How to Plate Food: Top 10 Artistic Food Presentation Ideas

What tempts a customer to try a dish? The answer is “how amazingly you present the dish.” Maybe you got your answer but you have to gather more knowledge about food presentation ideas or food presentation techniques. Let’s explore how to plate food in a creative way.

You can find a lot of creative presentation techniques for vegetable cookery. But it’s critical to consider which region you are serving the food in. Suppose you are serving the food service in the Asian region or USA.

What is Food Plating?

Food plating is a food presentation idea or food presentation technique that creates an aesthetic appeal to the diners. In this case, the visual presentation is inevitable including decorating, arranging, and presenting the food.

Do you know that the taste of the food increases 29% if you serve the food in an artistic way?

Yes, it’s proven. While conducting the research, a group of people is served with the same food that is prepared with the same ingredients. 

Once they tasted the food from the well-decorated plate, and another time with the same food normally.

The most interesting part of the test is the result. Can you realize what the result will be?

Although all foods are made with the same ingredients, the people found the decorated food tastier than the normally served item.

The report published that the well-decorated food is 3 times tastier to the served people. Plating food techniques are significant to know as a chef. So go through the article and know How do you present a dish to make it more appealing.

Creative Presentation Techniques for Vegetable Cookery

Do you know the Philippines is one of the Asian countries in which food draws inspiration from several influences? Filipino foods have striking similarities with international cuisine. Filipino dishes reflect the Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Western, and Pacific Islander flavors.

It’s true that we eat with our senses. Yes, what we eat we can see, smell and feel that. A study revealed that the dishes’ presentation makes the food items taste better. So why not? You should know plating techniques and here you’ll get the tips for food presentation.

What are the Components of a Creative Food Presentation?

It’s essential to know the components of creative presentation techniques for vegetable cookery. 

What are the elements of good food presentation? In this part of the article, you can acquire sufficient knowledge of plating food techniques. Know how to plate food perfectly.

The components of food presentation include-

Present the Culinary Preparation

The plate structures and the colors are important to reveal your culinary preparation. In this case, the size of the plate and food volume greatly depends.

Center of Attention

The food plate you serve your customers should be well organized and the focal point of the food plate should be considered.

Suppose, you highlight the highest point of the decorated plate most attractively. But you should consider the placement of the focal point. It’s critical to place the lower items on the food plate so as not to hide the lower items. 

Color Psychology

The colors of a dish make something different to the appeal of the customers. Choose color wisely and every food item has its own color. You have to make a color and contrast balance on a dish.

Typically, the Green color represents coolness whereas Red stands for excitement. Besides, Blue is not an appropriate color for the food as it suppresses the appetizing.

On the other hand, Black is a sign of elegance. Although the vegetables are colorful and you have to understand their contrasts of colors and shapes.

Flavor of the Food

The food flavors are the most important component. The flavors complement each other and they are close. You have to consider the desired flavor that makes a sense of the smell of the diner. 

Visual Interest with Texture

The texture is the most important component of a food presentation. The texture of your food items on the plate gives pleasure to eating. 

The textures grow the visual interest and the combination of the textures of a food plate can be soft, smooth, and rigid.

Textures can be different because of the preparation method. Suppose a crunchy texture builds happily on a creamy and smooth cushion. 

Decoration

The decoration of a food plate is significant. You may serve different items of food. In this case, you should consider the fruit platter presentation ideas, Sandwich platter presentation ideas, Fine dining plating ideas, Seafood plating ideas, Steak plating techniques, Meat plating ideas, Salad plating presentation, etc.

The food presentation techniques must have two distinctive factors. One is edibility and another one is flavor. The decorating components can be herbs, spices, or ingredients.

In this case, you have to plate food like a chef.

• One thing remember that your plate is your canvas
• Grab the attention with visual stimulants
• Use Rule of Third to arrange the food on the plate
• Paint your food plate with sauce
• Enhance both appearance and flavor with garnish

Garnish the Food Plate

Well, before tasting the food, the garnishing impacts the level of taste and the effectiveness of the food presentation. 

It enhances the flavor and texture of a dish. Garnishing should follow two culinary art rules. The food plate ought to present an outstanding way that considers the food’s appearance and the balanced dish. 

