lostincatering
The London menu trends below reflect how the wider UK restaurant trends are being interpreted. Whats hot, where should you go, who has the biggest queues, which openings are coming up.. all right here (although not in order).
CHICKEN READY TO RULE THE ROOST
As sure as night becomes day, chicken restaurants are poised to open across the capital. As usual, the trend comes from the states but as well this comes because of global meat price issues and the fact that most people just like it. Most offers are buttermilk southern fried chicken or variants of. British free-range is the currency in this market, with plenty of noise about provenance but steering clear of industry approved ‘happy’ chicken standards because they cost and actually nobody’s really sure what it all means. So, The Tramshed by Mark Hix in Shoreditch is a steak and chicken (cock and bull) only offer, Roost from the Pitt Cue gang is eyeing up sites and ready to pounce with their pop-up. Spit and Roast are the truck of choice, already cruising Hackney and Eat.St with their van. WingWIng are looking but most interesting of all, Port Authority, with their incredible fusion flavours and too-cool heritage are ready for a Shoreditch residency before the real deal comes to Dalston. To boost the hype, Tweat_up, the organisers of the hugely successful Ribstock 2012 are bringing ChickenSTOCK to London where operators will go head to head.
SHARING & CASUALNESS
More and more share foods popping up on menus and as stand alone concepts. Counter dining is king and linen is being discarded from the fine diners who are de-formalising their offers.
Leading this are Russell Normans group who were recently joined by Spuntino, Soho and DaPolpo in Covent Garden, and now MIshkins - jewish deli and cocktails in Catherine St. Russell must have raised an eyebrow when recently Zizzi introduced a Cichetti menu (venetian tapas style dishes_ across all 120 sites. Dishoom have the share feature on their menu and Imli is always worth 30 minutes if you’re looking for something small and Indian for your menu. Kopapa at Seven Dials (Cov Gard) from Peter Gordon and the team from The Providores and tapa room is worth a peek. Watch out for the Opera Tavern (Covent Garden - look out for Italian Style Scotch Eggs!). More main stream - definitely have a look at Tapas Revolution in Westfield - great design and actually its ok. Check out Pix Pintxos who have opened in Soho - will pintxos ever take off? NOPI in Soho has great design and share heavy menu and Duck Soup on Dean St is British/share/counter at its best.
Riding House Cafe opened to acclaim featuring a long counter and vast feature share-table right down the middle. Might want to try GG’s in Shoreditch for yakitori (or Bincho, Soho). And keep your eye out for operators increasing the number of communal main courses. Sushi Samba are coming to the Heron Tower. The zeitgeist opening of Pollen Street Social at the top-end saw Jason Atherton inputting share main courses and a dessert bar with guests leaving the table behind and joining his team of young creatives alongside other diners to finish the meal. And you should check out Bread St Kitchen from Gordon Ramseys team which features a ground floor share food bar with more sharing at the Raw Bar upstairs.
KOREAN
Korean food is fast catching up with Mexican in the states and there have been a series of openings in London with increasing top-end. Korean food is rapidly catching up with other the asian cuisines and flavours. There’s a reason of course.. speed, high gross profit and strong flavours being three. And watch out for Korean [twice] fried chicken. First stop should be Kimchee, Holburn..
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THIRD WAVE BURGERS
Just when most everyone predicted that burgers were ‘so-over’, a wave of new burger operators are delighting the capital with higher fat and better provenance, and they’ve created quite a following. Chargrill is out, flat top grilling is in.
At the forefront of this came #Meateasy which quickly became famed Meatliquor , then followed by Covent Garden version MeatMarket. The Goodmans guys have joined in with the epic Burger & Lobster. Down in Brixton Market Honest Burger are using only 35 day Ginger Pig meat and have backing for a roll out. Lucky Chip are now selling in Giant Robot along with their famous van and are now open as Slider Bar in Soho. Mishkins in Covent Garden have taken the NY steamed patty and their isn’t a self respecting slider in town which hasn’t ramped up the fat content. And check out the Admiral Coddington, Chelsea for an incredible aged-in-house version. Watch out for In-n-out who are eyeing an invasion.
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Real Spanish is back in with some notable new entrants, and Sherry's coming along for the ride! The Spanish resurgence seems to have begun, in part, thanks to Bar Pepito in Kings Cross, famed for their Sherry and winners of Time Out’s best bar 2010.
Jose Pizzaro's new tapas bar ‘Jose’ on Bermondsey Street is worth the trip and there’s more Spanish from the former Brindisa man further up the street in the former Bermondsey Kitchen. Relabelled’ Pizarro’s’ he unleashes more a la carte, a larger bar is planned as well as Londons first Cava Bar. Brindisa have opened Tapas Brindisa in Soho, their third. Fino at the bottom of Charlotte Street is top end tapas, and the same team operate the excellent Barrafina on Frith St, Soho (counter only, go early) with a third tapas outlet planned for later this year on Drury Lane, Covent Garden. All time favourite Fernandez & Wells have a small wine & food bar on Lexington St, Saltyard group have three classics.. Dehesa, Saltyard and the newest, the Opera Tavern in Covent Garden. You might want to have a look at Morito in Exmouth Mkt. Capote y Toros on Old Brompton St has completed a sherry and tapas triangle alongside its brothers Cambio de Tercio and Tendido Cero.
