tasting menu

Meaning

A tasting menu is a collection of several small portions of different dishes served by a restaurant in a single meal. It is designed to showcase the chef's signature style and culinary skills. Usually, everyone at the table must order it, and it often comes with an optional wine pairing.

Examples

• We decided to splurge on the eight-course tasting menu for our anniversary.

  We decided to splurge on the eight-course tasting menu for our anniversary.

• Does the tasting menu include dessert, or do we need to order that separately?

  Does the tasting menu include dessert, or do we need to order that separately.

• The restaurant offers a vegetarian tasting menu that is highly recommended.

  The restaurant offers a vegetarian tasting menu that is highly recommended.

• I highly suggest getting the wine pairing with the tasting menu.

  I highly suggest getting the wine pairing with the tasting menu.

• It took us nearly three hours to finish the entire tasting menu.

  It took us nearly three hours to finish the entire tasting menu.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ We ordered a taste menu.

  ✓ We ordered a tasting menu.

  'Tasting menu' is a fixed compound noun. Using 'taste' as a noun modifier here is incorrect.

• ✗ The tasting menu has many big plates.

  ✓ The tasting menu has many small courses.

  A tasting menu consists of small, bite-sized or sample-sized courses, not full-sized plates.

Related Expressions

Practice

• For our wedding anniversary, we booked a table to try the chef's ten-course ___.

  💡 A series of small dishes showcasing the chef's skills

  Show answer

  tasting menu

• If you can't decide what to order, I highly recommend the ___.

  💡 The multi-course option

  Show answer

  tasting menu