Small plates

Oh I love it there, DH and I go most times we are in Manchester (he’s from there). I love the gnocchi in cheese sauce served in a Parmesan basket.

I think maybe because small plates can be either a whole restaurant concept or just a way of describing smaller starters/tapas - at my favourite local restaurant they have a small plates section for starters and recommend at least 2 or 3 pp to share, but they all come out at the same time and then you have a normal main and dessert.

I've been to a couple of places where it's the whole concept (random small plates brought out throughout the evening, no mains etc) and didn't love it tbh, so would have appreciated the heads up. I prefer to have everything laid out in front of me so I can choose what to prioritise (sad memories of filling up on nice but not exceptional veg/carb based small plates and then being unable to fit in the gorgeous looking smoked salmon/calamari/steak/prawn etc based dishes they brought out later 😔).

I once went to San Carlo Cichetti in Manchester (not my choice). One of my dishes was peas & pancetta. It came at least 15 minutes before any other dish on a table of 5, and the rest of the restaurant was almost empty. It was nice, but I wasn’t expecting to eat it in its own.

Why on earth would a kitchen do that? Never went back!

Handy to know they will come out randomly ( because then you don't have to complain they've forgotten something).

I was going to start a thread on how pubs need to change their offering. Here all the pubs charge £16+ for a main ( simple burgers) and in excess of £20 for meat and fish. With wine now £8 a glass, it's very expensive and for things most people are making at home now. And would I pay £18 for a pub curry when I can get a more authentic restaurant version for less
I prefer small plates of stuff I don't normally eat.

I have no idea what “small plates” means in a restaurant. Is it like tapas?

OMG a waiter doing his job! What an absolute arsehole!

They do them in Wetherspoons, though they always all come out at the same time 🤣

I find it annoying too but given the number of people on this thread who don’t know about them, I think I will be more accepting of it!

As an aside, I also find myself less annoyed when they say it but also say how many they recommend between however many of you are there, given that the size of small plates varies wildly from restaurant to restaurant.

I meant to add that, unless it is a very high end restaurant, I find portion sizes are very generous these days, so I particularly like the small plates option.

On holiday in Greece recently DH and I often had three starters between us for lunch instead of a large main course each. And we are not competitive under-eaters by any means.

Unless it was a very small pizza, 5 slices is rather a lot of pizza.

I was pretty pissed when I went to the Pizza Hut Buffet and their plates were so small I could only fit 5 slices of pizza on FFS. Had to keep going up.
Stupid.

...

Whaddya mean that's not the same thing? 🤪

I'm under 50 and I had no idea what small plates were before I read this thread.

It’s just tapas, isn’t it?

@Bjorkdidit thank you for that explanation. It looks a great concept in theory but the never knowing whether it comes out together or 15 minutes apart would do it for me.

As my appetite is not that big these days I find a small plates approach quite suits me. Recently I went to a pizza restaurant with some friends and I would never have finished a big pizza but I had a small baked chicken in tomato sauce and some garlic bread and that was fine for me!

Oh thanks!

https://bundobust.com/menu/

Menu with pictures

Never heard of it before this thread so I wouldn't have had a clue and would have appreciated it being explained to me.

Please someone explain this to me. The best quality restaurant I've ever been to in the UK is a Nandos, so clearly I'm missing something

Instead of a large meal, everything is starter size (with some variation, you could literally get a few prawns but sometimes a single plate is pretty much 'lunch' size eg 3 koftas, sauce and bread or a vada pav, which is basically a spicy potato quarter pounder) and you mix and match according to appetite.

But it doesn't need to be expensive, all the dishes in Bundobust are about £7 or they do a lunch deal on a selection that's 2 for £10.

Never heard of small plates.

Have eaten at tapas and sushi places, so understand the apparent concept.

Just never heard it called this.

I like that they tell you how many dishes to order and if they say 2-3, I know that 2 will almost certainly be plenty for me. It's rare that a restaurant portion of anything will be too little for me, but I always have that fear that I'll order something and find I've paid £9 for 3 king prawns and a smear of alloli.

Annoying when both your companion's dishes come out and neither of yours do, so they're unsure whether to start or wait as you have no food and no idea how long it will be.

But we have an excellent small plates Indian street food bar in our city (Bundobust). All the portions are large starter size so even two are quite a decent meal and they always bring all the order together.

As someone who doesn't regularly eat out, I wouldn't have a clue what small plates is. What is it?*

• (In case I'm ever rich enough to eat in such a restaurant).

You have never been to a tapas or sushi bar?

I love eating somewhere with small plates on the menu. I get to try more than one dish, and at lunchtime I don't have to eat a big meal.