Why do they serve bite-sized meals in cool restaurants?

In a more exclusive restaurant, it is common for special dishes to be served in smaller portions. In such cases, you can only find a morsel of food in the middle of the plate, covered with some brightly colored sauce. The result is spectacular, but according to many, it is rather spectacularly small. As some people used to say: "in our country, such a plate is washed away without a word".
 

According to domestic experts, not much. In any case, it's worth looking at what arguments tend to come up that can color the picture. Because, according to the professionals, there is a practical reason and explanation for the small portions and the relatively high price.
 

In a fine dining restaurant, the menu is designed for 6-8 servings of food, here the principle of "a lot of small goes a long way" prevails, rather than one big one. In the words of gastro specialist András Jókuti: "When I get a bean soup from my mother, I would be sad if she gave it to me in a small cup, but when the chef plans a meal, he can only do it in small portions over several courses, since you can't eat eight large ones."

 

The menu here is always a composition: it has an introduction, a climax and a fade-out - on the other hand, if we are talking about cooking or home cooking, economy is usually an important aspect both in terms of money and time, the hostess or host cannot put together long menu lines, she tries to take one course at a time to satisfy the whole family. In fine dining, on the other hand, eating is a more artistic operation that requires a comfortable reception, in which flavors and not portions play the main role. During the tasting such a set of dishes, the guests are often analytical, so they linger over each course and the wine served with it.. And with the help of food served in several smaller portions, the chef tries to show as much of his own talent and the style of the restaurant as possible.. From this point of view, the menu is able to cover perhaps the largest spectrum, presenting the most colors, flavors and variety.

 

Of course, not everyone has to like this gastronomic genre. Also using Jókuti's musical analogy: opera is not for everyone, but that doesn't mean you should speak out against it on every existing forum and instead exalt pop concerts, for example.
 

There is also a significant price gap between the two genres, which is why many consider fine dining overpriced. However, there are several explanations for the exceptionally high price. According to one typical opinion, the main reason is to be found in the quality of the raw materials. Restaurant consultant Csaba Hartai once exemplified one of the simplest ingredients, potatoes, in the case of the Kistücsök restaurant in Balatonszemes.. The owner of the restaurant selected the right Somogyi variety for himself at the research institute in Keszthely, and has been growing it for himself ever since. This is much more expensive, but in this way local ingredients and flavors are added to the dishes. But in the same way, you have to pay for a talented chef, for quality meat, parts of which are not 100% simply thrown away in many more expensive restaurants, i.e. sacrificed on the altar of quality.

Star chef Tamás Széll, for example, interprets fine dining more broadly than usual, according to him, small portions are not a requirement, a good catfish stew in a pot can also be "fine dining". "The boundaries in gastronomy have never been as blurred as they are now," he says. János Mizsei, the owner of Mák Bistro in Budapest, says: "I think that the purpose of a fine dining restaurant is to create an experience. And the experience starts from the material and the style. In the past, fine dining was considered to be fine dining where the service was served with tongs and served with white gloves, but the tongs are only one object. That's not what the experience is born from," said the specialist.
 

However, if someone was not born to be a star chef and cannot afford someone to put together a personalized menu at the weekend, there is no need to be discouraged either! With Assistent Original, we can become chefs from time to time, because of the many kitchen operations that we can entrust to it. There's nothing left to do: on to fine dining!