I hope the trimming reaches the UK soon.
We like to eat in Michelin starred places two or three times a year. It’s for the innovation and excitement. But it’s increasingly a struggle to find places that offer something other than the long, 10+, course tasting menu.
Now, I’m old enough to remember when tasting menus first started to appear in the UK. Then, they were exactly what it said - several small dishes that, in a larger form, appeared on the restaurant’s main carte, so you could eat a sample of the cuisine. Chefs then started to develop a separate tasting menu to show off their skills and, to my mind, it’s been downhill ever since. We do have some Michelins which retain a carte - we had a very nice meal at one such for my birthday this year. And there are some which offer a short, maybe six course, “set menu”, which we enjoy as well. But, since the financial constraints since Covid, these places are becoming rarer, as restaurants look for the ease of the tasting menu.
I’m not a tasting menu type person and the thought of sitting for 4 hours eating 21 bites of different foods just doesn’t appeal to me. However, an abbreviated version of ever-so-slightly increased portions of 5-6 tastes would be OK for me.
What stood out to me was the NYC Japanese restaurant, JĹŤji, originally offering 21 courses because it mirrors a traditional omakase dinner service, and then cutting it back to 19. They cut back just 2 courses? Why bother? 
Then again, $200 for lunch and $400 for dinner is not in my wheelhouse either.
I just want more food.
Bigger portions please. It can take as long as they want.
Just more food.
Then it begs the question, how does one define a “course?”
I’ve had plenty of multicourse Japanese meals, but it’s a thing yonder. IME, each dish isn’t particularly heavy. Would like to imagine an omakase place that eschews rice in favor of flora, such as green shiso.
Now I’m trying to imagine a Southern U.S. BBQ tasting menu … would go crazy for it, but already feel full.
Ah, that’s an easy one for me. It’s a plate of food being put in front of you.
So, if I go to my local Syrian restaurant and order a mezze, I can’t really describe the process as courses, because they’ll serve all the starter items at the same time. And then the main course items. But that’s possibly six or seven dishes
Even an amuse-bouche?
Generally no, in the context of a traditional three course meal. And, generally, neither are petit fours. Nor bread.
But, yes to all three in the context of a tasting menu.
An amuse-bouche is a course?
Is one nigiri a course?
I don’t know what that is.
Asked and answered in the two posts immediately prior to yours
Or banchan at a Korean restaurant. Is that six courses right there?
That’d be pretty skimpy for a “course,” but most sushi places I frequent offer 2 nigiri / 3 slices of sashimi per order.
@Harters - nigiri are the little oval shaped mounds of rice draped with your choice of fish.
@eleeper where does one get Korean tasting menus that include the usual banchan?
I have a feeling John was referring to the Western definition of a course, but I won’t put words in his mouth while he’s still trying to answer everyone’s queries.
I was referring to banchan in general.Does it add a half dozen courses to your meal?
Right. My point was that they don’t. In my experience, they are served at the same time — usually at the beginning of the meal (with refills, depending on the joint), not in succession, which I believe is what the posted article is referring to: Western-style tasting menus.
I skimmed the article and what came to mind is that tasting menus are labor intensive, fussy…and of course expensive. And like all things, trends live and die. Also dropping $400 per person and up might have run its course. Special occasions excluded but there’s other ways to celebrate stuff.
I went to a few tasting menus dinners in the early 00s…fun and glad I did then but stopped after the third or so. I think tasting menus became a sort of CV slot for chefs to check off…or to do to challenge themselves, keep with the trend.
Also there’s something to be said about a very well prepared 3 - 5 course meal. A bunch of tiny courses can be fun but so can a really nice dinner and larger portions.
But we are talking about tasting menus here and so omakase would be the comparison and on that setting you should get one nigiri at a time (There are now sometimes sushi/omakase places who start to serve multiple different nigiri pieces at the same time for omakase but that is one (of several) reasons to avoid such places
Very, very rarely have I ever seen amouse bouche, bread or petit fours/mignardises counted as a course at a tasting menu (these tend to be served in addition to the courses, e.g. a restaurant which claims to serve a 7-course tasting menu and three of these courses would be amuse bouche, bread and mignardises would be very unusual)
I don’t know what that is either.
But thanks for another post disagreeing with my definition of a course. I look forward to you , and anyone else, trying to answer FindingFoodFluency’s question . Perhaps when someone else does, then I’ll be able to casually disagree with them. 
Quite common where I am in the world. For example, from these places that we’ve eaten at in recent months:
