Food and Drink Trends in 2012

by James Laird

If 2011 was the year that London got serious about street food, what dining innovations are on the cards for 2012? Arts London News pinpoints four trends for those who live life on a fork’s edge.

Night Markets

eat.st @ King’s Cross may be a huge hit with local students and office workers, but the strict lunch time window means it doesn’t suit everybody. 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. Even luxury City steakhouse Hawksmoor traded suits for skinny jeans and ventured up the Kingsland Road to take part. A similar project is on the way in 2012, and it’s unlikely to be the only one.

Barbeque (BBQ) 

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

BBQ has already found its standard bearer: 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 bourbon followed by a shot of gherkin brine. Sounds nasty, tastes awesome.

Peruvian Food

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. Another Peruvian joint, Lima, will set up shop in Shoreditch later in the spring.

Neither restaurant is likely to extend students bargain prices, but they will offer an exciting new option for a date or special meal when the parents come to town. Sushi fans will love exploring Peru’s 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. Korean fried chicken will cause 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.