This year I will be hosting Christmas lunch for ten people and, to make the occasion memorable, I have hit on a genius idea. Instead of using boring old plates I shall serve the roast turkey on dustbin lids. This will be followed by plum pudding presented in a baseball glove, all washed down with fine wines sucked from a woolly sock. How does that sound to you? Ridiculous and totally unappealing, by any chance? Chips served in a plant pot - trendy or bizarre? Fortunately for my guests, I’m only joking. But if I did go ahead I would only be following the latest pretentious restaurant-industry trend for dishing up meals on anything other than crockery. Eating out can be something of a gamble anyway, but one thing you could be sure of until fairly recently was that your meal would arrive on a plate. Not any more. If you dine at a trendy gourmet burger chain, a gastropub or an independent bistro, there is a high risk of your food being served on something else entirely. In the past couple of years I’ve eaten steak from a roof tile, chicken off a brick, chips in a flower pot and rhubarb crumble and custard out of a dog bowl. I’ve also sipped cocktails from jam jars and coffee from milk bottles, and used salt and pepper taken from egg cups, candle holders and ashtrays. The best was when I visited a friend in York and we ate at The Star Inn The City, where the bread was served in a flat cap, accompanied by butter slapped on a bit of old tree stump. Seeing our faces, the maître d’ assured us that the cap had never been on a head and the tree stumps were perfectly hygienic. He also admitted that, earlier in the day, an American tourist had threatened to walk out. I wouldn’t have gone that far, because the food was delicious and the staff were lovely. But I can see how picturing your bread and butter with a side order of dandruff and Dutch Elm disease could be an appetite-killer. It’s a trend that shows no sign of abating, even though most people loathe it. So what’s it all about? Food writer and author of The Kitchen Magpie James Steen says: ‘A lot of the time it’s down to the insecurity of the chefs — and because they’re not the ones trying to cut up meat on a slate or having their chips go cold because they’re in a wire basket.’ Scroll down for video . As far as I’m concerned, a lot of the blame lies with Jamie Oliver. In his books he often suggests plonking a saucepan in mid-table and letting guests feed from it like pigs at a trough. Anyone who has been to a Jamie’s Italian will have sat there with the table groaning under all the planks, floor tiles, fish bowls, tin buckets and glass jars their food will come in or on. A delicious meal served up on a dustbin lid makes it less appealing says Claudia Connell . And maybe Heston Blumenthal should take a share of the responsibility. It’s thanks to him that so many restaurants now come with a ‘concept’, when the only concept most diners require is to choose a meal and have someone cook it for them. Yet Mad O’Rourke’s Pie Factory in Dudley serves up its mixed grill on a garden shovel — and anybody who doesn’t want to listen to seagulls cries, then eat their fish and chips out of a giant shell, is regarded as a philistine. Once, I was presented with a burger on a mini-blackboard. The sauce was running everywhere, so I asked the waiter if I could have it on a plate instead. Very snootily, he replied: ‘I’m sorry madam but chef is not working with plates at this current time.’ Overseas it’s even worse. There is an Asian restaurant in New York where guests eat out of toilet bowls, and another where pizza is served on a hubcap. Mad O’Rourke’s Pie Factory in Dudley serves up its mixed grill on a garden shovel . Then there is Arzak, in San Sebastian, Spain, which has three Michelin stars. They like to dish up £100-a-head grub on iPads. Back in York, what does The Starr Inn The City have to say? ‘It’s a bit of fun,’ manager Sam Wheatley tells me. ‘We pride ourselves on serving locally sourced food and the flat cap is a cheeky nod to that. More people love it than hate it.’ At a time when many restaurants are struggling to survive, it’s understandable that they want to find ways to stand out from the crowd. But surely the best way is to serve up tasty food at fair prices.
The latest  trend is for dishing up meals on anything other than crockery .
ClLAUDIA CONNELL has eaten steak from a roof tile and chicken off a brick .
She's tried chips in a flower pot and rhubarb crumble out of a dog bowl .
It’s a trend that shows no sign of abating .
Mad O’Rourke’s Pie Factory serves up its mixed grill on a garden shovel .