The garnish of a food plate helps to shut the mouth of your customers while serving them on the table. Because their eyes will be caught on your decorated plate. It’s like the eyes eat the plate.

How to plate food in a creative way? The above components are required in plating food techniques. Besides, the food plate presentation ideas help the chefs to understand the standard level of food plating.

However, these are the basic elements of plating and principles of food presentation techniques. Those dish presentation techniques help to create a framework, balance your dish, keep the food plate smile, highlight the key ingredients and get the right portion of ingredients. 

What are the Food Plating Techniques?

The food plating techniques are highly required for the foodservice business. Especially for the restaurants that provide a setting space to take food for the customers. 

In the Philippines, restaurants always focus on modern plating techniques. The food presentation ideas help the restaurateurs to think once again about how to present food on a plate.

The food plating techniques master you to make your plate a perfect and presentable dish to your customers. It’s like an art where the food plate is your canvas and the food is your medium. 

What are the essential factors of food presentation? Let’s see the important factors that you must consider in plating food techniques. Fruit platter presentation ideas are also important to know. The food platter is also popular worldwide.

You have to be an artist while designing your food plate. Let’s explore the best food plating techniques in the below section.

Plating Techniques

The plating techniques suggest you shape your plate perfectly. Likewise, you have to choose a paper to art on it. You should consider some factors while choosing the right plate for serving food.

Size of the Plate

The plate size is a considerable matter because it brings the ingredients you want to serve to your customers. In this case, the plate size should be big enough to represent it in a balanced way.

Choose the Plate Color

The color of your plate is also important. You can choose the light color or dark color plate. Most of the restaurants use white color plates. Because it gives you a neutral background for brightly colored foods.

On the other hand, you can choose the dark color plate if your food items are light in color. Besides, you can use the color of your dish matching with the interior design of your restaurants like table, chair, and couch colors.

Moreover, the color of your plates can vary from item to item. Suppose, you are offering an appetizer, in this case, you should choose red color plates and the blue plate expresses the royalty. 

Style of the Restaurant

The classical style plates always suit fine dining restaurants. In this case, china dinnerware is appropriate for the traditional plating styles. 

Besides the plating style should be up to date in time which allows you to create maximum plating creativity.

Food Plating Design Techniques

The appropriate food plating design or arrangement of the food plate helps to determine the structural integrity, aesthetic tone of the meal, and flavor dispersion. Perfect dish presentation highly depends on the food plating techniques you follow. 

Just take a look at the most popular and effective food arrangement techniques.

Rule of Thirds

Food presentation is creativity. You have to explore your ideas to make the food plate more unique and captivated.

The rule of thirds should be followed to place the food on the food plate. In this case, the focal point must be maintained. Which food items are appropriate on the right side and which are suitable for the left side rather than the center. 

Clock Style Food Plating

The food plate presentation can be unique if you just focus on some unique styles. In this case, the clock style is popular and worthy.

The food plate should carry the ingredients in a systematic way and the alignment of the food items is important.

Think of your plate as a clock and place the protein item between 3 and 9, the starch or carbohydrate item between 9 to 12, and vegetable items from 12 to 3.

Keep Your Plate Simple and Clean

Simple food plating is obvious and it attracts customers. You have to keep your plate simple and the focal point of your food plate should be expressed.

Never make your food plate overcrowded with different items. It negatively affects the impression of the customers.

Focus on Textures

The texture of the food creates an aesthetic value of the food plate. An appealing texture combination is essential. You can also follow some classic styles of food dishes.

For instance, a smooth vegetable puree with crunchy onion straws creates a marvelous food dish. Besides, topping a steak with crumbled blue cheese makes a classic cuisine.

Placement of Moist Ingredients

The moist food ingredients can run any portion of the plate. In this case, you have to prevent running by placing other food ingredients on the top of the plate. 

So place the moist food ingredients first. Then locate other food items on top.

Food Visibility Plating Techniques

Visibility of your food plate is the first and foremost part of food plating. Do you know the customers always focus on the beauty of the dishes?

The food presentation techniques make your dish more colorful and appealing. In this case, you have to maintain a visual balance while preparing the dishes.

Consider the Quantity

Well, you must provide the quantity of the items by following a classic style. It creates a balance of the dish. Then the most important thing to consider is serving the food with odd numbers.

