This month's guest blogger for 'World Restaurant Trends' is Christopher Barber,
managing director at Catering Business Food Solutions in London. He shares with us his
expertise in restaurant consulting and explains how 'table top' is just as
important as 'table'.
These days, what your food is displayed on has become as important as recipes, provenance, seasonality, sustainability, and all of the other ‘buzz’ words associated with food.
For
a food business, finding an ‘edge’ has never been more important, and even for
us as food consultants, it can be difficult to identify what within the mix has
provided that edge…and ergo made the business a success.
So,
we take a look at every angle, and using the now famous GB cycling coach Dave
Brailsford’s ‘marginal gains’ strategy, aim to improve every aspect by a few
per cent. Put those few per cents together, and combined you can see a massive
overall difference…all based on a marginal gain on every element of the dining
experience.
So
now that we have established (or theorised) that ‘table top’ is as important as
‘table’, what are we seeing that is making the difference? Restaurateurs these
days tend to have an idea of service ware before they have even started looking
to purchase; this is helpful as the options are far greater than 25 years ago,
when a plain white plate was the norm. Having said that, some of us can still
remember the early days of the Nouvelle
Cuisine, where minuscule
portions were set daintily in the centre of a huge white plate, this was ground
breaking at the time. (Ah, the good old days).
Often
you will see great lengths taken to suggest that cutlery and crockery is not
actually new (though it is) and ‘rustic’ collections such as Churchill Stoneware can
be found in anything from uber cool café to Michelin starred dining room.
I
believe it was Jamie Oliver who elevated the reintroduction of enamelware into a period of near national
dominance; yep, those blue rimmed rectangular dishes and canteen style plates
are seen in many catering and café/restaurant environments. However their urban
cool is not always appreciated, at a recent presentation of enamelware to a
client, we were questioned whether we were playing a trick on them…..surely
you cannot be serving food on plates that we feed our dogs from? Style is of course, subjective,
and whilst I think enamelware has ‘peaked’ in popularity, I have seen some very nice
china versions of the
infamous enamelware, so perhaps the style will live on in a slightly more
gentrified way, and certainly not for the hounds to feast from.
Tableware
that matches isn’t even that important, it is perfectly acceptable to throw
together a collection of eclectic styles, patterns and textures. This kind of
strategy – either using rustic or eclectic mixes of tableware, helps take the
formality out of formal dining, helping the guest to relax, enjoy and feel
comfortable. I have a theory that the more comfortable you feel in your
surrounds, the more likely you are to enjoy the dining experience.
Everything
has its day, and today's cool can be tomorrow's naff – so when
deciding your table top, just beware of items that will have a limited
shelf life…as you will be replacing them before you know it; but be assured,
wait long enough, and they will be back in fashion at some point (you may just
need a large warehouse and a lot of patience).
Practicality
is an important factor, especially in mid-scale and volume
establishments; for example I love bone and wooden handled cutlery –
problem is that often it tends to be less robust, and after a number of
vigorous dishwasher cycles, handles can come adrift.
Plate
shapes come and go; ovals, square and rectangular trays all have their uses,
and the current culinary trend of spreading food across the plate as opposed to
piling high demands specific plates.
The
glass clip top ‘kilner’ jar is almost the accepted new home for a
prawn cocktail, a pate and even desserts such as mousses and possets. They come
with a range of enamel coloured tops, and are doubly useful as with the lid
clipped down, keep items in great condition. Downside is that they are
eminently ‘nickable’, and without doubt these highly collectibles have found
their way into many a UK home.
Vintage
is currently in vogue; it is a nice way of describing stuff that appears old
enough to be valuable and interesting, but not so old to be antique, and
generally this features an array of cutlery and crockery styles from the 1960’s
right up to the 90’s. An example is the Burleigh pottery, I believe at one
point on the verge of extinction, but now right back in business thanks largely
to the vision and style of Ben and Hugo Warner at Benugo.
We
travel out to Romania to help out the premier caterers and restaurateurs in the
country, Flavours Food
Design. In their team, they have a guy called
Daniel Scripca, not just a chef, but an extraordinary creative genius. This guy
collects bits of junk, wood, car bonnets and crafts them himself into service
ware. This kind of innovation does not go unnoticed, and often forms the
inspiration to the mainstream tableware designers. In recent years we have seen
diverse materials such as wood, slates and seashells fashioned into service
ware, so whilst china, glass and porcelain remain important, the table top
houses an array of material and texture.
Culinary
pioneers such as Heston Blumenthal, Ferran Adria and Rene Redzepi have bespoke
service ware for each and every dish – especially designed to provide design,
imagination and fun – and in some cases to improve the eating of a dish. In the
same way that Riedel and other top end glass manufacturers
create a receptacle specific to the grape variety (pointing the wine to the
most sensory part of the mouth to enhance the taste); plates, bowls and spoons
can play the same role.
The
innovation is limited to cutting edge restaurant chefs, it is really important
for caterers, who are constantly looking for the next idea to display their
food, to stay ahead of the game. Rhubarb are
a great example of a high end caterer with a great design team - they
have a team headed by JR Marland, who spends his life creating events and
matching table top and design to the food theme – he has an Aladdin’s Cave of
past and present plates, glassware, cutlery and culinary props.
I don’t think there is any right or wrong for the table – I would
like to see an end to the almost exclusive ‘plating’ of dishes. Particularly at
parties, banquets and gatherings, I would love to see a return to platters of
food brought to the table and elegantly served by skilled waiting staff. This
would reignite the market for large dishes and platters, and would also require
having plates that look good with nothing on them…who knows, one day this may
come back into vogue, I live in hope.
Nice post
ReplyDelete