This year I will be hosting Christmas lunch for ten people and, to make the occasion memorable, I have hit on a genius idea. Instead of using boring old plates I shall serve the roast turkey on dustbin lids. This will be followed by plum pudding presented in a baseball glove, all washed down with fine wines sucked from a woolly sock. How does that sound to you? Ridiculous and totally unappealing, by any chance? Chips served in a plant pot - trendy or bizarre? Fortunately for my guests, I’m only joking. But if I did go ahead I would only be following the latest pretentious restaurant-industry trend for dishing up meals on anything other than crockery. Eating out can be something of a gamble anyway, but one thing you could be sure of until fairly recently was that your meal would arrive on a plate. Not any more. If you dine at a trendy gourmet burger chain, a gastropub or an independent bistro, there is a high risk of your food being served on something else entirely. In the past couple of years I’ve eaten steak from a roof tile, chicken off a brick, chips in a flower pot and rhubarb crumble and custard out of a dog bowl. I’ve also sipped cocktails from jam jars and coffee from milk bottles, and used salt and pepper taken from egg cups, candle holders and ashtrays. The best was when I visited a friend in York and we ate at The Star Inn The City, where the bread was served in a flat cap, accompanied by butter slapped on a bit of old tree stump. Seeing our faces, the maître d’ assured us that the cap had never been on a head and the tree stumps were perfectly hygienic. He also admitted that, earlier in the day, an American tourist had threatened to walk out. I wouldn’t have gone that far, because the food was delicious and the staff were lovely. But I can see how picturing your bread and butter with a side order of dandruff and Dutch Elm disease could be an appetite-killer. It’s a trend that shows no sign of abating, even though most people loathe it. So what’s it all about? Food writer and author of The Kitchen Magpie James Steen says: ‘A lot of the time it’s down to the insecurity of the chefs — and because they’re not the ones trying to cut up meat on a slate or having their chips go cold because they’re in a wire basket.’ Scroll down for video . As far as I’m concerned, a lot of the blame lies with Jamie Oliver. In his books he often suggests plonking a saucepan in mid-table and letting guests feed from it like pigs at a trough. Anyone who has been to a Jamie’s Italian will have sat there with the table groaning under all the planks, floor tiles, fish bowls, tin buckets and glass jars their food will come in or on. A delicious meal served up on a dustbin lid makes it less appealing says Claudia Connell . And maybe Heston Blumenthal should take a share of the responsibility. It’s thanks to him that so many restaurants now come with a ‘concept’, when the only concept most diners require is to choose a meal and have someone cook it for them. Yet Mad O’Rourke’s Pie Factory in Dudley serves up its mixed grill on a garden shovel — and anybody who doesn’t want to listen to seagulls cries, then eat their fish and chips out of a giant shell, is regarded as a philistine. Once, I was presented with a burger on a mini-blackboard. The sauce was running everywhere, so I asked the waiter if I could have it on a plate instead. Very snootily, he replied: ‘I’m sorry madam but chef is not working with plates at this current time.’ Overseas it’s even worse. There is an Asian restaurant in New York where guests eat out of toilet bowls, and another where pizza is served on a hubcap. Mad O’Rourke’s Pie Factory in Dudley serves up its mixed grill on a garden shovel . Then there is Arzak, in San Sebastian, Spain, which has three Michelin stars. They like to dish up £100-a-head grub on iPads. Back in York, what does The Starr Inn The City have to say? ‘It’s a bit of fun,’ manager Sam Wheatley tells me. ‘We pride ourselves on serving locally sourced food and the flat cap is a cheeky nod to that. More people love it than hate it.’ At a time when many restaurants are struggling to survive, it’s understandable that they want to find ways to stand out from the crowd. But surely the best way is to serve up tasty food at fair prices.
pretentious restaurant-industry trend for dishing up meals on anything other than crockery. Eating years I’ve eaten steak from a roof tile, chicken off a brick, chips in a flower pot and rhubarb crumble and custard out of a dog bowl. I’ve also that shows no sign of abating, even though most on a hubcap. Mad O’Rourke’s Pie Factory in Dudley serves up its mixed grill on a garden shovel .