A skilled front of house person is of equal importance to the food and furnishings.

I snapped these French waiters on the Rue St Honore  in Paris and discovered The Perfect Nippy leafing through "The Art of Looking Sideways" (Phaidon). According to the book, Lyons Cornerhouses were an extensive chain of teashops in the UK founded at the turn of the previous century and closed down during the swinging sixties. The Lyon's waitress, or 'Nippy' as she was known, was formally dressed and Lyon's worked extremely hard to maintain the dress code as expressed in this instruction issued to its staff in 1937.

If only such attention to detail was applied to the middle ground dining scene here in Australia. Whilst the casual uniform category has been reinvented  by the likes of Cargo Crew there is a long way to go with regard to the service skills of those wearing the designer garb.