Before COVID-19 hit, we had many more options when it came to dining at restaurants. Even if your local restaurants are doing their best to remain open during the pandemic, more people are choosing to stay home in the interest of public health.

To help you make the most of a difficult time, we’ve compiled this list of tips on how to make dining at home feel like restaurant dining. With just a bit of effort, staying in can feel every bit as special as a night on the town. In fact, we hope you’ll continue to take our advice even after the crisis has passed.

Choose Your Cuisine

Before you make any other decisions, decide on a theme. It’s a good idea to start with the menu, so you can build the rest of the night around the cuisine. Some fun ideas include Chinese, Ethiopian, Thai, Mexican, or English pub fare.

Once you’ve decided what you’ll be eating, it’s time to choose whether to prepare the food at home or order takeout from a restaurant.

Adventurous cooks might prefer the hands-on approach, which will give your kitchen a cozy, bustling ambiance before the meal. Bear in mind, however, that you might have difficulty with the timing if you’ve opted for multiple courses.

If you have a busy schedule, or if you enjoy exotic dishes that are hard to prepare at home, takeout might be the better option.

Create a Menu

Printed menus will make the whole experience feel more authentic. Even if you’re not planning on offering a variety of choices, you can describe the ingredients of each dish in colorful detail. If you’re preparing the meal yourself, come up with a fun, catchy name for your “restaurant” and put it in bold lettering at the top.

Speaking of lettering, make sure your font matches whatever cuisine you’ve chosen. You can also write out the menus by hand, or enlist a creative friend to do it for you.

Splurge on Settings

Now is the perfect time to invest in some new tableware. Inexpensive plates and glasses can be found in many department stores or big-box retail outlets, and it’s usually easy to locate a style that will fit with a certain cuisine.

Choose wide, deep bowls for hearty Italian pasta dishes, or long narrow plates for sushi or dim sum. Small square plates are ideal for showcasing salads and desserts. If you’re serving bread with the meal, select a nice cutting board and a shallow receptacle for butter or dipping oil.

You can also customize your glassware to reflect the mood. Stemless wineglasses are popular in restaurants because they’re less prone to breakage. Beer drinkers can pour their libations into a pint glass instead of chugging straight from the bottle.

Finally, remember that if you’ve selected Thai or Chinese food for the menu, a nice set of chopsticks will always come in handy.

Set the Scene

The configuration of your table is nearly as important as the food you’ll be eating. This is not the time to dine in front of the TV with plates balanced on your laps. Instead, try to create an atmosphere that will feel entirely new.

For example, the Japanese are notorious for eating while sitting on the floor before a low table. Put a couple of cushions around the coffee table, decorate it with a few low candles and a vase of flowers, and you’re ready to go. If you’ve chosen an English pub menu, try transforming a section of the kitchen counter into a bar using high stools.

Share the Experience

Social media users will often update their status to brag about where and what they’re eating. Just because this isn’t a traditional restaurant, that doesn’t mean you can’t do the same.

Post creatively staged pics of your meal on Instagram, Facebook, or whatever app you prefer. Be sure to include the name of the eatery, even if you’ve invented it yourself. Who knows? Your friends might be intrigued enough to ask you where this amazing place is located.

Finishing Touches

After dessert, don’t be tempted to get the dishes out of the way. Pretend this is like any other evening out, and just relax for the rest of the night. After all the hard work you’ve put in, you owe it to yourself.

Have a wonderful evening, and bon appetit!