The big news in tableware accessories is small and stylish—diminutive versions of oversize flatware that connect and coordinate with the casual dining styles changing the restaurant landscape. Designs are fashionable and functional. Specifical-ly, they/ offer a solution to serving (and eating) small-bite foods—amuses-bouches, tapas, chicetti, and other appetizers—that spawned small-plate venues.

Small accessories complement small plates, and producers have rushed to the market to showcase these new food fashions, inviting offbeat table settings. These colorful arrangements inspire interaction—passing and sharing—which gives diners a sense of choosing their own dining style. The accessories help style up and tone down the formal aspects of buffet service. And because many pieces are designed to display foods, they become the mainstay of settings for catered events.

Producers see small accessories as another way to satisfy customers’ relentless search for new ideas for creative presentation. The designs offer chefs and F&B managers a wide variety of items in a range of material choices, from porcelain and bone china to metalware, bamboo, natural woods, and glass. Showing ethnic traces—Japanese, Scandinavian, Italian, among others—most have a contemporary flair.

A popular porcelain spoon, for instance, with a long Asian heritage, takes several modern variations. One of the most engaging is a small oval scoop with a fish-tail handle in a brightwhite novel material.

The newest mini-accessories evoke a cool chic look, effectively banishing the impractical spoon, the outsize fork—and toothpicks.

In an elegant variation on Asian-inspired spoons—and a case of how tiny utensils complement any dining mood—one producer features a five-inch mother-of-pearl mini-set of fork/spoon, to match mother-of-pearl dinnerware. This line also features demi-utensils crafted from and highlighting wood grains, including: a rosewood spoon and fork; a palm wood spoon with curlicue handle; a bamboo tong fork and spoon, along with a server set and ladle; and balsam wood pieces with curved handles.

• One of the most unusual mini-series— “stainless steel party forks and spoons”—have angles and curves that perform in presentation: a broad five-prong fork rises from a tent-shaped metal stand to hold sushi, veggies, or fruit.
• In another, forks and spoons have Gehryesque handles that loop up and turn under, forming attractive servers for small-bite foods— and handy tools to pick up another bite. A slim spoon has an s-shaped curve in mid-handle, which can hook onto the cup rim after stirring. And styled with more modestly curved handles, a wide-head fork holds shrimps or tidbits.
• Another collection captures and advances the small-utensil trend in an original, elegant way. Each design is beautifully modeled in brushed stainless steel. Designed for specific roles, they illustrate the interplay of design with food and dining fashions, including: a fish fork; a long, slim “sharing” fork for reaching across the table to sample from a companion’s plate; a cocktail stirrer; and a mini ladle for sauces, styled with an angled bowl that dips into a large or small ramekin.
• A set of tools selected by a hotel F&B director, just back from Spain, for a new tapas buffet dish, features four-inch, flat-bottom stainless steel spoons. “We serve tapas right on the spoon,” he says.
• In some cases, manufacturers downsize a standard best-selling flatware line to develop matching mini-accessories. One example includes a tiny oyster utensil; a long-stem appetizer sharing fork; an elongated, slim stir that easily plumbs the bottom of a tall drink; an ivory-colored caviar spoon; a flat gourmet spoon with delicately scalloped edge; and a salt spoon that works efficiently in spice dishes, as well.

Versatile, with a certain nonchalance of the trendsetter, small utensils express a low-key luxury. In providing a solution to the latest turn in upscale casual dining, mini-accessories bring pieces of art and lively design to the modern table.

Meade McCabe is a frequent contributor to HOTEL F&B EXECUTIVE.