Yes, the odd number makes a positive sense to the service users’ minds. For instance, if you serve five Brussels sprouts to your customers instead of six, the customers feel you serve them more. 

Color and Flavor Diversity

You have to design your food plate including different colors. The perfect color combination makes the customers more interested in taking the food.

In this case, when you serve the dish, you may add several types of ingredients that are different in color. For example, vegetables, meats, and other food items are distinctive colors.

On the other hand, the flavor of your prepared dish greatly depends because the customers eat with satisfaction when it smells better.

So it is necessary not to present the food plate with only one single flavor. You have to add different flavors that suit the food more perfectly. 

Create Layer of Food Ingredients

The food layer creates art on your dish. If you see the traditional plating system in a restaurant, the plates just contain a lot of food items randomly.

But the modern plating techniques make the dish more presentable. Because nowadays the foodservice owners try to present the food in an interesting way.

In this case, creating a food layer on your plate is highly recommended. It is true that the multiple layers of food arrangement on a food plate stimulate the level of curiosity.

Sauce Plating Presentation Techniques

How to decorate food dishes? The answer to the question includes more considerable points. But the most important thing is to plate the sauce in an amazing way.

In this case, the sauce plating techniques are essential to know. Suppose, you place sauce on the plate but it doesn’t create any additional beauty of the dish.

So what can you do? You should follow the below points. 

You can think of your squeeze bottle as a paintbrush. And art your food plate with it.

Smeared Sauce

First, choose the desired color sauce and fill the squeeze bottle with it. Create a circle on the food plate with a thick layer of sauce. 

Then with a spoon or other tool, dip it in the center of the sauce where it is thickest. Now pull the sauce quickly across the food plate.

Accent Dots

It is a more interesting one. If you use multiple sauces to create a color contrast, accent dots are the most suitable ones.

First, take a squeeze bottle and fill it up with the colored sauce. In this case, you should use the rule of thirds to decorate the sauce based on your plate.

Smeared Accent Dots

Sauce plating is creative. You can merge two styles and get a combined design. In this case, you can make a curved line along the side of the food plate.

Well, firstly take a small plating edge and locate it at the middle of the first accent dot. Now drag the edge across the accent dots and create a single or multi-color edge.

Swirled Sauce

Fill a squeeze bottle with the desired sauce. Now squeeze your bottle and spin the stand where the plate is placed. It makes a design on the food ingredients and the multicolor sauce makes it more artistic.

However, it’s not about the design of the food plate with sauce, it’s more than that. So wipe the edge of the food plate with a towel or a clean piece of cloth after doing the sauce plating techniques.

Garnishing Techniques

The food presentation techniques are not new. But the traditional food plating ideas are not worthy in this modern era. 

Modern food plating techniques are focusing on garnishing. Although the traditional garnishing system was basic, at that time, a piece of kale or an orange slice was thrown by chefs on the plate.

In this era, restaurant owners think differently. The creative presentation techniques for vegetable cookery are essential to do something unique.

Now the garnishing is related to its flavor. To create a flavor bite, follow the garnishing techniques below.

One thing you must know, which garnishes should be avoided. 

Don’t use unappetizing garnishes including

• Raw herbs
• Large chunks of citrus
• Ingredients with a strong odor
• Garnishes that take more time to implement etc.

Use Edible Garnishes

It’s crucial to use edible garnishes with the dish. The garnishes should be placed perfectly in the right position.

Placement of the Garnishes

Based on the type of your dish, you should place the garnishes. In this case, the color contrast of the food is related. Moreover, always try to place the garnishes on top of the dishes rather than at the corner of the plate.

Never Do it Crowded

The garnishes enhance the beauty of the food plate by stimulating flavor. But you should remember that you have to make your dish a presentable and balanced dish. So if the food items of your dish are already too much, you should consider adding garnishing ingredients to it.

The food plate presentation techniques are different in different countries. Philippines, India, Thailand, etc. countries are popular for food in Asia.

Besides, the USA and different European countries are also presenting the food with great care. But the fact is that the food items and the dish presentation are different.

Filipino foods are popular because they serve almost all types of food. Moreover, the Philippines serve different countries’ people.

Here are the best food plating techniques on how to plate food. If you follow those dish presentation ideas, you can create 

If you follow the above-mentioned food plating techniques or dish presentation ideas, you can serve your customers perfectly from any corner of the world.

