How to host the perfect autumn dinner party at home

Wedged between the fleeting thrills of summer and winter’s doona coma sits our most neglected season. Autumn, in all its subtlety, has arrived. And if summer screams barbecues while winter whines for nights in with the slow cooker, what should the next few months hold for keen entertainers?

“It’s a time of transition,” says Matti Fallon, current chef at rotating restaurant Broadsheet Kitchen at Saint Crispin. “Now is the time we transfer from beer into wine … always red wine.”

No matter what you’re planning to serve your guests, Fallon suggests keeping an eye out for incoming seasonal produce. This time of year his favourites are barramundi (“from up north”), hand-picked pine mushrooms and brussels sprouts. He even has a tip for making brussels sprouts palatable for those adult children among us: “Add bacon. Everything with bacon.”

With vegetables such as cauliflower, carrots and parsnips in season, it’s the perfect time for a roast. For the more adventurous, Fallon will be serving up his Kung Pao chicken with cashews, which he says nails the “autumn vibe”.

Curating your perfect autumnal evening should involve all the senses and, while the menu is certainly a prime consideration, a solid music plan is a must. After all, no one likes a quiet party.

Head of music culture and editorial at Spotify Australia and New Zealand Alicia Sbrugnera says your ideal soundtrack to the night will depend on the “mood you’re aiming to capture”. If you’re lucky enough to have indoor and outdoor entertaining spaces with separate speakers, one option is to plan different playlists as the evening moves from one space to another.

Consider the flow of a party over an evening – as guests arrive and get settled they are less likely to want the kind of bangers that will get a dance floor started, but those could certainly come later on. If you are gunning for a dance floor, remember guests are more likely to have a boogie where they feel warm and safe – so keep it inside and dim the lights.

Sbrugnera names Spotify playlists such as Broad Chords, Always Perfect and Even Flow as particularly popular on Saturday nights when people are entertaining.

“I think as long as you’re curating for a specific moment or ‘vibe’, that’s going to be a great playlist to entertain,” she says. Naturally, Sbrugnera recommends Spotify Premium for the ability to skips songs that aren’t going down well with guests, and for ad-free music that won’t interrupt the conversation.

Once you’ve set the mood with a can’t-lose playlist and satiated your guests with seasonal produce and a smooth red, there’s still room for an autumnal cheese plate to top off the evening.

“Go for big, rich, nutty, cheeses,” says cheesemonger Anthony Femia of Maker & Monger at Prahran Market. “Especially for all your duck and pinot nights.”

To pair with the medium-bodied reds everyone seems to be drinking this time of year, Femia recommends Ossau Iraty – a rich and nutty sheep’s milk cheese – or Epoisses, a washed rind cheese.

A cheese board should look as good as it tastes and, fortunately, with the changing of the seasons comes an array of orange and red foliage, perfect for decorating a dining table or entertaining space. If traditional vases aren’t your style, try using old wine bottles or skip the container altogether and lay some auburn-coloured leaves and smaller branches along the length of your table.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a purveyor of oozing raclette and stringy cheddar, Femia believes firmly in indulgence at this time of year. “You have to enjoy yourself before the rain and winter kicks in,” he says. “Put your bikini body away. Worry about it in November.”