A pastry chef told me my plating was lazy, she was right

Last month at a pop-up in Austin, this pastry chef I respect walked past my station and said my dessert plates looked like I gave up halfway. She pointed at my chocolate tart and said the sauce was just dumped, not placed. At first I got defensive, thought she was being harsh for no reason. But I looked at photos from the last 30 services and she was spot on. I started treating plating like a final line of code, every swoosh and crumb gets a purpose now. I even timed myself, adding 45 seconds per plate but the tickets are worth more. Anyone else get a harsh critique that actually made their food better?

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lucas15915d ago

It's funny cause I had the exact opposite thing happen. I used to spend forever making these perfect swooshes and micro greens and dots, then this chef I worked under told me my plates looked like a crime scene. He said all that effort was hiding the food. I stripped everything back to like one swipe of sauce and a few crumbs and my dessert actually started selling better. Sometimes the extra time is worth it, but I think you could also build the same intention into a simpler style, you know?