Food & Drink Trends 2015: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Finally, it’s that time of the year to give diplomacy a break, to speak our minds and rip into the food and drink trends that have delighted us, vexed us and annoyed the hell out of us.

Last year, we split it into Food and Drink Trends That Should Die followed by Food and Drink Trends That We Loved. This year we’ve grouped the 2015 food and drink trends under The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

The Good

• In 2015, we’ve seen a boom in the Sydney dining scene. While a few restaurant closed their businesses after a few months, many have popped up over the winter season, adding diversity and excitement to the culinary scene.
• the return of degustation dining without the attitude or the price tag
• French cuisine, albeit modernised and served in a share plate ethos is cool again
• good charcuterie platters have become ubiquitous not only in restaurants but in bars such as The Barber Shop, Eau de Vie Sydney and many more
• good Japanese cuisine, from Osaka street food to a 5 hour degustation and everything in between
• gin is in, with G&T bars, offering choice of tonics, garnishes and gins
• local, cheap and cheerful dining such as the Pizza Box at Salt Meats Cheese, Ryo’s Noodles at Bondi Junction, Chinaman Dumpling in Cremorne
• the range of good, new no age statement whiskies aimed at beginners
• popular on menus: Eton Mess, smoked meats, foraged food, provenance of produce, sustainable seafood
• rise in biodynamic and natural wines, and wine lists featuring smaller wine producers
• our love of the humble chook, be it fried chicken, Korean Fried Chicken, and rotisserie chicken
• we’ve mentioned the gentrification of Australian pubs before, this year we’ve seen a growth in the reinvention / revitalisation of pubs into destination dining in beautifully refurbished surrounds
• the growth of quality Australian craft spirits continues and we seem to be having a new Australian gin every few weeks. But will we reach market saturation very soon?

The Bad

• hiding food under a bunch of green leaves like it was some last minute decision to plate up or your five year old wanted to pitch in
• micro herbs and flowers on everything, sure they look pretty but I don’t always feel like eating a garden
• calling a well-established cuisine “street food” when it is neither that nor is it cheap
• has the Espresso Martini become the new vodka-lime-and-soda?
• venues so loud that you just want to cancel your order, pay the bill and get out
• the words “seasonality” and “cocktails based on classics with a twist” have become meaningless, tired old cliches, thanks to the influx of same-old same-old media releases
• slate plates – why are they still around?
• lockout laws and not being able to enjoy a single malt whisky after midnight at a bar
• cocktail bars with instagram accounts that show mainly food
• the Negroni craze – I get it, and it follows from the gin boom but there are so many bad Negronis out there that it gives the drink a bad name.
• very few small bars have opened in Sydney in 2015. Some high calibre bartenders have moved overseas, others have opened venues with a food focus. Is this the beginning of the demise of the small bar culture in Sydney?

The Ugly

• Burgers and Sliders, including the ones thicker than your head that scream heart attack. Seriously Sydney, they’re as old as ripped jeans. Isn’t it time we stopped glorifying burgers and developed our palates beyond calorific junk food and Big Arches clones?

Don’t miss…. Top 10 Cocktail Trends of 2015, Top 10 New Restaurants of 2015, Top 10 Cocktails of 2015, Top 10 New Bars of 2015, Top 10 Restaurant Dishes 2015.