to loathe the current fad for serving meals on wooden boards?

[DustBunnyFarmer]

The worst was a fancy local bistro serving my steak and chips with pepper sauce on a board. There was no way I could pour the pepper sauce over the steak without serious risk of run-off. I ended up dipping each mouthful in the jug of pepper sauce before eating it. Same restaurant served veggie meals on the same boards (there didn't seem to be any differentiation). Totally unsatisfactory. I also think chopping boards are not particularly hygienic. Bleurgh. Also, at the kind of prices swanky bistros charge, you would think they could afford proper crockery. The sooner this fad wanes, the better IMO.

I saw an elderly couple complain about these boards when we were out for lunch on friday. They argued that they are unhygienic. I have to agree. How on earth do they clean them. Can they be immersed in water? I don't imagine they could go in a dishwasher.

I agree with you, it's ridiculous.

I have been fortunate that I haven't had it, but I had lunch with a friend and what she ordered came out on a chopping board. We were both about it.

I have decided that if it happens, I will just ask for a plate.

YANBU

I so agree.

My FIL demanded a plate.
I got my fish and chips served on one and the vinegar and lemon juice just soaked into it...

Never thought about the veggie options soaking in the meat juices. Yummmmm

I hate it, especially when the chips/sides come in separate little pots argh! I'm sure it enables them to do smaller portions. I'll just ask for a plate next time.

Yanbu, I always wonder how they clean it properly. It isn't very appetizing when you can actually see previous knife marks on boards

It's so they can hide the piss poor small portions. If they put those tiny portions on a plate we'd all walk out, but on a silly board it looks a bit more, small board see.

Oh yes these wind me up immeasurably.

We ate at a "gastropub" (hideous poncy word) where DS aged 6 at the time was served his fish and chips on a board complete with chips in a miniature chip basket. Looked lovely but as we were at a small wobbly table, I kept waiting for everything to fall over, luckily it didn't.

For future customers benefit, I tried to explain politely why it wasn't a great idea to serve children's meals like that but got the Churchill nodding dog thing that people do when they don't give a toss and aren't listening to you.

It's annoying. Also the boards are so heavy I can't pass them around tye table easily to,share things, and they're so big the tables get crowded. I hate the slate serving boards even more though.

I do think YANBU but wooden chopping boards have apparently been proven scientifically to have a natural antibacterial effect.

I still think it's bollocks though.

Clarification - The chopping board as plate thing is bollocks, not the science bit. I wouldn't know.

YANBU.

Our favourite place started to do this but we always insist on a plate now.

Yep. Piss off Jamie Oliver.

I worked in one of his restaurants as a teen. Those boards were horrible to carry. Everyone constantly dropped anything. If you're eating at a Jamie Oliver regularly, I can guarantee that your food (starters usually) has hit the floor and been served anyway.

Haven't come across wooden boards, they obviously haven't got this far west yet. We do get food served on slates though, which I loathe. It's like eating off a roof tile.

A bistro near us used to put paper on the board and then the food on top. It doesn't work.

Urgh I hate this.

I had a steak and ale pie type thing in it's own little dish, the gravy in a small gravy boat, peas in a little dish and the chips in one of those ridiculous baskets, all on a wooden board, recently. It was so awkward as the only option really was to dunk the chips in the gravy.

I hate those, the slates and the new fad for food crammed on to small oblong plates.
What was wrong with big round or square plates? They are so much easier to eat from.
DS (age 4) was given his meal on a small oblong plate last time we ate out and it was too narrow for him to cut his meal on, so there was food shooting off in all directions. He got quite frustrated in the end and just ate with his fingers, and I can't say I blame him.
I agree it is just a way to make it look like we are getting more than we actually are for our money.

Glad to know I'm not alone on this one. Despite the bistro place being walking distance from our house and serving really delicious food, I haven't been back since - all 3 of my courses (calamares, steak and cheese cake) came out on boards last time - thankfully not the same one, but still! They had feedback cards on the table, which I used to express my displeasure. I might ring ahead and see if they've started using plates yet, as we may return if they have.

The Star Inn the City in York is ridiculous in this respect. They serve food on boards and in flat caps. Yes, flat caps. I went there in April and they obviously haven't changed a thing since, because Jay Rayner wrote a brilliant review of it in today's Observer. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/oct/05/star-inn-the-city-restaurant-review-jay-rayner

Ah how could I forget slates Indridcold because everyone obviously wants to eat their dinner of a roof tile rather than a plate .

I think slates are marginally worse than chopping boards, I always worry I'm going to crack them with my knife.

I hate these boards. I always ask for my meal to be served on a plate if it comes on a board. The thought of bacteria living in the cuts made by knives in the wood freaks me out.

Crikey stickerrocks, food in flat caps - that really does sound unhygienic

Can I add using jam jars as drinking glasses? They aren't designed for drinking out of and are clumsy to use.
I'm old enough to remember the wooden board fad when it was last in fashion back in the 1970s - I reckon that eventually all the boards went manky and smelly and were ditched for ceramic plates so hopefully this is but a passing fad.

I send it back and ask for a plate, and for all the food to be served on a plate not the chips in a wee metal bucket and salad in a shell or any of that shit.