In a spin: why London's restaurants are giving plates pride of place

From porchetta on paper to cod atop ceramics — dinner is served and it has to look dramatic to stand out, says Susannah Butter
What lies beneath: an oyster at RIGO’

At Made of Dough in Peckham the side dishes come on pieces of paper. Not paper plates but actual sheets of brown paper. Well thought-through flavour combinations — cavolo nero with pomegranate, courgette carpaccio with chilli or locally made fennel salami and gherkins — are piled up without ceremony on minimal thin rectangles of paper. It saves on washing up.

Meanwhile, at Jacob the Angel, the new café from the masterminds behind The Barbary and Palomar in Neal’s Yard, everything is served in disposable crockery.

Restaurants are going extreme — you’re either eating off paper in a throwback to being a student or, at the other end of the scale, your supper is presented on a hefty handmade work of art that almost upstages the food. Think Kitchen Table, which has every plate made to its own specifications; Jikoni, in Marylebone, where chef and founder Ravinder Bhogal uses crockery from her personal collection as well as carefully sourced antiques, and Magpie, in Soho, where there’s expertly sourced Japanese stoneware.

There is a hunger to be unique. Magpie co-founder Sam Herlihy says: “We chose our plates like most places do, a desperate hunt for plates that no one else has. We are happy to serve the same menu item on different plates from order to order.” In a restaurant designed around showmanship — a surprise selection of dishes are brought to you in pairs, and you can choose whether to order them in dinner roulette — it’s only right that the plates are dramatic. Eating is a multisensory experience and something dishy is part of that. These are style plates.

Keeping it basic: sides of cavolo nero, courgette carpaccio and salami at Made of Dough come on sheets of brown paper

It’s not all superficial, though, says Herlihy: “We needed the plateware to be hardwearing. Our final focus is how food eats off the plate — so many nice-looking plates are grim to eat off as your cutlery scrapes over the surface so much, like a blackboard.”

Some restaurants cover all bases. At Salon, in Brixton, amuse bouche of roasted tomato and goat’s curd on sourdough crackers is served on both paper (crumpled brown) and a hand- finished plate, from Habitat. Paper adds a sense of ceremony to the dish — so good they plated it twice.

Catherine Hanly, co-founder of Hot Dinners, says social media is fuelling experimentation. “High-end restaurants have always had beautiful crockery but Instagram has led to more restaurants using pottery. Setting food against a beautiful backdrop makes for a much better picture. And that, in turn, has led to a rise in restaurants branding their plates with a logo so you can see at a glance where the pic was taken.”

Expertly sourced: char with beetroot sauce at Magpie, served on Japanese stoneware

At the other end of the scale, disposables streamline service, explains Hanly: “Given the staffing shortages so many London restaurants are facing, not having to get someone to wash up certainly helps. There’s been an improvement, both in how disposable crockery looks and how eco-friendly it can be.”

At RIGO’ in Fulham, head chef Gonzalo Luzarraga often buys new crockery each time he changes the menu. He says he wants every piece to add a personal touch. Plates come from all over the world, from Portugal to Finland, as befits a restaurant inspired by global cooking.

Many cult plates are available to buy — Soho House sells its crockery and Sqirl in Los Angeles’s blue-and-white designs are as popular as its French toast with rhubarb compôte.

Peckham’s “plates” look strikingly simple by comparison. They don’t work with saucier dishes — be careful with the carpaccio if you don’t want it on your clothes — but they certainly are memorable. Watch out, next they’ll be shaking up cutlery.

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