Plate presentation ideas will be fruitful when you follow a systematic and creative way while serving the dishes to the customers.

What are the Professional Plating Tools?

It’s a common question. You may also get an idea of the plating tools from Google search. But you should have professional plating tools if you are doing your restaurant business for commercial purposes.

In this section, the professional plating tools are mentioned which are essential for creative presentation techniques for vegetable cookery.

When you are thinking about how to plate a dish or dish presentation ideas, you should have the plating tools. The plating tools ease the way to design your food more effectively.

Before knowing how to plate food, let’s know which tools are essential for plating. You can get these tools easily from the desired shop of your locality.

Decorating Brushes 

Mostly used in sauce plating techniques. In addition to this, to create a coulis or puree base for vegetables or meats, decorating brushes are useful.

Molds

It helps to cut the vegetables or other food items to a particular shape. Besides, the ring molds help to structure the height of the food while stacking.

Garnishing Kits

To garnish the food plate, you’ll need some tools like a squeeze bottle, plating wedges, brushes, and tongs.

Plating Wedges

It is used to create sauce design and comes with flat, round, or pointed edges.

Tongs

The precision tongs help to place the garnishes or delicate items on the food plate.

Squeeze Bottles

To apply the sauce to the prepared food dishes, squeeze bottles are required.

Shaver’s

Helps to cut slices of grated chocolate, hard cheese, and soft vegetables.

Spoons

The plating spoons are essential while creating a design on the food plate. You can collect slotted spoons which help to separate the solid items from the liquid.

Besides, the saucier spoons are useful in dragging the sauce across the plate.

However, these plating tools are crucial to making a perfect dish. Creative presentation techniques for vegetable cookery will be effective when you have these professional plating tools. 

What are the Popular Food Plating Styles?

To know how to plate food you have to understand the food plating styles that exist. Food plating styles will help you to get an overview of plate presentation ideas.

What are the popular food plating styles? The popular food plating styles include

• Classic plating
• Freeform and
• Landscape plating style.

If you have a clear understanding of all types of food plating styles, you can design your food plate amazingly and worthy.

Using some food ingredients those plating styles are demonstrated including potato puree, a demi-glace, carrots, filet mignon, pea blend, a pea puree, a lima bean, fried leeks, and thyme. 

Classic Plating Style

The classic plating style is given below step by step.

• Use a pastry bag to pipe the potato puree onto the food plate
• Now place carrot slices next to the potato puree with precision tongs.
• Then, use thyme to garnish the carrots using tongs.
• Place the steak with precision tongs.
• Garnish the steak with fried leeks using precision tongs.
• Use a spouted saucier to drizzle the demi-glace around the food plate.
• Wipe the plate edges clearly with a clean towel.
• Serve the prepared classic plate.

Free Form Plating Style

Let’s see the free-form plating style.

• Take a food plate and pipe dots potato puree onto it using pastry bags
• Use a chef’s knife to slice the steak
• Place the sliced steaks with precision tongs on the food plate
• Using a spoon plate the lima bean and pea blend around the food plate.
• Plate the carrots slices with precision tongs.
• By a large squeeze bottle, place the dots of pea puree around the food plate.
• Now plate the dots of demi-glace on the plate with a small squeeze bottle.
• It’s time to garnish the plate with fried leeks.
• Rub the edges of the plate with a clean towel.
• Finally, you’ll get a free-form-style food plate.

Landscape Plating Style

The landscape plating style is one of the mo0st popular plating styles. Follow the step-by-step process to prepare a landscape food plate.

• Firstly, take a large squeeze bottle and place dots of pea puree on the food plate.
• Use a brush and paint the pea puree.
• Pipe the potato puree onto the plate with a pastry bag.
• Use precision tongs and place the carrot slices.
• Against the puree and the carrots, lean the steaks
• Take a spoon and plate the lima bean and pea blend around the plate.
• Use spouted saucier to drizzle the demi-glace around the food plate.
• Garnish the steak with fried leeks using precision tongs.
• Use a clean towel to wipe the plate edges.
• Now you are done and your food plate is ready to serve.

If you consider creative presentation techniques for vegetable cookery, those three popular plating styles are crucial. Filipino foods are most suitable with these food plating styles.

