The Importance of Plating

What is that old saying that people eat with their eyes first?  I have been reminded of that this week during my stay at the Hard Rock Riveria Maya.  Does food taste better because a chef spent time on the best way to arrange food on a plate?   Can it have a reverse effect where you expect something to taste a certain way based on how it looks and it surprises your palate.  Or maybe disappoints.  

Exhibit A.  This was steak tartare from Toros the steak house.  

The plating here definitely grabs your attention and makes you wonder what those yellow globules are.  Are they egg?    Lemon?  Mustard?  And you get a sense of the texture of the tartare.   It is definitely in a thick marinade.  And you guess that the greens might be there for some texture. And then maybe that is lemon or sharp  mustard is there to cut the richness of the beef.  

Then you taste it.  Where you hoped for some sharpness to contrast with the asian-influenced marinade, there is only a muted mustard taste. Hardly enough to cut through even the mildest marinade.  So this is a case where the plating made your palate expect (and hope) for something that wasn't provided.  Expectations vs. reality.  And there is no real indication on how one should eat this.  Should I mix it all together?    Take small amounts of the tartare and dip into the mustard? 

Exhibit B.  This was a beet salad from Le Petit Couchon which is the French restaurant here at the Hard Rock Riveria Maya.  

It is hard to look at this salad and not immediately think of a beet.  It is in the shape of a beet and has finely chopped pieces of beet you can see.  The texture looks creamy,  like a dip which then leads to a connection to the "chips".  The chef has given us some guidance on how to best enjoy this dish.  And it worked perfectly since the chips had that saltiness you expect in a good chip, contrasting nicely with the sweetness and creaminess of the beet salad.