Food and Drink Trends for 2012

2011 was the year that London got serious about street food, craft beer became a hipster status symbol, and gourmands swapped oysters and periogold truffles for the pleasures of the humble hamburger. So what dining innovations are on the cards for 2012? Here are five trends for culinary explorers to take note of going forward

Barbeque

Now that the burger has been almost totally re-invented, it’s the turn of another American classic, the BBQ, for a makeover.

A cuisine and tradition in and of itself, BBQ has already found its standard bearer in the U.K.: Pitt Cue Co. started off on the asphalt and recently graduated to a full bricks and mortar operation in Soho.

Most people go for ribs and pulled pork, with the more adventurous fighting over specials like smoked pig’s head.

Everything is washed down with appropriately cheap American lager, or a pickleback – the house special is a shot of whiskey followed by a shot of gherkin brine. Sounds nasty, tastes awesome.

Always at the fore of the UK’s culinary developments, expect quality brisket and bourbon to be flowing freely across London by the end of the year.

 Night Markets

Over in King’s Cross, the eat.st mini-market has proved an immediate hit with local students and office workers, but the strict lunch time window means doesn’t suit everybody, nor does the location.

Equally, the hustle and bustle of Britain’s traditional weekend markets isn’t everyone’s bowl of miso, especially with February rolling on and the fastidiousness of January beginning to fade.  Enter the night market, one of Southeast Asia’s most exciting exports.

Whetting our appetite for this kind of experience was The Long Table in Dalston, which proved a huge hit in the closing months of 2011, while the Once Upon A Wintertime pop-up festival at Netil House also showcased top-notch street food in the P.M. 

The Bootstrap Company (who teamed up with Nuno Mendes to bring The Long Table to E8) say a similar project is on the way in 2012, and it’s unlikely to be the only one.

Peruvian 

Peru offers a truly unique style of cooking that borrows flavours from Africa, Japan, Spain, and the Middle East

One of the capital’s most eagerly anticipated openings of the year, Ceviche, will welcome Soho punters from March for those keen to tuck in at the earliest available opportunity. Another Peruvian joint, Lima, which will set up shop in Shoreditch later in the spring. 

Sushi fanboys will love exploring Peru’s various takes on raw fish, especially sashimi-like tiraditos, while adventurous tipplers will savour the national drink, the Pisco sour.

The New KFC

We’re now as accustomed to sushi and pho as we are to bacon butties and fish fingers. This year, Korean food will take its place in our Asian gastronomic landscape, with its take on fried chicken causing the most immediate stir.

Despite being double fried, it’s much lighter than most Western interpretations of the dish and is already a massive hit in New York. 

With London increasingly willing to adopt culinary developments from across the pond, KFC should stand for something much more savoury in twelve months time.

Gourmet Veg

The evolution of gourmet vegetarian dining has been slow, with only a handful of places in the entire country being good enough to encourage the flesh-free brigade to leave the reliable but predictable safety of Italian and Indian restaurants when eating out.

But progress looks to be accelerating in 2012, with highly-regarded Vanilla Black opening a sibling restaurant, Orchard, in Holborn this month.

Like its parent establishment, it’s a good bet to be a hit with the critics and this will turn the spotlight on the generally woeful neglect of vegetarians by the haute cuisine world.

Intrepid restaurateurs will likely take note. By 2013, going all the way to Brighton for a meal at Terre a Terre will hopefully seem like the ridiculous prospect it is rather than just a minor inconvenience.