probably it‘s better to not start with the bread! 😅
Oh we are spirit animals. I could eat only bread and forget about the main dish :p I love bread and it's a bad obsession!! Thank you so much for watching :D
"they don’t give it for free very often unless you’re at a rather expensive restaurant."
Total bullshit.
Particulary in the cheap restaurants, i.e. Schweinske in Hamburg, at Greek, Italian, Yugoslawian and Turkish restaurants you always get some - often even freshly baked - bread or rolls with spicey butter, aioli or tzatziki. It's usually delivered while you study the menu.
Yeah, some people do pray before eating but only at home, not in public. I mean, you could pray in a restaurant I guess but you would get some strange looks for sure.
Praying before you eat just depends on your environment. When I was little we would all say a little non religious, verse, while holding hands, before our meals (eventough we are catholic). Many of my friends families did that too, either religious or not, but it was something only done at home. I went to a catholic kindergarten and school and we did prayers before our meals. There it was because of the catholic backround, but also to give a kind of regulation and community feeling we would wait until everyone had their food, then do a group prayer and then start eating. In other places you would do a non religious version, at least in my experience, but at least for me that was all only when I was a child:)
Many German people also switch their fork and knife. I’m doing it the exact same way as you and I’m German. I also don’t care if somebody’s keeping his hands on the table or not, I just do it because I’m used to it and I think it’s more comfortable. You’re right about the praying point, but that does depend on the religion of somebody, my grandparents f.ex. always pray before eating (they thank god for the food). At each German dinner party I’ve been to, nobody cared about the host to sit, it’s just rude to start eating when not all of the other people are sitting and having their food.
You should use an "Eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher" to prevent from the big mess with the egg shell. I don't like cutting my eggs, because you can get eggshell pieces in your boiled egg.
I see it also quite often in Germany that the people (including me) cut with the strong hand and after that switch the silverware.
The fork goes to the left and the knife to the right.
Fork/ Gabel ends with L for Left
And knife/ Messer ends with R for right.
Easy to remember when you speak german ;)
Usually, the portions in Bavarian "Wirtschaften" (restaurants) are BIG. Like you can get a "Wiener" Schnitzel that is hanging over the plate and a huge heap of fries or potatoe salad covering the rest of the plate. Or, you get 2-3 slices of "Braten" (roast) with "Kloß und Soß". That means, 1-2 big Klöße, and lots of sauce !. Along comes a mixed salad. After eating all this, you will be very full. And as an experienced guest in Bavaria, you know that, and don't fill the precious space in your stomach with bread. You want to have enough space for the really good things, and perhaps a little dessert afterwards! So you typically get no free bread, but huge portions in the average restaurants, and smaller portions but free bread in the classier restaurants. --Nothing is for free in business....you just have to keep your eyes open and not be blinded by "freebies".
Ich habe fast mein Getränk ausgespuckt ( vor Lachen), als Du sagtest " Don`t eat the bread, it`s not free!"
Ich musste sofort denken: " Oh my god, i can`t eat anything, because they charge me for that."
Nicht bös` gemeint.
In restaurants there are actually a lot of times where a hostess shows you a table
But usually, at leastr in my region, we also usually talk to a waitress and ask for a table, before we search ourselves :) Except fastfood "restaurants" of course.
I switch cutlery for convenience sake, because nobody ever told me not to (my family isn't really that much into table manners, I guess.... :) ) but I'm aware it's not what people normally do in Germany... :)
My family was never into table manners :p we just enjoyed our food!!
My husband and I have stopped going out to dinner in Munich because we would end up eating alone, essentially! Servers in Munich NEVER get the food out at the same time. So annoying.
This is really annoying to me!! I dislike it. If i wanted to eat at separate times I would have stayed home
Yes little kids also switch, but if you are grown up u should not cut your food first than pick it up like a bird
Peep peep 🐦
My mom always taught us that eating with your fork in your left hand is impolite! So we cut and then switch hands. I'm French-Canadian and we all do this. I'm finding it hard to change my method now that I live in Germany.
I'm a German and I mostly eat with one hand (my right hand), except when I have to cut something, then I switch the fork to my left hand and take the knife in the right hand. Nobody ever complains, because nobody cares.
@@faultier1158 I'm not alone!!
I am German and right handed but I have always used my cutlery like a lefty: fork in right hand and knife in the left hand. Nobody in my family eats this way or knows where it came from. It's just how is convenient for me. I am very clumsy the other way around. :D
The bread thing is maybe special for beer gardens?
I was never in a restaurant that had bread on the table for which you have to pay. Yes, the brezels at the bar. You have to pay for them.
I switch also knife and fork. It is okay eating with the fork in the left when I can stick the food on it. But I can't balance food on the fork with the left hand. Ok, I can but I have to concentrate on this. So it isn't a relaxed meal.
I guess my family started to late to introduce me to this.
Billiards I play left handed, although I am right handed. Holding the queue like a right handed feels strange as holding the fork with the left hand.
I have no clue what this means. I am just weird.
