Garnish ideas for dressing your dinners and drinks

You’ve just made the most phenomenal dinner for some pretty phenomenal guests. All it needs is some garnish ideas for the final flourish – a sprig of parsley or a few mint leaves, right? Wrong. 

You want to make your diners gasp with amazement, you want your table to look like a fin de siècle banquet, you want sumptuous creativity, and extravagance is key. Decorate your platter with a piece of ephemeral art. 

These stunning carvings made out of foodstuff will only last for one meal, and take a talented sculptor to create. Dish up pure elegance by whittling away the hours at a large root vegetable, or do what we always do – hire a consummate professional to create a work of genius that wouldn’t have looked out of place on an emperor’s dinner table.

Sculptural garnish ideas

Play squash 

Not exactly a garnish but a lot of fun, place this carved squash in the centre of your holiday table for a bizarre and beguiling centrepiece.

Piña envy

If these pineapple garnishes look too big for your cocktail, maybe your cocktail isn’t the right size.

Flesh and bud

Sculpt your watermelon into a floral tribute that pips the competition. 

Beets me

Harness some flower power and catapult yourself into higher circles. 

Fix your leek

Turn your spring onion into a celebratory tassel that's the perfect companion for your Bloody Mary.

Twisting your melons

Rose to the occasion with a game old Galia.