Leave it off, diners tell foliage-fixated chefs

IT HAS become a staple part of modern dining; the trendier the restaurant, the more foliage you are likely to have decorating your plate.

But the use of fashionable foods for embellishment appears to be sticking in the craw for many diners, who have appealed to chefs to desist, complaining it ruins their enjoyment of a meal.

Among the critics of unnecessary edible decoration is the tennis coach Judy Murray, mother of Olympic champion Andy Murray.

Ms Murray, who regularly posts pictures of her meals at trendy restaurants on social media, has taken to highlighting dishes where she is served with ap- parently extraneous greenery. The 57-year-old said that what she termed “unnecessary foliage” on dishes was a pet hate of hers.

She recently tweeted a picture of a dish she had received covered with bunches of parsley, writing: don’t see the point of parsley.”

Nicola Knight, a food analyst working for the Food Network, said: “I am with Judy, I am a coriander and parsley hater. “I just Now you will often see a handful of rocket and with more ethnic dishes coriander. I think people are noticing it more when there are added ingredients.

“If it is something that is going to change the flavour of the dish or something that is not easy to remove then maybe they should mention it on the menu.”

It is a thought shared by diner Sylvia Smith, who said: “I have loathed beetroot with a passion since an unfortunate incident at school.

“I carefully choose food that I know I will like only to find this trendy vegetable ruining a perfectly good meal.”

Ms Smith added: “If it isn’t mentioned on the menu, please don’t include it.”

‘I carefully choose food I know I will like only to find this trendy vegetable ruining a good meal’