In my family we use to pray before eating just at home if we eat out we don't, if we have guests we may skip the prayer if this guests are not used to it or if we don't know if they are (because we think it would be rude to press our religion to others). When i was younger i was eating out in a fast food restaurant (Burger King) with some other peoples and we did pray and sang a gospel song before eating, the people around was a little confused about that. You can do a prayer before eating but people will look at you because religion is something very private to us, we are not used to pray outside our home unless we are in a religious service. If you are not sure if you have to look for a place in restaurant yourself, if you sit at the outside tables you have to look yourself, if you eat inside in most of the restaurants where they give you the place there is a information sign near to the door which reads "Sie werden platziert." but is common that the waiter is very quickly to welcome you so you really rarely notice this sign (in my town there is a very nice Chinese restaurant i visit since 9 years now and i noticed this sign just late last year but it was always there). In nice restaurants especially with Greek or Italian or Chinese cuisine it is very likely the waiter brings you a little aperitif this is free, they want to make sure you enjoy your evening if they really like you much and you are very enjoyable guests it is possibly not the last one (especially in Greek restaurants if you enjoy a Greek BBQ plate it is possible the waiter or the restaurants owner him self will bring you one ouzo more they are very hospitable).
with the bread stuff , in every restaurant i have been, they NEVER brought us bread on the table that costed extra. eventually they ask you if you want bread or not. AND, when you eat at a turkish restaurant, the bread is included in the menu, no extra charge. maybe in your case it is a Munchen thing
That fork thing applies in Finland as well. I'm right handed but I tend to do some things "the wrong way". As a kid I always wanted to cut with my left hand and use the fork in my right hand but my mom always told me to switch. I had trouble eating that way at first but eventually I learned.... nowadays I sometimes eat the wrong way just to show my mom that she didn't manage to convert me xD
I've never told the waiter how much I want to tip verbally, only by typing it into the card reader. Usually if you pay cash (I'm not German but that is how things have been done whenever I traveled in Europe), you get the full change back, take what you want from that and what you leave is the tip.
Not in Germany, there you tell the amount you want to give and get the change
Where I work we have lunch from the kitchenet we have at work, we buy Essenmarke 4 Euro and with it we eat a salad what ever you want to eat and also the main dish and time to time also a desert. I have noticed even Germans to switch fork and knife when ever it is convenient for them.
From my experience i never faced half of these problems in Turkish restaurants :)
In some of the more expensive restaurants I know you get always an „free“ amuse guelle (Amuse-bouche/Gruß aus der Küche) consisting of bread 🍞 and depending on the restaurant a high-quality olive oil 🍈 and salt 🧂 or a variety of spreads. But probably it‘s not free, because you have to pay for your order anyway and which is of course a little bit more expensive than in let‘s say a traditional German restaurant which serves Hausmannskost 🍖🍳🥔😊.
Maybe the bread thing is a Munich thing? I'm from Baden-Württemberg and I NEVER had to pay for bread. Sometimes at Italian restaurants you even get bread with oil to dip in and some olives for free as a starter.
I like the new lighting but I don’t like the background. I know that everyone is doing it but it seems so off. I like your normal backgrounds better.
My bathroom it is!!! I will have to switch it up.... and just do one video blue one video bathroom and go from there 😂😂
@5:53O man, I think I’d get crazy with all that all that fork and knife switcheroo wile I’m eating. 🤣🙈
Just for the bread. Don't know where you have been, but it is usually free if they serve a basket. Different thing with brezelsbin a beer garden. Sorry it is that complicated. We Germans also do not really know, if a bread or creme or some nuts that are served will be free or charged...
Debating whether to have a soft-boiled egg for breakfast now. With salt and bread... I think I will. Thanks for the inspiration!
also, if youre finished eating.. dont throw the crumbled napkin into the leftovers on the plate, especially not with cloth napkins (seen that a million times in the US) .. thats considered really bad style here in Deutschland.. just fold it and place it in between the plate and the cutlery...
In Germathere is no rule in which hand you take your forke and knife. It's just depending if you are left or right handed.
Knife will be used with the hand you sre normally writing.
I was always told NOT to tip in Germany at all. I tried to when I first got there and got snapped at by a waiter and a waitress. Both said some version of "I get paid a living wage" and took it as an insult. The only time I'll make an effort to tip is if I know the waiter is Russian or Turkish (most common immigrants in the Mosel region) and I know they won't be offended.
About the free water and free bread and free everything. If the staff gives you something without really asking if you want it (like water with espresso or bread with salad or noodles) it's free. They may ask you first and then you can ask how much it would cost and they may say how much however I have never been in a restaurant where they offer you bread and then they tell you it's not free.
Usually if you go to an Italian restaurant in Germany they give you free bread to salad or noodle dishes and they may even give you some bruscetta before the actual meal.
If you go to a German restaurant the bread is not really free (if they have some at all) but we are very proud about our bread. But you wouldn't order bread with nothing. You might order bread with Mettwurst or butter or something else.