The Fine Dining Condundrum - why is it difficult to really enjoy the main course?

Does anyone, like me, feel that meals at fine dining restaurants often start with a bang, then grind to a lull towards the main course, where it flattens, before a good/bad dessert will ultimately contribute greatly to our emotions right before we leave.

I feel there could be a few factors for this:

1. When we dine out on normal days, we concentrate on the main course most of the time, thus our experience eating main courses is infinitely more than our experiences with small bites, delicate starters, or even a really good slice of bread with premium butter, thus the relative ease to impress with the first few courses.

The bread course at MIA everyone cannot get enough of.

2. If the main course is expected to be a meat or fish, what can be more delicious than a crusty grilled medium-rare steak, or fresh fish perfectly-steamed Cantonese style? It is extremely hard to top some well-made simple pleasures that we are familiar with in the first place, thus serving an impressive main course is a steep mountain to climb, unless, of course, the restaurant throws everyone off with a completely unexpected ingredient as the main course, which is another risk in itself.

Gaa's main course ingredient, going completely out of the box

3. The feeling of hunger. Fine dining meals are notorious for serving small portions of food, but in my experience, most restaurants serve enough. Then again, we start hungry, making it easier for us the enjoy the first few courses, and because such meals are long, by the time the main courses arrive, our brains would have had sufficient time to react and make our bodies feel the sensation of fullness, resulting in us enjoying the main course less.

It is a huge challenge to make a main course better than a good steak

Before I end off, I would like to re-iterate that the statements above are purely based on my personal experiences. This is an issue that had been on my mind for a while, as I always feel that the low point of elaborate meals usually happens around or at the main course.

Lastly, I think restaurants should really make sure they have a couple of really good desserts. If the above is true, the good dessert will be the key to turning the experience around, because everyone deserves a happy ending.