Tips for Food Presentation Ideas

How to plate food? The food plate presentation ideas help the chefs to create the most wanted dishes. Whatever food you serve and wherever you are serving, the creative presentation techniques for vegetable cookery are fruitful.

Here are the tips for food presentation ideas and creative presentation techniques for food design ideas.

1. Think the Food Plate is Your Canvas

It’s a common question how to decorate food dishes. The most vital part of creating a perfect food plate is your idea and your imagination.

It’s like paint. You will get a plate and just place the food items with a possible layer where you think it suits you best.

2. Focus on Textures of the Food Plate

Is the texture of the food plate important? Yes, you have to play with the textures of the food plate while arranging the ingredients on the plate.

The sauces, foams, and textures of your food plate create a more aesthetic feeling in the customers’ minds. Foam is the best one that can help you to design your food plate in an interesting way.

3. Keep it Simple and Clean

Sometimes the chefs think more items will add more value to the customers. But it’s totally wrong. 

If you overcrowd the food plate with some unnecessary ingredients excluding the desired food item, it is better to remove those ingredients for sure. And make the food plate clean and simple.

It is to be remembered that simple plating ideas are the most wanted and demanded food plating techniques.

You should focus on the main food item that you are going to serve the customer. Make the food amazing itself rather than focusing on other additional ingredients like zillion garnishes or swirls of sauce, unnecessary oils or spices or microgreens, etc.

4. Create a Natural Color Contrast

Well, it is said that the more colorful your food plate is, your customer will be more interested in it. Okay, but it isn’t 100% true.

The experienced and expert chefs share their ideas and thoughts in this regard. They said, if you add more colorful ingredients, it depends on the type of ingredients you are going to add.

For example, one chef adds carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, lettuces, beans, etc. which are colorful vegetables that belong to their own natural or organic color. In this case, those ingredients make an aesthetic value of the dish. 

On the other hand, if any chef uses color ingredients but that is not natural. Yes, it attracts the customers but they will not be willing to choose that over the natural one.

So color contrast is essential but you should try to make it natural. It is far better and fruitful to make your food plate more appealing and acceptable.

5. Shape the Food Height on the Plate

It is unnecessary to fill up the food plate with the food ingredients. But it is essential to create a height on the plate.

It indicates the focus point of your food plate. You have to create a food plate attractive to your customers. So highlighting the focal point of your food is more important than overcrowding the plate with food randomly.

The ring mold helps to fix the perfect height of the food plate. So you can use this plating tool for sure.

6. Serve Less in Quantity but Make it Quality

Usually, the customers feel satisfied when they get more food, don’t they?

But if you want to design the food plate in a creative way, you have to add a small portion of food to your food plate. In this regard, the highly recommended part is you should never choose more than six elements otherwise, your design won’t be the expected one and it will certainly be overcrowded.

7. Present Food with Matching your Restaurant Theme

You may have a color theme for your restaurant. The food plate and other serving tools should be matched with the theme of your restaurant.

The customers always enjoy something expected rather than unexpected.

Suppose, the customers enjoy your interior design and the ambiance of your restaurant. Although it’s not unexpected that you are going to serve them with a plate that matches your restaurant theme.

But when the customers see that you are presenting the food in such a way, they will feel more excited. So always try to understand your customers’ unwanted expectations.

8. Cut Meat Uniquely

It is highly recommended that you cut the meat horizontally that you are going to serve to your customers. Besides, slice the meat on a 45-degree bias. It helps to visualize the tenderness of the meat more prominently.

9. Decorate with Edible Garnishes

The garnishes are an inevitable part of the food plate design. If you want to know the creative presentation techniques for vegetable cookery, garnishing is a crucial step you must have knowledge.

You can use the herb, spice, or a flower but it must be edible and fresh. The garnishes not only add visual satisfaction to the food plate but also add an expected flavor to the customers.

10. Express Your Creativity

Whatever you want to do, you can try it. The customers can choose the best creativity that you will show on the food plate.

The chefs always think which food plate design can be the best and they look online for getting the food plating techniques. 

Yes, it is needed but you should create your plate more unique and worthy to the customers.

11. Select Attractive Plates for Food Presentation

The size of the plate and the design of the plate both are considerable things. You should choose the right plate for your restaurant. 

