I cook most evenings. Not elaborate cooking — I'm a 31-year-old graphic designer from Cardiff who works from home, and dinner is usually something I make in forty minutes or less. But I cook properly: from scratch, with fresh ingredients, with a bit of thought about what goes with what. It's one of the things I genuinely enjoy about the day, and I've gradually been upgrading the tools and vessels I use to make the process feel as good as the result.
The small bowl was the last thing I thought would make a difference. I was wrong.
The Problem I Didn't Know I Had
I'd been doing what most home cooks do: measuring spices into the palm of my hand, prepping garlic and ginger onto a corner of the chopping board, mixing dressings in whatever mug or ramekin was nearest. It worked. It was also slightly chaotic — the kind of low-level kitchen disorder that doesn't ruin anything but makes the process feel less considered than it could be.
I'd read about mise en place — the professional kitchen practice of having everything prepped and in its place before you start cooking — and had always thought it sounded appealing but impractical for a home cook without a brigade of prep cooks. What I hadn't considered was that the reason it felt impractical was partly that I didn't have the right vessels for it. You can't do mise en place properly without small bowls. And I didn't have any that I actually wanted to use.
Why the Orsina Anaya Small Bowl
I'd bought the large Anaya serving bowl a few months earlier and it had become the piece I reached for most at the table. When I saw the Orsina Anaya Ceramic Small Bowl in Chateaux Green, the decision was straightforward: I wanted the same quality and aesthetic at a smaller scale, for the prep and individual serving work that the large bowl couldn't do.
The Chateaux Green exterior with cream interior is the same palette as the large bowl — rich, earthy, the kind of green that makes whatever's in the cream interior look vivid and intentional. The smooth, high-quality glaze is easy to clean, which matters when you're using a bowl for spices, dressings, and sauces in quick succession. The balanced base means it sits stably on the worktop without sliding when you're whisking something. The oven-to-table design means I can use it to warm individual portions or serve directly from the oven without needing a separate serving dish.
I bought two initially. I now have four.
How It Changed My Cooking
The first evening I used them properly — spices in one, prepped garlic and ginger in another, a dressing whisked in a third — the cooking process felt completely different. Everything was where it needed to be before I started. I wasn't hunting for the palm-measured turmeric or scraping ginger off the board mid-cook. The process was calmer, more sequential, more like cooking is supposed to feel.
The bowls also changed how I serve. Individual dips, sauces, and sides look genuinely beautiful in the Chateaux Green — a small bowl of raita, a ramekin of harissa, a side of roasted seeds. Things I used to put in whatever was nearest now get their own bowl, and the table looks more considered as a result. The green against a wooden board or a linen cloth is a combination that photographs well, which I notice because I occasionally share food photos and the Anaya bowls appear in almost all of them now.
Six Months of Daily Use
I use at least one of the Anaya small bowls every time I cook, which is most evenings. They've been through the dishwasher hundreds of times. The glaze is as smooth and vivid as when they arrived — no chipping, no crazing, no dulling of the Chateaux Green. The cream interior has stayed clean and bright. These are bowls built for daily use, not occasional display, and they perform accordingly.
The oven-to-table use has been particularly valuable for individual portions — a small gratin, a baked egg, a warm dip that needs to stay hot at the table. The ceramic retains heat well, which means food stays at the right temperature longer than it would in a thinner vessel.
I've recommended them to three friends who cook regularly. All three have bought them. One has also bought the large Anaya bowl after seeing mine at a dinner. The collection, it turns out, is genuinely addictive in the best possible way.
Who This Is For
Any home cook who has been doing mise en place informally — palm-measuring spices, prepping onto the board, mixing in mugs — and wants to do it properly. Anyone who wants their kitchen process to feel as considered as their cooking. Anyone who already has the large Anaya bowl and wants to complete the set. And anyone who has been using whatever small vessel was nearest and wondering why the kitchen always feels slightly chaotic — the right bowls make a surprising difference to how cooking feels, not just how it looks.
Get Yours
The Orsina Anaya Ceramic Small Bowl – Chateaux Green Oven to Tableware is available in the store now. Find it alongside other beautiful tableware and kitchen essentials in these collections:
- Dinnerware – bowls, plates, and serving pieces for every table
- Tableware – everything you need to set a beautiful table
- Home & Garden – quality essentials for the home
- Latest Products – see what’s just arrived in store
Buy two. You’ll want four within a month. That’s not a warning — it’s a promise.
— Priya Nambiar, graphic designer, Cardiff, home cook, and now a person with four small green bowls and no regrets.
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