Going gourmet: Most popular food trends of the year

From steak to gourmet, multi-course feasts costing up to $330 per person, here are the biggest food trends hitting plates across Queensland this year.

Queenslanders are going gourmet, embracing fine-dining set menus and degustation restaurants with gusto.

Chasing culinary experiences rather than just a meal out, diners are opting into elaborate multi-course menus featuring up to 20 dishes served over several hours with the option of matching wine and cocktail or non-alcoholic pairings.

The trend has seen the birth of a feast of dego-only restaurants and omakase offerings across the state, from Exhibition in Brisbane CBD and Blume in Boonah to Sushi Room in Fortitude Valley, with customers paying up to $330 per person for the privilege.

But extravagant dining experiences are only one of the tasty food trends feeding Queenslanders this year.

Here are the biggest culinary movements of 2022 worth sinking your teeth into.

Steak has become a must-have on Queensland menus in 2022.

STEAK

Despite beef prices skyrocketing, steak has become a must-have inclusion on the menus of new restaurants. Whether it’s grass-fed, grain-fed, Angus or wagyu, eateries are determined to appeal to carnivores serving everything from $50 steaks with fries, salads and sauces to a pricey $300 2GR full-blood 9+ wagyu at The Lodge Bar in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley. The love for steak has also meant a rise in grill-style restaurants, with Rothwell’s in Brisbane City, Herve’s in Brisbane’s Albion and CC’s Bar & Grill in Cairns launching with a line-up of proteins cooked with char.

REGIONAL RESTAURANTS

Particularly booming this year are Queensland’s regional areas as culinary giants from the southern states move north, chasing sunshine and diners with a growing appetite for change, while local operators venture further afield. So far it has led to a tasty onslaught of eateries from Cairns to Coolangatta, as witnessed with Rubi Red on the Gold Coast from Melbourne top chef Michael Lambie, while fellow Melburnian Jason Jones opened Bandita in Noosaville, and famous foodie family the Gallettos moved their beloved Sydney Italian institution north to Tewantin.

There has been a boom in regional restaurants like Bandita in Noosaville. Picture: Lachie Millard

MORE VEG

As “meat-free-Mondays” becomes part of the vernacular and veganism continues to boom across the country, vegetable-based dishes are no longer an afterthought, but a starring attraction on menus.

Brisbane’s hugely popular fire-powered restaurant Agnes makes zucchini a hero, serving it with whipped peanuts, burnt leek oil and sweet purslane, while giving equal attention to eggplant, brining it in koji, and accompanying it with macadamia and a tangle of sweet potato leaves. Also ensuring vegetarians are just as well catered to as carnivores is Greek favourite, Hellenika, just down the road at The Calile Hotel, where patrons can fill up on meat-free fare such as warm green beans with tomato, dill and parsley, spinach and rice with lemon, the classic Greek salad, baked feta in a braise of chilli and capsicum, and their signature zucchini chips. While in Newstead, diners can indulge in a complete vegetarian or vegan degustation menu at Rogue Bistro.

Hellenika at The Calile serves up a vast vegetarian offering from zucchini chips and Greek salad to baked feta in a braise of chilli and capsicum. Picture: Sean Fennessy

COCKTAILS

Cocktails are no longer just for bars, with restaurants across the state making them a mainstay on menus. Shaking up signature drinks as well as classics, venues are experimenting with different flavour profiles to ensure there’s a drink to match every dish. Baja Modern Mexican in Fortitude Valley has become known for its cracking margaritas, while Myrtille in Crows Nest, near Toowoomba, has teamed up with a local distillery to create its own gin for use in creative concoctions. Then there’s Humble on Duke at Sunshine Beach which turns out refreshing combinations using artisan spirits from Sunshine Coast distillers.

Cocktails have become a must on restaurant menus in Queensland, like at new Mexican eatery Cartel del Taco at Hawthorne. Picture: Lachie Millard

NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINKS

Just as big as boozy cocktails are non-alcoholic options. From artisan teas at Brisbane’s contemporary Chinese restaurant Donna Chang, to tropical-inspired mocktails at Palm Cove’s Nu Nu, sommeliers are putting equal care and attention into catering for teetotallers as they are the drinking public. Degustation-only restaurants Elska and Exhibition in Brisbane are even offering complete non-alcoholic drinks pairings to go with their multi-course menus, using inspiration and ingredients from the kitchen to form sips such as beetroot kombucha and yuzu and clarified apple spritzes. The trend is only bolstered by the boom in better quality booze-free drinks, whether it be zero beers, wines or spirits.

This Friday we reveal 51 to 100 of Queensland’s most delicious restaurants in the annual delicious. 100. Check the website to find out which eateries have been judged among the tastiest in the state.