Fine dining meets fast food at one Aussie McDonald's

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Would you like a knife and fork with that?

In a world first, a McDonald's franchise in Australia is offering full table service for its dine-in customers, complete with china plates, glassware and metal utensils in place of the more usual paper boxes and plastic.

Meals are also brought to the table by waiters and waitresses, and diners can daintily dab their lips with cloth napkins after eating.

"It's very popular," store manager Michelle Steain told Reuters of the five-week trial service. "Everyone seems to be loving it."

Glenn and Katia Dwarte, owners of the franchise in Warilla, some 100 km (62 miles) south of Sydney, sought permission for the idea after their habit of serving Mr Dwarte's parents with cutlery and plates caught the attention of other diners.

The dine-in offer is open to customers who purchase premium meals between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. each day.

This is not the first time that the Dwartes, who have owned the store for 20 years, have pioneered innovations for the fast food chain.

Last year, they caught the attention of McDonald's head office in Chicago after creating an iPhone app that allows customers to place an order and pay in advance before they arrive in store.

Dining-in is the second world first for McDonald's Australia after it last month temporarily changed signs at selected stores across the country to "Macca's," the affectionate local nickname for the chain.

(Reporting By Michael Sin, Editing By Jane Wardell and Elaine Lies)