Food, Funny
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Dear bars and restaurants, we do genuinely appreciate how hard you try to impress us. After the pandemic hit, it has been a continuous struggle to save your business and attract both workers and clients. So it's only normal to put that extra bit of effort into everything, from the thoughtful playlist to premium Marseille soap in the bathroom.
Some restaurant owners and chefs take the dining experience up to the next level and come up with very ingenious ways to serve their food. Think of starters served straight on the table, croquettes served in an iron mask and no, I am not kidding.
Thanks to the internet's beloved We Want Plates project founded by Ross McGinnes back in 2015, we now have a crazy collection of absurd food servings to scroll through. “It’s the global crusade against serving food on bits of wood and roof slates, chips in mugs and drinks in jam jars,” says its description and hey, thanks for the public service, you guys.
Psst! More hilarious food servings from We Want Plates can be found in our previous posts here, here and here.
More info:wewantplates.com|Reddit|Facebook|Instagram|Twitter
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Quality Postmodernism
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Yuki Li Yuki Li Community Member Follow
What the hell hahaha
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#2
The Juices Dripped Onto My Legs Through That Nice Crack In The Board
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KJ KJ Community Member Follow
So unhygienic.
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#3
This Rose Flavored Chocolate Dessert That You Have To Lick Off Your Hands! (Miami)
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Diana Eriksson Diana Eriksson Community Member Follow
Eww
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Previously Bored Panda spoke with Ross McGinnes, the founder of the ‘We Want Plates’ community. Ross started the campaign in 2015 after a friend posted a picture of an average-sized steak on Facebook, which had been served to him on a large chopping board. “It was captioned, unironically, 'That is a big meal!' It wasn't a big meal—he'd fallen for all this style-over-content hipster gastropub nonsense,” he recounted. Then, Ross searched Twitter for an account which would allow him to vent his spleen with like-minded people, but he found nothing. That’s how We Want Plates was created. Today, the project has 900,000 followers across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Reddit.
#4
Reject Modernity, Embrace Tradition
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Yuki Li Yuki Li Community Member Follow
Agreed lol based off the above posts
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#5
Multi-Flavor Pizza Served In A Tire
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Francis Francis Community Member Follow
"pizza"
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90points
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#6
You Could Order Barbie Meat At A Chinese Hot Pot Restaurant My Sis-In-Law Went To Last Night
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MagicalUnicorn MagicalUnicorn Community Member Follow
Lady Gaga, is that you?
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McGinnes also noted that some restaurants put food on strange things because they want to try to impress their customers. Sometimes, that turns against them. “My local pub used to do a great Sunday roast: twelve quid, piled high, tasted great and yes, it came on a plate. One weekend they added a quirky offering to the menu: little sandwiches, pies, dainty cakes and mini milkshakes served on a miniature picnic bench. The benches, painted bright pink and yellow, sat on top of tables seating actual grown adults. And what was the first thing these infantilized diners did? It wasn't to try the food—it was to whip out their phones and take a picture.”
#7
So I Went To Alinea This Weekend
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Yuki Li Yuki Li Community Member Follow
That's just pretentious. Am I supposed to lean over the table and risk getting my arms all dirty just for more blueberries lol.
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#8
Pasta, Sauce, Bread. In A Wire Cone
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NoneYa41 NoneYa41 Community Member
one of the more ridiculous trends unfortunately. i keep seeing this and can't grasp the "why" of it at all....
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#9
Breakfast In A Egg Carton
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Yuki Li Yuki Li Community Member Follow
That's proper disgusting haha. Egg cartons smell gross.
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“Over the following months the picnic benches became increasingly popular, coinciding with the specials board becoming progressively smaller, before it eventually disappeared altogether,” Ross told us. He remembered sitting there one Sunday, watching bench after garish bench emerge from the kitchen like a technicolor carnival of idiocy, before his usual roast arrived.
#10
Dinner With A Side Of Tetanus Anyone?
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Andrew Gibb Andrew Gibb Community Member Follow
what is with all the barbed comments?
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#11
A Friend Ordered Tiramisu In Scotland. Why Sugar The Lid?
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Brian Bennett Brian Bennett Community Member Follow
Is this what's called sweetening the pot?
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#12
Friend Of Mine Went To A Restaurant And Their Starter Came In A Book
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Yuki Li Yuki Li Community Member Follow
No!
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“The meat was cold and the potatoes were burnt. It was once their main Sunday trade, but the traditional roast had died an unpalatable death. But that’s OK because they were doing a roaring trade with the benches, right? Sure, until the pub down the road started doing them too. Then the one around the corner.” Ross recounted that before you know it, everyone’s doing the same ‘quirky’ thing. “Except it’s not ‘quirky’ anymore because you can’t move for mini picnic benches and now all their roast dinners are rubbish to boot,” he told us.
