Restaurants are innovating with new dishes to follow the ever-changing trends. The way food was presented decades ago is eons different from what we get now and the importance of “you eat with your eyes” is more pinnacle than ever. Yet sometimes the presentation goes a little too far. Here is a compilation of some of the weirdest ways people have been served food — you’ll wish for a plain old plate.
Decades ago, plates were generally the norm, even if they were styrofoam or paper. People lament about their dining experiences on the subreddit, We Want Plates. And just as the page’s title implies, people just want to eat on plates without it being a hassle.
Take the nature trend. While natural presentations are supposed to accentuate the food, this butter spread you get with your starter helping of bread is a bit too natural. Perched on top of a rock makes it hard to eat. As you press down with a knife or bread, the butter presses into the tiny nooks and grooves of the rock. Additionally, it’s hard to imagine the rock, with all it’s cracks and grooves, is cleaned enough for the next round of guests.
Many places are taking to the slab of rock or slate as a sleek and dark background for serving food, but it doesn’t work for everything.
Take this dessert for instance, which is balanced precariously on a thin slab. It’s more of a game of keeping it from falling onto the table, which is hard with something soft and potentially melting like this duo of overly soft dots of whipped cream and molten fudge cake. The lack of contrast between the chocolate and the black-gray slab doesn’t make it more appealing.
Here a delicate amount of what looks like springtime soup is served in an onion on a bed of salt. While the presentation is pretty, serving anything in a raw onion will overpower any other flavor. There isn’t enough of the soup to diffuse the raw onion flavor, so you better brush your teeth afterward!
Wood slabs only work if they are A — treated and B — keep the food from falling onto the table or floor. At this vegan restaurant, the untreated wood with knicks and grooves in it does nothing to contain the beet juices and vegetable liquid from spilling onto the sides and all over the place.
While dessert can look like a crowned jewel, that doesn’t mean it needs to be stored in a literal jewelry box. The fake moss is set into the box while the dessert is placed on top of the glass lid. It looks pretty, but the sound of silverware against vintage glass doesn’t sound like a melody.
A sprinkling of herbs or salt is the traditional garnish to french fries, this restaurant decided to do away with the garnishes and go all out with presentation, serving the french fries in pots inserted into mesh running sneakers. While the fries are not in direct contact with the shoe, they’re still not completely clean. If grease and sauce from the fries spill onto the fabric, the stains and smells get absorbed into the fabric for other later guests to enjoy as an old-greasy aroma.