The Tamesis
‘Tis the season of holiday entertaining, and we’ve enlisted the help of some of the most stylish hosts we know to lend their party tips for a holiday hosting mini-series. Dress code is festive, please RSVP. À watch!
In the right hands, food can become art—and that’s often the case when Iris Kuo is involved. The chef and food stylist has a way of turning tiny details into visual gold: martinis topped with sugar shards pressed with dried flowers; sausage slices arranged like dominoes; emerald-green ravioli crescents that look like pea pods. But that’s not to say she’s too focused on food. In fact, at her end-of-season holiday party, her low-key approach included shared plates and lots of interactive engagement.
“Encouraging a tactile connection with food is an integral part of my cooking, whether at work or at home,” she says. “I like to create a shared moment where people build their own plates or pass dishes around.” She chose a classic Korean menu (with a few twists) because it’s both her favorite and the food she grew up eating during the holidays. She assembled everything in a thoughtful way that created a visual spark: neon pink radicchio and purple radishes arranged on the plate like a miniature garden, and small bowls piled high with colorful ingredients filled the gaps on the clean white table.
The whole arrangement was a lesson in delicate balance: “The tableware is elegant and refined, but it’s the type of holiday party where you add condiments to the dishes by hand, so it’s not stiff,” Guo explains. “It’s very representative of how I cook at home.”
Ahead, Ms. Kuo shares her hosting philosophy, behind-the-scenes look at dinner party dress code, and unexpected hostess gift ideas that will get you a second invitation.
Photography: Katarzyna A. Sosnowska
Set the scene
“I’m very sensitive to different materials and textures. This actually stems from my Chinese and Korean cuisines, as both cuisines place a strong emphasis on the texture of food and the unique ‘mouthfeel’ in a dish. Growing up with these cuisines gave me a very intimate, visceral understanding of our relationship with food. So I instinctively apply that understanding to menus and ingredient selections, but it also translates into the way I carefully source tableware.”
