It is well known that I am the ranty one at Bitten HQ. Recently there has been a new trend that mildly irked me to begin with, then started to annoy me and now full on gets my ire raging.

As you may have guessed from the title above, it’s small plates. Not tapas or sharing dishes, but small plates. I understand that a restaurant may want to showcase their chef’s array of skills and offer a range of dishes that you and your fellow diners can sample, but that’s what return visits are for!

I don’t want to go somewhere with other people, spend forever deciding how many dishes we need, who can eat what depending on various dietary preferences and then having multiple plates arrive with one slice of meat, a few artfully arranged edible flipping flowers and then have to engage in Fruit Ninja type skills just to get a mouthful. Or if you’re with me, be on the receiving end of a laser edged glare as you snaffle the final piece of that one really good dish. And don’t get me started on that forks return journey from your mouth to that plate….

I want a big plate, all to myself, with my food that I can Ooh and Aah over and share IF I feel so inclined. If there is multiple dishes on a menu that all sound good, then I’ll go with the work wife and we’ll order everything or there’ll be a second visit.

Small plates are for starters and some puddings and that should be all!