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Get set for a feast to remember

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To stage a perfect dinner party, you'll need to bring more to the table than just good food. Yet that isn't always so easy, given the limited confines of a typical Hong Kong home. We asked several local professionals for their face- and space-saving tips on entertaining at home.

The first step should always be a protective one. A well-placed cotton molton cover will help prevent scorches, scratches and spills from making lasting impressions of the wrong sort on your treasured dining table.

Next comes the table cloth. Sylvie Fornage, assistant manager at the Peninsula's Gaddi's restaurant, favours simple white linen with matching, neatly folded or rolled napkins. Besides looking clean and crisp, it will make the table appear bigger, and it will highlight any tableware or food beautifully. 'Also, it is more hygienic, because it can be washed at a high temperature afterwards,' she says.

But if you feel white is too austere for your home entertaining, there's nothing to stop you being more adventurous. Wendy Siu adopts a 'suit yourself ... and your home' approach. The president of Heather & March (an upmarket tableware store in Central) and organiser of culinary, fine dining and home entertaining, and etiquette classes, says people are a lot more casual about dining nowadays. Your tablecloth can be creative, while still harmonising with the room's d?cor, the tableware, and your personality.

So, if people think of you as a bit of a colourful character, why not go for something dramatic? More restrained types will find there are plenty of calm pastel shades, textured fabrics and subtle embroideries to choose from. Just always remember that - as with wall-coverings and furnishing fabrics - big, bold and bright patterns make spaces look smaller and busier, and harder to co-ordinate.

'If it's a fairly casual meal, with fewer guests, courses, utensils and glasses, it's quite acceptable to do away with a table cloth and use place mats instead,' she says. 'But for larger gatherings of at least 10 people, and formal dinners, you should definitely have one. It makes the table look tidier, and somehow it brings the guests together more.'

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