'Small plates'

I often have 2 starters instead of a main. I often fancy them rather more. And if they turn out a bit small, there’s room for pudding, too.

It's pervading though.

‘Small plates’ isn’t a new dining concept.
Tom Kerridge has served this style for many years in his Michelin starred pub in Marlow.

www.thecoachmarlow.co.uk/menu

It seems to be all the rage here. Very trendy. Obviously, I'm not! I put up those menus to illustrate what I meant. Sharing platters are also v popular. We went out for dinner with a younger couple and they chose one for us all. Lots of posh cheeses, cold meats, nuts and bit and pieces of raw veg. We went home quite hungry but with indigestion!

I wonder whether, with more and more people choosing to have 2 starters, rather than starter and main course, restaurants are just choosing an alternative generic name for the group of dishes previously described as starters.

I haven't seen the 'small plate' description very often, but when it is on the menu, there is no separate heading for starters and the dishes offered on the 'small plate' menu are similar the the dishes previously described as 'starters'

Lots of restaurants I have been too lately seem to use a tea plate for things other than a full meal so the amount is smaller ie I use to get a jacket potato with a good salad, crisps and coleslaw in a pot ….now on a teaplate a smaller jacket with perhaps just a lettuce leaf or a bit of coleslaw Definitely cutting portions down while putting prices up
I ve never seen a menu with a small plate section obviously now got out to here yet

Don’t like the look of them at all. Just restaurants being scungy I reckon. We do have ‘Senior’s Meals’ which are a lot cheaper and a bit smaller but not that much, still pretty big. You have to prove you are a Senior and show your Senior’s card.

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Here's a couple of the sorts of menus I'm meaning.

I haven’t seen small plates here though we do have tapas. If you want a small meal you usually just have an entrée. Mostly the serves are on the large side, can’t often manage to eat everything. Most people share Chinese food, Thai food and Indian food in fact probably all sorts of Asian foods, except for the starters and desserts. Much more interesting than having one stonking great plateful of the same stuff.

For years I've been having starter and dessert. In restaurant anything more is too much for me.

I do that too in places that have starters, mains and puddings. The places I was referring to in my opening post only offer small plates. It's up to diners to choose individually or mix and match. I don't like this.

I often have one starter as a starter,and then another as a main course.

Lord above! Is this to save on washing up?

We eat small meals, at home. Soup plates, salad plates, bread plates, keeps everything easy. Not impressed by extras needing binning.

My friend and I often have the ‘3 plate option ‘ ….you get a choice of about 8 plates ….choose three….add the dips ….and share with friend . No knives or forks …only fingers!

I love small plates as I have a very small appetite. They are lovely to share too if you get two or three. My poor husband may not agree, he has had to share his food with me all our life!
Have one as a starter and one as a main!

Having travelled widely in the middle east where large meals are often "shared" I have no problem with this. People in some cultures (eg Morocco) eat with their fingers although western visitors are usually offered a spoon!

I grew up in HK and was amazed when I went out with friends here for a Chinese meal.
They didn’t realise that it’s a sharing kind of meal. I was very disgruntled to discover I had to eat all ‘mine’ myself🤷🏼‍♀️

I've always detested the vile habit of 'sharing' my order with others!!! I order what I want. I don't want what others have ordered! We once had 90% of both our Thai meals scoffed by a very greedy ex-friens(!) Much to FH annoyance and disgust as greedy guts had ordered some white hot chillies dish that he loves so we couldn't even share his!!!! Another time I went to Chinese place with new work colleagues, when I returned from drying out my trousers after an incident with a pint, I discovered that the bosses wife and he drunk mate had demolished my fish leaving a crash site plate of leftovers!!! I was livid! They slurred" have some of our then!" Theirs was in bits half eaten and full of stuff I didn't like!! Revolting habit invented by greedy guts!!

Much prefer small plates. I am small myself and can rarely finish a main. Small caters for people like me. I used to have to ask for a child's portion and some places weren't happy to do that.

I’m pleased that several of our local pubs offer small versions of some of their meals. I often find the standard version too much.

I think I'll give restaurants that have those a miss. The fashion will change and there are other places offering a more traditional service.

Fairislecable

I recently attended a dinner for 10 people and the menu was small plates. It was very difficult to order from a very mixed group.

Some people ordered pies which were normal sized but tricky to try and share and other seafood was minuscule and only suitable for one.

However the desserts were massive.

I really didn’t enjoy it at all - I won’t be going back.

It's really not do-able for that number of people, as you found out, if the small plates are defined for 'sharing' - as even if they are normal plates everyone wants a taste of everything! Sharing is for up to 4 people I'd say.

For me small plates are a way of mixing and matching, rather than for sharing.

Small plates can be far too small. Still, if I'm not very hungry (a rare event) I'll just have a starter and dessert - so I have no need for them.

For anyone who wants to know.

www.macmillandictionary.com/buzzword/entries/small-plate.html