#13
Plates Shouldn’t Fall Over When You Stab Them With A Fork
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yeciye yeciye Community Member Follow
When asked for food served in a stable way, this restaurant would bring straw and horses instead of plates.
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#14
Uhm.. How Do I Drink It..?
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Rose the Cook Rose the Cook Community Member Follow
Looks like a frozen desert served upside down.
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#15
Our Corn Chips Came In A Rusty Bucket
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Rose the Cook Rose the Cook Community Member Follow
Where was the health inspector?
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#16
The Croquette In The Iron Mask
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Binx Binx Community Member Follow
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, would be fun if every time you pick one up, the tongue goes in to retrieve one more
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#17
Lunch Served On A Heavy Stone? I Felt Bad For My Server Who Had To Carry It
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Hannah Edwards Hannah Edwards Community Member Follow
Hopefully it was at least warmed.
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#18
Crepes Served As Babushka Barbe
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Hannah Edwards Hannah Edwards Community Member Follow
Seriously Barbie, where’s your f*****g hairnet?
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#19
My Meal Was Served In A Folded License Plate. I Mean I Guess It Is A Plate In A Way
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Brian Bennett Brian Bennett Community Member Follow
With fries you get oil change!
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#20
Friend's Mother Went To A Restaurant And Got A Glass Of Pasta! Upside Down!
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Psychopathic Shark Psychopathic Shark Community Member Follow
Looks like a worm farm
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#21
A Bottle Of Fish
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MagicalUnicorn MagicalUnicorn Community Member Follow
to be honest it looks pretty cool
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#22
On A Cleaver...
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Brian Bennett Brian Bennett Community Member Follow
Suppose they think that's clever!
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#23
My Boyfriends Ice-Cream Came In A Little Metal Tub, But Mine Came In A Little Plastic Wheelbarrow
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Cold Contagious Cold Contagious Community Member Follow
That's some sad ice cream in the wheelbarrow...
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#24
Twigs And Moss
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River Webb River Webb Community Member Follow
what part of that is edible?
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129points
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#25
I’d Send This Back. This Replaced An Amazing Restaurant In My Town That Was Killed By Covid
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Hannah Edwards Hannah Edwards Community Member Follow
Even the lettuce receptacle is disappointed.
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#26
Spaghetti-No
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Hannah Edwards Hannah Edwards Community Member Follow
No no no. The spaghetti, sauce, meatball ratio is all wrong.
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#27
Pasta Flight, Ended Up Everywhere
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Gaby Almodovar Gaby Almodovar Community Member Follow
Ridiculously unnecessary, not practical for guests and too much idiotic work for the kitchen. The chef here is a jerk.
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#28
My “Flying“ Noodles. They Where Cold Within A Minute
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Theoretical Empiricist Theoretical Empiricist Community Member Follow
There are a reasonable number of things I want from my food. Flying isn't one of them.
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#29
Steak Pie In A Jar…
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Yuki Li Yuki Li Community Member Follow
WTF
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#30
Kids Food On Dvd-Case (Photo From Restaurants Own Page)
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AzKhaleesi AzKhaleesi Community Member Follow
Pretty sure that's a VHS case but still....
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#31
Soup In A Burnt Cabbage
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Hello it Smee Hello it Smee Community Member Follow
Why waste the cabbage?
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#32
Removing Splinters With Greasy Fingers
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Shona Shona Community Member Follow
ow. my finger hurt just looking at this
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#33
We Want Tables?
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Marcellus II Marcellus II Community Member Follow
I actually was planning to do my garden table somewhat like this, with left over 'green roof' materials. I hate mowing and grass, so it would be Sedums; the problem it it's either boring or very uneven.
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#34
I Swear, It's A Chocolate Mousse And Pop-Corn On A Wooden Board....
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Rose the Cook Rose the Cook Community Member Follow
Is there a conspiracy against chocolate mousse I haven't heard about?
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42points
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#35
Flattened Chips Due To The Weight
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Andrew Gibb Andrew Gibb Community Member Follow
I need your greasy food, your clothes and your motorcycle
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#36
I Guess We Are Serving Fish On Fish Bones?!
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Otter Otter Community Member Follow
Should I quit my job, and become a professional fish skeleton cleaner?
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#37
Aah Yes, I Finally Experienced The Classic Shovel Plate
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Neil Oersted Neil Oersted Community Member Follow
Let's dig in!
