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In bites and pieces
Be ready with your forks and knives. Vir Sanghvi serves us the next big things in food.
Modern Japanese traditional
Japanese food depends on delicate flavours and expensive ingredients. But modern Japanese can be cheap and spicy. Already, sushi-lovers are ignoring traditional nigiri sushi for rolls filled with such foods as tempura prawns. So as the realisation grows that modern Japanese is easy to do, more restaurants will take to the cuisine.
Small plates
The era of the three-course meal is over. People no longer want to plough through vast main course helpings. Restaurants will begin serving smaller tapas-size portions, giving guests the option to order just one small plate or five or six.
Cantonese and Beijing
For years, Indian Chinese meant spicy Sichuan. But now, because Sichuan has been so discredited at the lower end of the market, the middle to top are both moving to the lighter flavours of Cantonese and Beijing. Delhi’s best Chinese restaurant — The China Kitchen — flourishes on the strength of its spare ribs and Peking Duck, with not a chilli in sight.
Desserts
We’ve spent too long eating crap commercial ice cream and over-decorated sponge cakes made by lazy hotel chefs. Now, stand-alone places that offer good ice cream and imaginative desserts at reasonable prices will grow in popularity.
Imported meat
As import regulations have been liberalised, nearly everybody is importing high quality meat. New Zealand lamb, Scottish salmon, Dutch pork, Australian wagyu, and Japanese scallops are beginning to turn up on more and more menus. The days of avoiding pork because it was unsafe and only eating goat are at an end. The possibilities are endless.
