Two courses in a restaurant. Are you ordering....?

[noblegiraffe]

....a starter and a main, or a main and dessert?

When I go to a restaurant, I'm scanning the main courses and then looking at the dessert menu before I've even ordered. I don't even look at the starter menu, as far as I'm concerned those items would delay your dinner and probably ruin your appetite so that you had no room for pudding.

When I've been out, and someone asks the question 'is anyone having a starter?' generally there's a shake of heads and we get on with looking at the good stuff.

In my mind, the starters have always been there for people who feel like they could tackle the whole menu and are headed for 3 courses. Someone who has a starter and a main but no pudding has simply failed to complete their meal.

But I've heard tell of people who would deliberately choose to have a starter and a main, knowing that this would leave no room for dessert. They prefer it that way. Savoury over sweet.

These people must be ultra-rare, right? Who in their right mind chooses garlic mushrooms over chocolate brownie? (I struggled to even think of an example of a starter, so rarely do I look at that bit). Or are there lots of people out there who are regularly crushed when no one else wants a starter, the same as I am when people say they couldn't possibly have dessert?

Please vote! (Note: People who would only have one course and declare themselves full to the brim don't get a vote).

Cheese isn't a dessert though!

It’s a very common dessert. They don’t have to always be sweet.

I don’t crave sweet stuff, at least not often. It doesn’t particularly satisfy me in the same way that something savoury like crisps, cheese, nuts etc would. Of course like anyone else I’ll have the occasional bit of chocolate or ice cream but it’s rare that I actively seek it out. Sugary stuff doesn’t excite me and never has

Dessert is sweet!

Starter and main.
I don't have a sweet tooth

Maybe. But cheese boards are often on the dessert menu and chosen by those of us who aren't fussed about sweet food.

I very rarely crave sweet things. Not fussed on chocolate.
If I do want sweet things I'd have some haribos.

Starter and main!

Cheese can be served as the dessert course. Go to any good restaurant and you will find it there. Just because you like to end your meal with a sweet treat doesn’t mean that the whole world must follow.

I don’t see how it’s so baffling to you that some people simply aren’t sugar fans OP.

I've always done starter and main hardly ever had Dessert. However in the last few years I've kinda changed this and now often have main and pudding.

I can never finish a main meal so having a starter means the main won't even be half eaten. Although I've just always done this. Growing up it was something my own family did and same with dh so we continued to do the same. We are changing it up for our family lol.

I often can't finish the dessert either so sometimes share with dh but he doesn't like sharing 🤣

Starter and main.

I don't have a sweet tooth at all. Love baking cakes but never want to eat them myself and can't remember the last time I had chocolate - probably Christmas! My only sweet 'weakness' is gummy sweets and I don't think you can get a plate of Haribo for dessert

It really depends on the restaurant. (And what the other people you are eating with are having - it’s annoying if only one person has a starter.) In an Italian I would always have tiramisu for pudding and no starter, in a Chinese restaurant I would never even look at the sweet menu but we tend to order starters to share. I do enjoy a cheeseboard too.

Everyone is different, I am a huge chocolate lover but I can also understand everyone has different tastes! My dad never craves or wants sweet things, always passes on the box of chocs being handed around and would never have desert. My best friend actively dislikes chocolate.

Can't vote because I'm on the app but I used to always be main and desert but since meeting my husband I'm firmly on starter and main. Hardly ever get desert!

I am a savoury person. I love starters. I sometimes have two or three as a meal and for that reason I really love tapas or small plate style dinners.

I don't like most dessert. Even if it is something I like, I don't want it after a meal. Unless it is cheese.

If I am in a restaurant with people who are dessert eaters over starters, my heart sinks.

I don't have a sweet tooth. So no- I don't snack on chocolate. I don't like ice cream. Or sugary things (this makes drinks difficult sometimes as most are far too sweet for me!) I don't like sweets.
For dessert at our wedding we had red wine poached pears- as they were the most savoury option which I could manage a bite or two of so as not to be impolite. We had a "cake" of 5 cheese truckles.

Dessert is simply not for me. So my answer to the op- is starter and main always.

Ohhhh yes love a cheese board. The only time I ever a “dessert”!

I don’t eat out often and when I do I usually arrive feeling hungry and always enjoy a starter. I occasionally finish with a coffee but rarely have a dessert.

Starter and main

and yes, i absolutely would choose garlic mushrooms over brownie. I don't like brownie much and find the puddings in most eateries very disappointing. I wish more places did the little mouthful with a coffee that they do in pizza express, that's perfect

You can in our local “World Food” buffet 😆
We were there last week and my grandson arrived back from the dessert section with a plate of Haribos. They were by the chocolate fountain along with waffles , mini donuts and all sorts of sweet snacks. I was kind of glad he was going home to his own house after we’d eaten.

Starter, main, cheese, dessert please

You have to choose! Sweet or savoury?

I love that! Our local independent pizzeria serves mini tiramisu in an espresso cup - it’s just perfect. So much nicer than a massive, stodgy dessert

I’d need to know what the desserts are.

chocolate fudge cake, Eton mess, lemon meringue pie, panna cotta, ice cream - I’ll have a starter

sticky toffee pudding, churros, crumble, lemon tarte or a nice sounding chocolate dessert - I’ll have a pud

I prefer puddings, but as PP have said, they are often pants. Unless it’s cheesecake.