What’s hot (food-wise) in 2016

What 2016 holds in store on the restaurant front - and why this year is the year of the vegetable.

Sydney Taste Bennelong's carrot salad

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VISITING New York last year, Sydney restaurateur Leon Fink saw the future.

There are the time when the World Health Organisation released its contentious report into the correlation between red and cured meat consumption and cancer, Fink — the owner of some of Sydney’s most famous restaurants, including Quay, Bennelong, Otto and Firedoor — made a decision.

“Leon came back from America — he was in Manhattan when the WHO report came out that says meat gives you cancer and that sugar is bad for you — and he was like, ‘We had better do something’,” says his son and fellow restaurateur, John Fink. “So he said we would have less meat dishes on the menu and use 25 per cent less sugar in our desserts. It was an edict for every restaurant in the Fink Group.”

The Finks, who employ some of the most talented and artistic chefs in the country, including Peter Gilmore, Ross Lusted and Lennox Hastie, thought that perhaps their chefs would object.

Sydney restaurateur Leon Fink with friends last year.

“I thought Pete [Gilmore] was going to say, ‘I can’t possibly make a chocolate cake like that’,” says John Fink. “But he didn’t. He said there are healthier choices that can be made and we should explore that.”

Indeed, in many ways, the edict has already followed the trend the Finks’ restaurants have naturally been taking as chefs tap into an expanding market for healthier, less meat-focused food. At Otto, chef Richard Ptacnik has not only implemented a vegetarian degustation menu, he’s also created a vegan one as well, both of which sell well.

Gilmore, too, is masterful with vegetables, growing his own boutique varieties and ordering unique, forgotten and heirloom fruits, herbs and vegetables from specialist artisan organic growers such as Tim and Liz Johnstone.

His creations include this dish, pictured, of roasted heirloom carrots with almonds, sheep’s milk feta and amaranth (a grain a bit like quinoa) that’s on the Cured & Cultured menu at Bennelong.

“People are ordering less meat and more ‘pescetarian’ dishes,” John Fink says. “And, sure, vegetables can be sexy. There are a lot of vegetables that nobody knows about. Let’s go out and explore those.”

NOMA AND AUSTRALIAN INGREDIENTS

When Danish chef Rene Redzepi owns Noma Australia at Barangaroo on January 26, the Australian palate may well change forever. Redzepi has immersed himself in the food of the remotest parts of Australia, travelling to Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, as well as to cool-climate locations in Tasmania and elsewhere, to experience what he describes as food so unusual it’s like “going to the moon” to eat. Expect the chef to open the eyes of Australians to ingredients they may not have experienced before.

PUB RENOVATIONS

If 2015 was the year of the pub renovation — think the Paddington, the Bellevue, the Unicorn — this will continue in 2016. Look out for the reopening of the Newport Arms shortly after a multi-million renovation, and the overhaul of pubs in the Public House Management Group, including its newly acquired Four in Hand in Paddington, and Mosman’s Buena Vista (due for a renovation in March), where PHMG’s new culinary ambassador Guillaume Brahimi will write the menus.

ENMORE & NEWTOWN

These inner-west suburbs form the hottest Sydney food hub at present, with queues often forming to get into new venues including Bovine & Swine, Continental Deli and Stanbuli. The opening of Merivale’s Queen Victoria Hotel next month — with chef Eric Koh, Christopher Hogarth and Patrick Friesen producing a cool mod-Asian menu — will add to the district’s cache.

FAST CASUAL

Fast food does not necessarily have to be junk food. This year we’ll see the continued rise of quality mod-priced “fast” venues such as Zeus Greek street food, which will open in Cronulla shortly. The philosophy of fast casual is to offer well-prepared food that’s reasonably priced without falling into the category of “dining”. The rise of the urban food court — such as Westfield Chatswood’s new Hawker Lane, with its outlets that include Madame Nhu, Jim’s Malaysia, Mao Cai and Aqua S — fits neatly into the burgeoning fast casual trend.

ICE PLANT

If you haven’t encountered this crunchy green succulent herb on a dish yet — this year you probably will. It’s everywhere on high-end restaurants at the moment, which means it will soon filter down to a bistro near you.