Every few years, a tool from an unlikely source crosses borders to become standard in restaurant kitchens. Since the boom of molecular gastronomy more than a decade ago, the art-room's squeezy bottle, the carpenter's plane and the welder's blowtorch have become commonplace.
This year's indispensable piece of kit appears to be the tweezer. At Portuguese chef Nuno Mendes's new restaurant Viajante in east London, tweezers take centre stage. Each of the dozen chefs in the display kitchen has a pair hooked on their apron.
"They are far easier to hold and far more precise than any other plating tool," says Mendes, who favours "Lithuanian orthodontic tweezers – they're slightly bigger and much cheaper". Their rounded tip facilitates both the pulling of teeth and the placing of cherry blossom. "Much of my food involves violets and chickweed," says Mendes. "Hands just don't allow for the same tactility and precision."
Claude Bosi at Hibiscus and Michael Wignall at Pennyhill Park are also beginning to "swear by them". But until someone works out how to slice pizza with a pair, don't expect to see them in John Lewis any time soon.