Besides, the attractive food plates grab the attention of the customers. Moreover, the design of the food plate greatly relies on the creative presentation techniques for vegetable cookery.

12. Consider Flavor of the Dish

The flavor of the dish stimulates the appetite of the customers. Food lovers always try to judge the food quality with its smell.

The food which releases a better smell creates more aesthetic acceptance to the customers.

This is how to plate food in a unique way. The dish presentation should be well enough to deliver an expected dish to your customers. Best food plating techniques will show you the proper guidelines to continue your foodservice business.

However, the tips of food plate presentation techniques are universal. And if you are serving Filipino or Indian foods or any western food, you should follow the above-mentioned techniques to create a more interesting food plate.

A Classical & Effective Food Placement and Dish Presentation

The food plating design can vary from region to region. But the most common and classical food placement and dish presentation is the clock-style food plate technique. A question can arise in your mind what is the best food plating technique?

Your food plate is like the face of a clock. And considering it, you can place the food. Generally, three types of basic food items are presentable to the customers including starch, vegetables, and main food items.

Let’s see how to plate food in a classical way. It is a more popular style all over the world. Especially the food lovers always look for something new but trendy.

You should design your food plate based on the clock analogy that is given below.

Main food item: From 3 to 9 O’clock

Starch: Between 9 and 11 O’clock

Vegetables: From 11 to 3 O’clock

How to Plate Asian Dishes Uniquely?

Asian dishes are popular and unique all over the world. The dishes of Asian dishes always attract people's eyes. Because it is different to look at, and the way of eating or cooking.

Food plating styles are different in different regions. The chefs should know about the food culture of different regions. In this case, they can apply how to plate food exactly.

Let’s see how to plate dishes in Asian culture.

Communal

Asian people love to share their food as it’s an Asian culture. Some food items are not presentable in a way that the western food plate can be plated.

In this case, Asian food plates can be designed with aesthetically pleasing garnishes and unique containers including dim sum baskets, steamboats, banana leaves, etc.

Specific Dishes

The dishes of Asian food sometimes follow the western plating styles. The fusion dishes are served in this way. Modern food presentation techniques are also applied in different types of food.

One Dish Meal

Typically the one-dish meal is presented to place the rice at the center of the food plate. Then the other food items including vegetables, protein, or starch are placed around the plate. Here, the color contrast should be maintained based on the natural color of the food items.

However, Asian food plates are more interesting. The chefs of the Philippines create more realistic and appealing food plate designs.

Wait, Are You Concerned about Food Preparation Time? Let’s Minimize Your Time & Costs?

The restaurant owners face a common problem which is how to manage the time and costs. Yes, it’s very crucial because without managing your resources, you can’t make a good return at the end of the day.

With knowing about how to plate food, you must have a knowledge of how to manage your restaurant. Besides, food waste management is essential. If you can minimize the food preparation time with a digital system, then why not?

Modern restaurant management software helps chefs to reduce the communication gap with customers. The modern software helps to build a network among the customers, chefs, restaurant owners, and waiters.

The modern restaurant management system saves both time and costs. Besides, you can manage all essential operations of your restaurant perfectly.

Besides, the kitchen display system of restaurant software helps the chefs to process the order and provide real-time notification of the cooking status.

Then what are you waiting for? Adopt an advanced online ordering system to make your foodservice more convenient.

Mobile-friendly restaurant management is high in demand at present. So you can manage your restaurant through mobile and it provides you mobile app integration system for both Android and iOS.

So Make your plate more interesting with the best food plate techniques and digitize your restaurant with the latest technology.

Bhojon - Restaurant Management System

Final Words

Now you got your answer on how to plate food or how to plate a dish in the desired way.

The restaurant business owners always focus on the customers and the chefs of the foodservice industry focus on the food plate.

In this regard, the creative presentation techniques for vegetable cookery can be the best solution for chefs or food makers.

On the other hand, the right choice at the right time will be the ultimate solution for restaurant owners. When the chefs prepare the food by adopting creative food presentation techniques, the restaurant owners can increase the sales as well as return.

Read More:

• How Much Do Restaurant Owners Make?
• 5 Easiest Steps to Create a Dynamic Restaurant Website & App
• Choose the Cheapest Food Delivery App for Your Restaurant to Ensure ROI
• A Details View of Restaurant Billing Software