Do you prefer multi-courses or the traditional three-course meal? Post your thoughts below

How many times have you ordered a meal in a restaurant only to find yourself wishing you were eating what is on someone else's plate? Not because your choice was bad, but because your partner's or friends' selections look equally as edible.

As more exotic cuisines creep into the mainstream and cooking as a profession, and a past-time, increases in popularity, people's eating habits are shifting.

So to, it seems, is the way restaurant-goers prefer to order food when eating out.

While the three-course meal — entree, main and dessert — has traditionally defined people's ordering habits, are diners moving away from this format and instead adopting a penchant for multi-course meals?

Undeniably, Michelin star chef Raymond Blanc, has been predicting the death knoll of the three-course meal since 2006 when he stated, matter-of-factly in an interview, that: "I have done my research and what I found is that no one in gastronomy or anyone else wants a three-course meal. It is over.''

His words have now found resonance in a recent survey conducted by London restaurant The Providores and Tapa Room in Marylebone.

The survey, carried out among the restaurant's regular diners, showed 86% preferred to share their meals in order to maximise the number of dishes they could taste. Meanwhile, 77% said they preferred to order a combination of dishes to their taste rather than have a set starter, main and dessert.

Peter Gordon, head chef and co-owner of the restaurant, said he picked up on the developing trend during a recent visit to Japan with fellow restaurant owner Michael McGrath.

"For years now, whether eating at The Providores or at other restaurants, I always find myself opting to eat several starters, rather than a main," Gordon said.

"While we were in Japan, we ordered meal after meal of these different dishes," he said. "It's called Kaiseke (many small meals) and it's a fantastic way to eat."

McGrath affirmed: "They really are small portions, but you can have up to 15 courses and you get to taste this extraordinary range of flavours and see the skills of individual chefs and what they are doing."

He said with people generally becoming more conservation minded and health conscious smaller portions suited the developing mindset.

"The flavours are intense and the smaller portions mean you don't get the volume."

On the strength of the trend Gordon took the decision to relaunch the restaurant's menu, allowing diners to choose either a two, three, four or five-course meal made up of starter-sized plates from a menu of up to 15 different dishes.

"Each dish still comes out as a seperate course so it also turns it into a longer evening that way too, which is nice. And you can match glasses of wine to each course, rather than order a bottle and not have it complement all the food. It makes for a nice leisurely dinner," Gordon said.

McGrath added: "The waiters have also become intrinsically involved in helping people make decisions, gauging their responses and encouraging them to try a full range of dishes."

Gordon is known, in particular, for his fusion food so the new extended menu at The Providores suits his style of cooking.

"With fusion food there is so much going on flavour-wise that six to eight bites of a dish is often enough," he said. "Any more and it would almost be too overpowering."

His dishes, which have a wide south-asian influence, include delicacies such as piquillo pepper and beluga lentil soup with coriander creme fraiche; crispy soft-shell crab on soba noodle, pickled ginger and wasabi tobikko salad with sesame tofu dressing, smoked kelp and ponzu; and roast New Zealand venison loin on cassava chips and spinach with girolle, samphire and hijiki ragout and salsa rosso.

Elsewhere, many high-end restaurants have for a long-time offered what is known as a taster-menu alongside their regular menus. These however, tend to be set courses, so while the variety is there, the freedom to choose isn't.

Despite the change in eating habits and patrons embracing the multi-course meal, Gordon and McGrath agree, contrary to Blanc's belief, that the three-course meal will always have its place in dining.

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