It’s that time of the year to peek into the future and see what course eating out and the restaurant business will take in the months to come.
A new Indian cuisine: The signs have been there for a while. The notion that North Indian cuisine is butter chicken-dal makhni-naan and South Indian is idli-vada has been worn down. Diners and restaurants are distinguishing between Kerala cuisine and Andhra, Bengali food and Gujarati. More restaurants serving specialized ethnic cuisines are bound to arrive on the scene. Some will go hyper-local, focusing on, say, Kutch food or Kashmiri Pandit cooking. Chefs are travelling to explore these cuisines and add to their repertoire.
Hip status for street food: Gol gappa has been enjoying glamorous status, upgraded with vodka-spiked paani and the like. Other street food classics are making their way to cool bars and restaurants. Think cheeseling bhel, chilli bhajji and Kutchi dabeli. It’s a trend that’s sure to take off with some bars dedicated only to serving local street foods in stylish ways. So bye-bye nachos.
What the vegans want: There’s always a health food trend that occupies a niche. In 2019, veganism will grow. And vegans will get to dine in all-vegan restaurants, not generic health food restaurants. Chefs in these restaurants will be thinking up vegan substitutes for a range of ingredients.
Foreign but familiar: While global trend-spotters predict that Korean or Peru will be the flavour of a particular year, in India, Italian will continue to be the favourite. Japanese and Korean are for when diners seek something out of their comfort zone and Mexican will enjoy popularity, too.
DIY food: As more chefs begin to look more closely at where their produce and ingredients are coming from, there’s going to be greater emphasis on quality – at least in upmarket restaurants. One offshoot of this is chefs baking their own bread, smoking their fish and meats, making pickles and condiments all in-house.
‘Healthy’ cocktails: We want to drink our cocktails and not be left with guilt, say the party people. Cocktails that use fresh juices, eschewing syrups, are going to what the cool bars will shake up. Wonder foods like goji berries and aloe vera juice will also be appearing in martini glasses.
