{"id":68443,"date":"2015-05-24T11:29:38","date_gmt":"2015-05-24T09:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=68443"},"modified":"2015-05-25T23:00:08","modified_gmt":"2015-05-25T21:00:08","slug":"south-african-restaurants-reflect-most-international-food-trends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/south-african-restaurants-reflect-most-international-food-trends\/","title":{"rendered":"South African restaurants reflect (most) international food trends!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Food<\/a>How are food trends made? \u00a0Is it chefs inspired by other chefs, especially award-winning ones? Is it chefs doing stages in the top restaurants of the world, and returning to create dishes inspired by what they have seen and learnt, as has happened in our country with Noma clones!? \u00a0Is it chefs looking at photographs of food bloggers and restaurant reviewers, or their photographs on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook?<\/p>\n

The six following food trends<\/strong> <\/span><\/a>are hot right now:<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0 Bread and Butter<\/strong>: something many restaurants have done away with appears to be making a come-back, in being created as something so special that it is a serious dish on a menu. \u00a0Breads are now self-baked, Banting-approved butter is not only served salted or unsalted, but also with additives like cheese, salts, bone marrow, burnt onion, sun-dried tomatoes, or Marmite, or as I experienced at Boschendal’s new The Werf Restaurant<\/strong> <\/span><\/a>with lamb and beef added, or with Shiraz added at Equus at Cavalli. \u00a0Serving whipped butter is particularly trendy.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Since Banting took off last year, the price of cauliflower<\/strong> has soared in Cape Town, a staple element of Banting menus, including cauli-mash, making bases for pizzas, and as a ‘safe<\/em>‘ vegetable. Internationally Noma has revived this vegetable, by serving it pot-roasted whole, topped with pine and yoghurt whey. It is served pur\u00e9ed, barbecued, pickled, and even as a ‘steak’.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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3. \u00a0\u00a0Zero-wastage<\/strong> is also making itself felt locally, but still on small-scale, top-to-tail menus using every element of a carcass. \u00a0 Young chefs appear to support this sustainability focus, and benefits the restaurant financially too. The trend also includes house-made cheeses and yoghurts, home-grown mushrooms, home-milled flour, and house-cultured butter. Composting is linked to this trend, going back into vegetable\u00a0and herb gardens.<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0\u00a0Charcuterie<\/strong>: this curing and preserving trend is very visible in our country, and has even led to the opening of Cape Town restaurant Bacon on Bree by Charcuterie King Richard Bosman. \u00a0Other restaurants\u00a0make their own charcuterie, in addition to their standard menu. \u00a0Chef Neil Jewell of Bread & Wine has long been associated with charcuterie (and own-made bread by his wife Tina), and makes his own, selling it in their Deli and it is on their lunch menu. So too Chef Arno Janse van Rensburg of Maison in Franschhoek has more recently started making charcuterie, and traveled to Spain last year during his winter break, to learn more from the masters in this country. \u00a0They too have a Deli now, and sell their products there.<\/p>\n

5. \u00a0Pay before you eat:<\/strong> introduced in the USA at Alinea in Chicago, the ticketing system makes patrons pay for their meal before arrival, protecting restaurants against no-shows, a problem we see\u00a0affecting local restaurants too, infuriating for the owner and costly in terms of prior prep and food wastage.<\/p>\n

6. \u00a0 Seaweed<\/strong> as a dish ingredient appears to be taking off in the UK, but is barely visible locally, other than used by marine forager Chef Kobus van der Merwe of Oep ve Eet in Paternoster, and Camissa restaurant at the Table Bay Hotel.<\/p>\n

What is anti-trend now is food served on wooden boards or slate tiles, or any other non-plate carriers, or baskets of chips, for hygiene reasons; butter in coffee; and the contradictory description ‘gourmet burger<\/em>‘!<\/p>\n

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Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio:\u00a0www.whalecottage.com<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 Tel (021) 433-2100, Twitter:@WhaleCottage \u00a0Facebook: \u00a0<\/strong>click here<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How are food trends made? \u00a0Is it chefs inspired by other chefs, especially award-winning ones? Is it chefs doing stages in the top restaurants of the world, and returning to create dishes inspired by what they have seen and learnt, as has happened in our country with Noma clones!? \u00a0Is it chefs looking at photographs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[26463,4795,29859,3,124,266,14,20,21],"tags":[20094,4438,13840,30307,32411,182,36,24704,23185,7026,32378,31054,253,28132,2381,15788,32369,5259,31049,4954,31053,7006,14374,1346,4426,4952,13,31050,31052,31047,111,31048,31051,19763,1587,562,32373,31046],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t