2011 Food Trends | Feature | Asia Tatler Dining - Hong Kong Best ...

2011 Food Trends

Asia Tatler Dining consults a panel of experts to predict what will be hot in the culinary world next year

Last month, at a web seminar entitled “Eat, Stay, Love”, industry consultant and watcher Andrew Freeman was asked to predict what he thinks will be hot topics in the coming year. Among the dozen food trends he listed, he cited savoury and sweet pies as the one that will dominate in restaurants next year. Other entries of note include:

- Mini-sized: "Small plates were the big buzz word over the last couple of years, [but in 2011] mini is the new buzz word. Mini everything: mini portions, mini desserts"

- Bellies of goat and lamb will replace the overpriced pork belly

- Popsicles with unique flavours such as sugar-snap pea

- Dirt: Chefs are going to play more with texture with "dried, crumbled, powdered ingredients." Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark, offers "radishes with toasted-malt dirt" and both renowned chefs Grant Achatz of Alinea in Chicago and Ferran Adria of Spain's elBulli are known for these texture innovations

- High-end junk food: "I feel like munchies we grew up on are going to show up with interpretations done by chefs in the most unique ways”, such as Thomas Keller’s famous homemade Oreos (TKO). Freeman expects "house-made Cheetos, Bugles, Slim Jims and jerky"

To find out more on specifically what will be popular in Hong Kong next year, Asia Tatler Dining also canvassed a panel of local experts to get their opinions.

Calvin Ku, the F&B director of 2010’s hottest new bar and restaurant, Lily and Bloom, thinks that homemade pastas, premium Australian beef and serious bar food will dominate the menus next year. When asked to elaborate, he explains, “Serious bar food is by no means gourmet or formal, but rather bar food that’s created with care and thought. Ingredients is of course the key, but flavour and texture is the most important when it comes to bar food”. He cites the charcuterie platter with homemade rillettes and pâtè as well as the fried quail on offer at Lily as prime examples.

Richard Ekkebus, the innovative executive chef at the Landmark Mandarin’s Amber, is more concerned with the environment. He lists sustainable seafood and reducing our carbon footprint as two of the most important trends next year. “Although people are in search of rare and precious ingredients, alarm bells have rung for the limitation of today’s food stock. I think it is indeed about time for us in this industry to put something into action. Over the past few years I have been more considerate particular with seafood, abandoning bluefin tuna two years ago. I don’t think we will resolve all issues in the year to come, but I hope there will be a collective movement of chefs to create menu based on the conviction of a good citizen”. As an example of Ekkebus’ good intentions, see his line-caught amadai dish, pictured below.

Texture really is the word of the year, however: “After a decade of transformation and elaboration of ‘artificial food’ through molecular cuisine, I think it is now the return to real wholesome food, based on nostalgic pleasure. Food with real texture using exceptionally noble ingredients and prepared with precision is back”, says Ekkebus.

Another one of Hong Kong’s most creative chefs, Alvin Leung of Bo Innovation, believes that one of the biggest trends will be “wine-friendly cuisine”, for example classic French cuisine to cater to the large amount of fine Bordeaux coming through Hong Kong in recent years. He also notes that there is definitely room in the market for Spanish fine-dining.

For those with a sweet tooth, Asia Tatler Dining asked Marike van Beurden, pastry chef at Caprice, what she thinks will be big in the pastry world in 2011. “There are some trends that are already quite big in Europe which I think will start arriving in Hong Kong next year, this include the use of herbs and vegetables in the pastry kitchen”, she says. Herbs such as basil as well as micro-herbs will start showing up more in desserts and van Beurden also thinks that diners will start seeing some unusual genetically modified fruits such as white strawberries and hybrids such as raspberry-strawberries. As for trends that show no signs of dying out, van Beurden believes that cupcakes and macaroons are here to stay, thanks to their versatility, “you can keep on changing them, making new flavours and shapes, so no, I think neither cupcakes nor macaroons will die out anytime soon”.

Finally, we go to Spoon by Alain Ducasse at the InterContinental Hong Kong to get the superstar chef's opinion. Like Ekkebus, Ducasse believes that chefs will continue on the quest for good products, “products which are altogether healthy and tasty” and come from production that respects the environment. He also thinks that we’ll be hearing from “new actors on the culinary global scene”, especially from places that we are not so familiar with yet such as Latin America and Eastern Europe. “The socioeconomic development of these new countries will go hand in hand with the development of their local culinary traditions”, Ducasse predicts.

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