I have always had a thing about slate as it goes through me when a knife touches the slate, also it's really easy for food to fall off the slate.
I thought this story about a restaurant serving food on wooden slabs was interesting. £50,000 fine. 
Incidentally, I now ask when in a restaurant what the food will be served on and if it's not a plate I ask for a plate.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-e...-birmingham-42582900
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Hmmm interesting
I have had food served on all manner of silly things - all image, no substance.
Wooden boards 'incapable' of being kept clean is worrying.
I've sent cutlery back that's dirty AND I've seen restaurants change hands at alarming rates.
Makes you wonder what's going on.
I like it when you can see the cooking being done
It is a concern to complain
Look at the chef that 'spiked' the vegan meal.
Disgusting
There was a trend a few years ago (which I thankfully missed) of replacing "boring" plates with ridiculous serving methods such as shovels.
I noticed that the restaurant in Birmingham was a "Grill": there seems to be a bit of a recent fashion for that sort of place to serve on wooden boards, although in my experience they generally cover it with some sort of greaseproof paper (the sort of thing used for "basket" meals) or similar.
I'm still not happy about that, though: a basket meal is one thing (you're mainly just picking food out by hand or fork), but with a board you're cutting down on it - with the result that the cover gets cut-up too...
Saint posted:It is a concern to complain
Look at the chef that 'spiked' the vegan meal.
Disgusting
Agreed.
We Brits have a (well deserved) reputation for not complaining enough about poor service, but sadly these sorts of incidents rather suggest we've often got good cause not to do so. 
Baz posted:I agree ...especially about wooden boards ....very unhygienic imo
No wooden serving plates or chopping boards in my house
Yogi19 posted:Baz posted:I agree ...especially about wooden boards ....very unhygienic imo
No wooden serving plates or chopping boards in my house
Me either, there's nothing in my house that's not plain and simple for putting food on 
A plate and cutlery is all that is needed 
Wooden chopping boards are much kinder on your knives. All mine are clearly marked 'cooked' and 'raw' on each side, so there's no chance of raw meat contaminating bread for example. I scrub them after use and pour boiling water over them once a week.
Sometimes presenting food on something different can be interesting, but I agree that it has got to ridiculous proportions. I always remember Gordon Ramsay calling some dishes in a restaurant 'Barbie's swimming pool'.
Bursar posted:Wooden chopping boards are much kinder on your knives. All mine are clearly marked 'cooked' and 'raw' on each side, so there's no chance of raw meat contaminating bread for example. I scrub them after use and pour boiling water over them once a week.
Sometimes presenting food on something different can be interesting, but I agree that it has got to ridiculous proportions. I always remember Gordon Ramsay calling some dishes in a restaurant 'Barbie's swimming pool'.
I guess it’s ok if people are as careful as that Bursar 
Trouble is not everyone is as careful ....
My local ‘chips with everything’ pub, where I do the pub quiz each week serves its fish and chips on a board covered with greasproof paper printed up to look like newspaper, the chips are served in a mini deep fat fryer basket, and the peas in a bowl.
I mean, please ... 
Rexi posted:My local ‘chips with everything’ pub, where I do the pub quiz each week serves its fish and chips on a board covered with greasproof paper printed up to look like newspaper, the chips are served in a mini deep fat fryer basket, and the peas in a bowl.
I mean, please ...
It's called 'gastro' ... which is latin for 'taking the ...'