REAL SPANISH
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LONDON MENU TRENDS 2012
NATIVE INGREDIENTS
The tipping point - a thousand blog posts extolling the addition of Colmans English mustard to the Spuntino salt beef slider. And with Jamie Olivers latest creation, Union Jacks, hitting Central London and beyond, menu development is awash with creatives scouring for even more interesting locally sourced ingredients just to keep up. Might want to check out Duck Soup for uber-cool, understated yet decidedly British along with 10 Greek St and classic Anchor & Hope on The Cut (Southwark).
Of course, local produce isn't new, this is more about where its being used. Flavour heavy international cooking will be increasingly paired with artisan produce. And English wine will be coming along on this one. This is about re-defined value for money, flavour, a reflection of increasingly main stream food festivals and a simple desire for the reinvention of classic home comfort food.
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MEATBALLS
Generally speaking, anything small and round is currently cool (from Arancini to Chicken Balls (yakitori) to Croquettes) But current King of Balls are our old favourites.. welcome back Meatballs! The rule of any sequel: must be bigger, better and contain more explosions than the original.
This time they’re a little more Goodfella’s than Ikea, so it is then that New York Italian inspired choices are around and, of course, Russell’s featuring them across his stable. For a cool twist pop down to Brixton Market or the Quality Chop House who have opened as Meatballs. Giant Robot have a nice selection, but for flavour variants on-trend then its Mishkins.
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BARBECUE
Barbecoa with Adam Perry-Lang and Jamie Oliver got the media spread but face it, you were uncomfortable with the spend, the hype was tough to meet and the subsequent refurb meant questions were being asked. No doubt though that the butchery is on message (and with rumours of BBQ2 on the way it seems so is the profit) and the general discussion around cooking techniques had an effect. And then #Meateasy in New Cross came along and stole all the food blog space but before you knew it they'd gone back to the food truck lifestyle and give or take a couple of regional varieties, like John Hargates version at the Worlds End in Brighton, you'd be forgiven for thinking that as far as BBQ was concerned that was that.
But it hasn't gone away, and there's big money (Luke Johnson) lurking around along with the second coming of #Meateasy in the form of @MEATliquor, this time centre stage in Marylebone (and @MEATmarket in Covent Garden). Also worth a look, Pitt Cue Co in Soho - same food truck to bricks and mortar story and now in Dalston check our Dukes Brew & Que which combines the BBQ with a great craft beer range. Wider trends such as the desire for stronger flavours, better provenance and a belief in the honesty of street food will mean that this trend is coming to the fore. Check out Ribstock while you’re at it.
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I’m a food specialist, living in Brighton and working with the UK’s top restaurant brands. I’m in London most days and this blog is about news, drink and food trends from the bar and restaurant industry and my daily exploration around the City. More about me..
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OLD ITALIAN IS NEW AGAIN
Pizza East has gone west.. Franco Manca and Jamies Italian are going everywhere. Whats going on?
Artisan pizza is popping up all over London (watch out for more mozzarella bars, making the stuff in-house and serving it still warm.. nice!). There's an avalanche of new operators across the capital jazzing up menus with unfamiliar but authentic regional Italian ingredients: lardo, mostarda (mustard fruit), burrata, salsa verde, speck (smoked prosciutto), schiacciata.. you name it Look for more inventive pesto recipes too. And keep an eye out for lots more native ingredients appearing in the classic recipes.
Pizza Express, Strada, Carluccios and their competitors aren’t playing yet (although Domino’s launched a gourmet range) widening the gap between Italian for the masses and Italian for the classes who, guess what, appear not to have been humbled by the great recession and possess serious risk money to try these unfamiliar items.
CHECK OUT..
Pizza East. Massive, manhattan style and great (but breakfast.?), expect copies. Of course its our friends at Soho House. who have also opened their second in Ladbroke Grove. Franco Manca, Chiswick - has spilled out of Brixton Market (by pop demand) and gone overground in their new flagship (7 more planned in London) and Shepherds Bush is next up (then Covent Garden + Brick Lane).. these guys are great. Rocca are opening up #2 in Dulwich, South Ken’s worth a look. SuperPizza.. Brick Lane.. cooool. Princi Posh slices in Wardour St, Soho + a concession in Selfridges), difficult to resist. Jamies Italian.. the inside rumour is that they fancy a slice of the pizza market for a smaller format JI. Arancina, 2 sites in Notting Hill. Worth a look, share pizza served on large boards, delicious. Malletti, Noel St, Soho - Actually not a great deal to learn here but if you can bear the queue a great way to spend £3.95. Otto Pizza off Westbourne Grove. Cornmeal crust! Kitchen Italia have opened #2 in Covent Garden. Coming soon, the owners of Roka are opening Banca in Mayfair - very upscale. San Carlo are eyeing sites in Birmingham and London for their brand Cichetti.
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