London Dining, Small-Plate Style by Various Travel Authors on Creators.com

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London Dining, Small-Plate Style

By Joan Scobey

For years, all I have ordered in a restaurant have been appetizers — one for a starter, another for the main course. In the early days, there was an uh-oh moment: How will the waiter react? Give me that too-cheap-to-eat-here look?

The truth is, two appetizers for dinner has nothing to do with price. Starters are often the most interesting dishes on the menu, the place where chefs try out new ideas and enticing pairings. And in an era of large portions, two or more starters make an appropriate-size meal as well as a good value.

Over time, restaurateurs have become more gracious about "curtailed" dining. Some even welcome it. And now a new "small plates" trend is gaining ground. Think Spanish tapas-style menus applied to all kinds of food, from Indian to English pub, Italian to Pacific Rim.

To my delight, there are now restaurants that serve nothing but small plates.

Recently in London, where interesting dining trends often blossom, I found a cornucopia of small-plate restaurants and riffs on them.

First, let's credit Joel Robuchon as the father of serious small-plate dining. His Paris l'Atelier was the first to serve a succession of great classic dishes in small portions, and patrons sat at a counter surrounding the kitchen so they could follow the chefs at work. The London l'Atelier de Joel Robuchon has the signature long wooden bar, high red-leather counter seats and red glassware, with table seating for 20 and a welcome wall of greenery, plus two Michelin stars. When I ate there, the changing list of 20 small tasting dishes ($14 to $30) included smoked salmon and Avruga eggs tart; ravioli of langoustine in Savoy cabbage, foie gras sauce; beef and foie gras burger. The fun is watching and chatting with the chefs as they prep, cook and plate, and dishing with your counter neighbors. There are also tasting, pre-theater and lunch menus. (13-15 West St., 020-7010-8600, www.joel-robuchon.com).

Gordon Ramsay does small plates at maze, an airy space on Grosvenor Square where his inventive miniature constructions and compilations have earned him a Michelin star. This menu (daily at lunch, supper Thursday to Sunday from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.) might include smoked eel, braised Dedham Vale lamb shoulder with parsnip and pear risotto and Yorkshire rhubarb cheesecake, flaked beetroot, candied ginger, rhubarb and tea sorbet. Whew! From $45 for four dishes. (10-13 Grosvenor Square, 020-7107-0000, www.gordonramsay.com/maze).

At the less pricey end for French small plates is Terroirs, a multilevel minimalist wine bar off The Strand that combines hearty rustic fare and superb wines from France and Italy, including a large list by the glass. For a pre-theater tasting, I chose dressed Dorset crab on toast, duck rillettes with cornichons and smoked eel on celeriac remoulade that arrived on separate wooden boards. Each day there are a dozen small plates ($8 to $18), plus charcuterie, cheeses and five changing plats du jour ($10-$14), plus a lengthy wine list that reads like Oenology 101. (5 William IV St., 020-7036-0660, www.terroirswinebar.com).

If you're thinking Italian, Bocca di Lupo, a relative Soho newcomer, features an extensive culinary tour through the country.

Name a region and they have a dish or two: Veneto — fried red prawns, Campania — angoustine risotto, Tuscany — grilled rib of beef, Puglia — grilled scallops, Sicily — granita in several flavors. You get the idea. And virtually every dish comes small-size ($8 to $18) or regular. Eat at the marble-topped bar or the spacious back dining room. (12 Archer St., 020-7734-2223, www.boccadilupo.com).

More Italian: Polpo, a popular new Venetian-style wine bar serving small-plate regional specialties and northern Italian wines (41 Beak St., 020-7734-4479, www.polpo.co.uk). Princi, long wooden tables and a splendid buffet of salads, pizzas, tarts and breads replenished from the onsite bakery (135 Wardour St., 020-7478-8888, www.princi.co.uk).

It's no surprise that some of the best in the small-plates derby are Spanish tapas bars. Dehesa headlines a quartet of casual Soho spots with creative tapas, charcuterie, cheeses and that great Spanish ham, Jamon Iberico. Among its signature tapas are honey-drizzled zucchini flowers stuffed with goat cheese, char-grilled prawns and house-cured duck breast ($6 to $12). (25 Ganton St., 020-7494-4170, www.dehesa.co.uk). Virtually the same menu is available at its sibling, Salt Yard (43 Goodge St., 020-7637-0657, www.saltyard.co.uk).

More Spanish: Fino, with a large selection of authentic tapas and an impressive collection of sherries (33 Charlotte St., 020-7813-8010, www.finorestaurant.com). Barrafina, counter-only seating for its cured meats and great shellfish specials (54 Frith St., 020-7813-8016, www.barrafina.co.uk).

Seafood, English-style, is the signature of J Sheekey, Theaterland's famous fish restaurant. In the small-plates trend, it recently spun off J Sheekey Oyster Bar next door, a smart paneled room where diners sit at a counter surrounding the food-prep island and its centerpiece of shellfish astride a massive glass platter of ice. Big sellers: the legendary Sheekey's Fish Pie ($16) and six kinds of oysters (from six for $15), potted shrimps and jellied eels. (33 St Martin's Court, 020-7240-2565, www.jsheekeyoysterbar.co.uk).

Extending the small-plate concept, originally a European phenomenon, to Asia is the recently opened Colony, a stylish Indian eatery in Marylebone inspired by the street traders of the British Raj and launched by Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar. From the small menus of snacks ($7 to $15) served in the front bar-lounge and more complex dishes ($14 to $24) in the back dining room, I sampled an aromatic spread that included cumin flavored spinach soup, tandoori monkfish, tikka masala, fried white bait and chutney, scallops three ways and stuffed chickpea pancakes. (7-9 Paddington St., 020-7935-3353, www.colonybarandgrill.com). To complete the worldwide reach, a popular Marylebone neighbor, The Providores, recently downsized all its Pacific Rim fusion entrees to small plates. (109 Marylebone High St., 020-7935-6175, www.theprovidores.co.uk).

Joan Scobey is a freelance travel writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.