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#38
An Actual Non Stick Pan, Instead Of A Plate
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Horatio Jay Horatio Jay Community Member
Well, that's bowel cancer waiting to happen. Never use metal on non-stick cookware, kids.
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#39
This Would Be Embarrassing
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Hello it Smee Hello it Smee Community Member Follow
I just want to watch them carry it out of the kitchen.
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#40
So This Is Supposed To Be The Best Way To Eat Caviar...
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Demi Zwaan Demi Zwaan Community Member Follow
Yep, this is normal. I learned it that way too.
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Liucija Adomaite
Writer, Community member
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Liucija Adomaite is a creative mind with years of experience in copywriting. She has a dynamic set of experiences from advertising, academia, and journalism. This time, she has set out on a journey to investigate the ways in which we communicate ideas on a large scale. Her current mission is to find a magic formula for how to make ideas, news, and other such things spread like a virus.
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I'm a Visual Editor at Bored Panda since 2017. I've searched through a multitude of images to create over 2000 diverse posts on a wide range of topics. I love memes, funny, and cute stuff, but I'm also into social issues topics. Despite my background in communication, my heart belongs to visual media, especially photography. When I'm not at my desk, you're likely to find me in the streets with my camera, checking out cool exhibitions, watching a movie at the cinema or just chilling with a coffee in a cozy place
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Ilona Baliūnaitė
Author, BoredPanda staff
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I'm a Visual Editor at Bored Panda since 2017. I've searched through a multitude of images to create over 2000 diverse posts on a wide range of topics. I love memes, funny, and cute stuff, but I'm also into social issues topics. Despite my background in communication, my heart belongs to visual media, especially photography. When I'm not at my desk, you're likely to find me in the streets with my camera, checking out cool exhibitions, watching a movie at the cinema or just chilling with a coffee in a cozy place
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Hey pandas, what do you think?
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Kayla J Kayla J Community Member Follow
I just feel like if you're going to serve me in a mini wheelbarrow, hat, trash bin, or throw a skeleton model on my food, that I should be able to keep it as a prize.
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Sawdust Sawdust Community Member Follow
Like a souvenir ice cream baseball helmet at a stadium.
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Horatio Jay Horatio Jay Community Member
I've almost never seen well-executed "quirky" serving ideas. If you want to stand out, let the quality of your cuisine speak for itself.
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NsG NsG Community Member
Exactly. The king of quirky cuisine is Heston Blumenthal - he does things like make apple purée in the shape of a pork chop and makes the pork chop look like potato wedges or whatever, and other random taste combinations and "feasts for the eyes", but from what I've seen on the internet, his restaurant serves quirky food on actual *plates*. There are some things served on breadboards, but they appear to have been specifically designed for this use and able to be properly cleaned after, and not some random driftwood. (He did do some weird serving stuff for his TV programs, but that was kinda the point - they were usually experiments and definitely one-offs as part of the wider experience)
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Valisbourne Spiritforge Valisbourne Spiritforge Community Member Follow
Half of this isn't even quirky or cute, it's just pretentious. AND unhygienic.
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Marnie Marnie Community Member Follow
I didn't see even one that was quirky or cute, let alone half. The ice cream in the wheelbarrow was borderline cute. The rest were all terrible.
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Kayla J Kayla J Community Member Follow
I just feel like if you're going to serve me in a mini wheelbarrow, hat, trash bin, or throw a skeleton model on my food, that I should be able to keep it as a prize.
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Sawdust Sawdust Community Member Follow
Like a souvenir ice cream baseball helmet at a stadium.
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Horatio Jay Horatio Jay Community Member
I've almost never seen well-executed "quirky" serving ideas. If you want to stand out, let the quality of your cuisine speak for itself.
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19points
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NsG NsG Community Member
Exactly. The king of quirky cuisine is Heston Blumenthal - he does things like make apple purée in the shape of a pork chop and makes the pork chop look like potato wedges or whatever, and other random taste combinations and "feasts for the eyes", but from what I've seen on the internet, his restaurant serves quirky food on actual *plates*. There are some things served on breadboards, but they appear to have been specifically designed for this use and able to be properly cleaned after, and not some random driftwood. (He did do some weird serving stuff for his TV programs, but that was kinda the point - they were usually experiments and definitely one-offs as part of the wider experience)
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Valisbourne Spiritforge Valisbourne Spiritforge Community Member Follow
Half of this isn't even quirky or cute, it's just pretentious. AND unhygienic.
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Marnie Marnie Community Member Follow
I didn't see even one that was quirky or cute, let alone half. The ice cream in the wheelbarrow was borderline cute. The rest were all terrible.
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