The trends identified in the report mostly speak to the heightening of pre-existing trends around the focus on local, the impact of wellness on menus, the revival of traditional ingredients and a focus on sustainability.
The report also highlights emerging culinary destinations across Asia Pacific, which include Tasmania, alongside Bali, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Shanghai, Busan and Jeju in South Korea, Ho Chi Minh City, Manila and Niseko in Japan.
At the top of the list of trends is the idea of Asia Pacific as a “culinary export powerhouse” with some of the best restaurants in major global centres like London leaning more towards Asian themes than traditional western tastes. With chefs returning home to Asia Pacific, traditional Asian recipes and native ingredients are being fused with international experience.
Meanwhile sustainability is having a big influence, bringing labour-intensive traditions back into play, driving a hyperlocal focus, including the exploration of lower-profile regional cuisines, and promoting regenerative and bio-dynamic farming, upcycled ingredients and plant-based dining.
Wellness is influencing the culinary landscape, from the use of anti-aging foods and fresh, whole ingredients which have been transparently sourced, to an attitude of food as medicine and even providing hyper-personalised meal options to suit individual physiological and psychological states, with the help of AI.
On the beverages front, the rise of non-alcoholic iterations of traditionally alcoholic beverages and ethical, minimal intervention wines both get a mention, while classic cocktails are predicted to rise again, with more elaborate “theatrical” cocktails expected to fall out of favour.
Fine dining is also tipped to become more exclusive through elevated pricing and smaller restaurants with the possible introduction of membership for some fine dining spaces. Shorter fine dining menus are also expected to gain popularity with quality over quantity quashing 20-course experiences.
Meanwhile, technology in the kitchen will see robot chefs and AI-powered inventory systems come to the fore.
Outdoor and rooftop dining spaces are also coming into vogue, which, like many of the trends on the list, can already be seen in Australia through the explosion of rooftop venues, particularly in new hotels.
Trends already in evidence locally include the rise of native Indigenous ingredients, sustainable menus from ICC Sydney to Crystalbrook Collection and several convention centre menus focussed on delivering a positive impact on those they feed.
