What's The Deal With Fancy Restaurants Serving Such Tiny Portions?

When you pay more, you get more — unless, of course, you are eating at a high-end restaurant. Ironically, the fancier you get, the smaller the portions seem to be. Whether you frequent upscale eateries or your only reference is the fancy meals and dishes Chef Carmy prepares on "The Bear," you may have wondered why the plates at high-end restaurants are all so small. Chefs claim that there are many reasons for such minuscule portions, but the main factor is the cost of ingredients.

In the case of most fancy restaurants, the ingredients that each entree offers are extremely expensive. They may import certain products from overseas or grow them in-house, which is costly to maintain. In order to use the high-quality ingredients that the fancy dishes require and still make a profit, chefs are encouraged to make portions small. While your entree may not look like much, chefs count on the unique flavors the high-end ingredients bring to compensate for its size.

There are plenty of fine dining rules that don't make sense, but one that confuses even the most seasoned fine diner is why each portion looks to be no bigger than a few bites. In addition to saving on expensive ingredients, small portions also serve as a way to slow diners down and savor the dish. When a dish is small, customers are almost forced to take their time in order to savor the flavors and textures of the item they paid for.

Chefs may also choose to serve small portions for presentation purposes. In order to plate like a pro, fine dining chefs will treat each entree as a sort of art piece, carefully placing each microgreen and edible flower and being extremely meticulous about each drop of sauce splatter on every plate they serve. It would be challenging to manage such large portions in a fast-paced kitchen environment while still achieving the aesthetic that most fine dining chefs are after. While an Instagram-worthy plate doesn't quite fill our stomachs, there is something to be said for the beauty of a well-crafted plate.

One of the biggest misconceptions about the extra small portions served at fine dining establishments is that you may leave the restaurant hungry after your meal. However, most restaurants that plate in this way offer a multi-course tasting menu for customers to enjoy that will most likely fill you up by the end. Yes, one ravioli filled with expensive aged cheese and the finest cuts of meat alone may not curb your appetite. But after seven courses, you probably won't be able to eat more than one bite anyway.

Fine dining establishments serve multiple courses over a longer period in order to allow customers to enjoy a wide variety of flavor experiences without getting full too quickly. On the downside, this means you may not have more than a few bites worth of your favorite entree of the night. However, most fancy restaurants tend to focus more on the whole dining experience rather than one specific dish in order to showcase a wide range of culinary innovations. You may only get to enjoy a few bites at a time, but rest assured you will enjoy some wonderful culinary inventions — and hopefully be full by the end of the night.