The Bar Journal

Let’s look into our crystal ball and guess what we think will be the ten biggest food and drink trends in the UK this year.

1: Asia Promise

Following on from last year’s interest in Korean food, 2014 will see Vietnamese food given the spotlight via Bobby Chinn’s House of Ho, which opened in Soho in January.
Apple-smoked pork belly with braised cabbage, lemongrass monkfish, and duck “a la banana” – shredded confit duck banana blossom salad, just to give you a taste!

2: Savoury cocktails

With London at the epicenter of innovation, the trend for savoury cocktails will continue to evolve in 2014, championed by the London Cocktail Club and Tony Conigliaro at The Grain Store through creations such as the Pumpkin Bellini and Green Tomato Margarita. Expect to see more of the likes of bacon-infused, mustard and horseradish vodka being used as a base spirit in cocktails, while spices will also weave their way into mixed drinks to add heat and interest without the unwanted calories.

In keeping with the trend for vegetable-based cocktails, The Botanist in Sloane Square has launched a range of ginseng liqueur Kamm & Sons five-a-day cocktails, including the Green Twist, made with juiced spinach, Kamm & Sons and celery; and the Beetroot Mary – a twist on the Bloody Mary using beetroot in place of tomato juice. Speaking of tomato, there is even talk of pizza cocktails coming to the capital by way of New York. You’ve been warned…

3: The return of fine dining

After years of penny pinching, pop-ups, burger joints and casual dining outlets, there will be a return to fine dining in the capital, with Londoners craving attentive customer service and a sense of occasion. As we emerge from the grips of the recession, there will be a change in mindsets and a desire to feel well looked after when eating out. Though rather than stuffy service and starched table cloths, a new breed of fine dining establishment will emerge that prides itself on offering, “a dinner party atmosphere.”

4: The rise of the restaurant bar

No longer either non-existent or simply an afterthought, we will see the restaurant bar rise to prominence this year, such as the Negroni bars at Russell Norman’s three Polpo sites, with the best becoming destination venues in themselves, independent of the restaurants they inhabit.

An early champion of this trend was Jason Atherton, who pioneered the concept at his Michelin-starred flagship Pollen Street Social, and rolled it out to sister sites Social Eating House in Soho, which boasts a speakeasy-style bar, The Blind Pig, on the first floor, and the hugely popular and regularly star-studded Berners Tavern at The London Edition hotel. As the calibre of cocktails improves at restaurant bars, increasing efforts will be made to integrate cocktails throughout a meal, rather than them being used solely as bookends.

5: The continued brasserie boom

If 2012 was the year of the steakhouse in London, 2013 will be remembered as the year of the brasserie, with seasoned French chef Eric Chavot scooping a Michelin star mere months after opening his eponymous Brasserie Chavot in Mayfair and Bethnal Green-born father of five Keith McNally upping sticks from New York to open the hotly anticipated London outpost of his hugely successful and oft star-studded brasserie Balthazar in Covent Garden.

SALUTE!

GIUSEPPE GALLO