How to Set a Table You’ll Want to Sit At

There is a particular kind of restaurant we all know — the one where the table is so styled it is impossible to actually eat. The plates are too small. The cutlery is too heavy. The candle flickers helpfully into your wine.

The opposite of that restaurant is the table you actually want to sit at. It does fewer things. It is mostly cleared. It carries one or two real flowers, not an arrangement. The plates are heavy enough to feel honest in the hand. The glass is hand-blown, with a slight lean.

Begin with a runner instead of a cloth. Stone-washed linen, the colour of unbleached oats, simply laid down the centre. Stoneware plates — Bitz, or our own Hakone collection — in muted tones that let the food do the colouring.

Cutlery is the place to spend, once. Heavyweight, matte-finish, in a single material. Glassware is the place to be playful: an amber carafe, a clear tumbler, a small decanter for water with a slice of lemon.

Light from below. Two pillar candles, never more than three, placed off-centre. Avoid scent at the table — keep that for the rooms you walk between.

Most importantly, leave room for the dish. The most generous table is the one that knows when to stop.