It's the service that brings people back for more

As a food writer, I am often asked what my favourite restaurant is.

- Smitha Menon

Over the course of my career, I've had the good fortune of dining at Michelin-starred restaurants and experiencing the finest cuisine. However, the restaurants I keep returning to are not solely for the food, but for the feeling of delight I experience due to the friendly and thoughtful service.

One of my earliest experiences with attentive service was at the canteen in St Xavier's College in Mumbai. The canteen manager and server, whose name was Uday Shetty but was known as Anna, had an uncanny ability to interpret students' food orders, whether it was a crisis-level request for cheese Maggi at 7am or a celebratory order for "Egg Burma" (a double omelette on toast). He also knew when to discreetly look away from feuding couples or send over a comforting double chai to mend a broken heart.

Even though Anna retired in 2018, just before the college's 150th anniversary, he is still fondly remembered as an essential part of the Xavier's College experience. To this day, I recall his warmth and attention to detail.

Very often, when we talk about great restaurants, the conversation centres on the food. Yet, when we step out to dine, we find ourselves drawn back to familiar haunts, enchanted by the service they provide. It's the manager who welcomes you by name and ushers you in, the server who remembers what you like and brings you an extra portion, the bartender who remembers you like your martinis with gin and not vodka.

Service is the last mile in a restaurant's experience chain. It's also, in my opinion, one of the most invisible aspects of a restaurant.

Sure, the food is important, but how lovely is it when someone notices that you're feeling cold and turns down the air conditioning a notch? Or realises you don't have anywhere to place your bags and brings you another chair?