Prawn toast, soft-serve and crisps: The restaurant food trends of summer 2023 (and where to try them)

January 7, 2023

Darcy and Remi enjoy Odd Culture's Tepache spritz cocktail potato chips with chicken liver pate.Brook Mitchell

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Fish and chips on the sand, towering ice-cream cones and cold beer in summer will never go out of style, but this season, there are some newcomers on menus promising to be the life of the party.

Potato chips are breaking free from the foil packet and showing up in artful arrangements on small plates. At Pinotta, in Melbourne's inner-north, a bowl of Chappy's chips is the accompaniment to saffron taramasalata (cod roe dip) topped with chilli-marinated.

Pinotta's very on-trend dish of pickled mussels with Chappy's chips.Jason South

"The crisps are such a good vessel for scooping things up," says owner Heidi Modra. She says people coming for a drink at the bar will often order the dish, and then come back for it.

Chip-and-dip has also been given a makeover at Odd Culture in Sydney's Newtown. Chicken liver pate is finished with a sticky fish sauce caramel and studded with house-made potato crisps.

Executive chef James Macdonald says he wanted to offer diners something other than bread to schmear the pate on. Chips seemed a no-brainer. "It was just something crunchy and delicious to serve."

Truffled potato chips with paleta at Dining by James Viles in Sydney.Cole Bennetts

Prawn toast is also getting a makeover, with new restaurants dishing up primo examples, including Lucky Prawn in Sydney's west or Yugen in South Yarra, Melbourne.

Nostalgia is also driving dessert menus, with soft-serve and sundaes revived for adult tastes. In Melbourne, Di Stasio Carlton coaxes waves of fior di latte (milk) soft-serve into elegant green glasses.

Sydney, though, is all about sundaes. Paddington's Porcine makes its own Ice Magic to pour over choc-hazelnut ice-cream. Ciccone and Sons gelateria offers two sizes of sundae, with wafers, cream and all the bells and whistles.

Ciccone & Sons in Sydney's Redfern offers sundaes for appetites big and small David Li Photography

A new word for 2023 vocabularies might be tepache. This Mexican drink of fermented pineapple and spices is slightly boozy, acidic yet sweet, and a staple at Mexican street carts. And it's becoming a more common sight here.

Similar to kombucha, the fact tepache is fermented yet low in alcohol ticks several boxes for health-conscious consumers right now.

But it's also bolstering cocktails, beers and seltzer in Sydney and Melbourne for those who do want the hard stuff.

In Sydney, No. 92's bluefin tuna ceviche is a refreshing hit of lime and cucumber.Supplied

"It's bright, refreshing, fun and you can have more than one of them," says Jordan

Blackman of Odd Culture, who created the bar's signature cocktail, a tepache spritz. He says it's a top-seller and fits perfectly with the bar's focus on fermentation.

More Tex-Mex but no less on trend are spicy margaritas. Usually made with jalapeno-infused tequila and served in a glass rimmed with chilli and salt, the variation on the classic margarita is bracing, refreshing and moreish.

Spicy margaritas at North Bondi Fish, which is offering two months of margarita specials over summer.Steven Woodburn

Michael Hegarty, venue manager of Melbourne restaurant Osteria Renata, says in the last three months, sales of spicy margaritas have outpaced negronis. North Bondi Fish in Sydney is capitalising on the trend with two months of margarita specials. Ready-to-drink versions of the cocktail are also hitting shelves or being bottled by bars.

Reinforcing Mexico's might, the raw fish dish aguachile is on the rise, along with Peruvian cousin ceviche. Even vegans can join in, with versions spotted using jackfruit or heart of palm.

Ceviche is all about lime juice, which lightly cures the fish, but aguachile translates to spicy water and involves lime, cucumbers, onion and chillies whizzed into a puree.

Odd Culture's Tepache spritz cocktail and potato chips with chicken liver pate.Brook Mitchell

"It's almost like a cold-pressed juice," says chef Joel Bowers of No. 7 restaurant in Healesville, Victoria. "Most people would use a lot of other ingredients, [but] it's about the fish, not about anything else."

Peruvian ceviche uses something similar, leche de tigre (which translates to tiger's milk), but you'll also find sweet ingredients on the plate like corn or sweet potato

The craze is driven by a flurry of Mexican restaurant openings in Sydney, as well as a handful of Peruvian examples there and in Melbourne.

Melbourne bar Byrdi's fermented pineapple drink Jungle Byrd is joined by a tepache-inspired drink this summerSupplied

"Since I moved to Australia, I noticed that Australians love their seafood," says Mexican-born Alejandro Huerta, chef at No. 92 in Glebe, Sydney. "But they were not that used to seeing all the ways you can [prepare] seafood. Now they're liking seeing how different chefs and restaurants do ceviche."

With Bianca Hrovat

Eat the trends in Sydney

Porcine's chocolate sundae comes with waffles and house-made Ice MagicSupplied

Where to try fancy potato chips

Odd Culture (Newtown): swipe through chicken liver pate

Margaret (Double Bay): the vehicle for a top-shelf beef tartare with kick

Prawn toast at Man Bo restaurant in Geelong.Istephan Cingoz

Ele by Federico & Karl (Pyrmont): the tasting menu changes but fingers crossed your visit includes smoked cod brandade sandwiched between salt and vinegar crisps

Chaco Bar (Potts Point): served with split king prawns topped with XO butter

Dining by James Viles (The Rocks): draped with paleta (similar to jamon) and served with hot sauce on the side

Chicken liver pate with potato chips and fish sauce caramel from Odd Culture in Newtown. Edwina Pickles

Casa Do Benfica (Marrickville): the partner to a tall skewer of beef – espetada as it's known in Portugal – is a plate of house-made crisps, of course

Where to try prawn toast

Lucky Prawn (Marrickville): no bells or whistles, just a straight-up version on sliced white

Sundaes on the menu at Melbourne's Connie's.Chloe Dann

Redbird Chinese (Redfern): a handsome new spot for new-meets-old Chinese

Rekodo (Barangaroo): comes with salted egg yolk on top, impressive vinyl and a great vibe

Mr Wong (CBD): live large, with this foie gras-enriched prawn toast.

Scallop ceviche at The Independent in Melbourne's east.Supplied

Bones Ramen (Rushcutters Bay): presented as a whole prawn wrapped in a blanket of toasted white bread

Dean & Nancy on 22 (CBD): the retro concept of this cocktail bar extends to the bar snacks, too

Where to try sundaes and soft-serve

Moon Dog World's vegan ceviche, made with jackfruitSupplied

Devon Cafe (Barangaroo): soft serve in a cone, served on a plate for you to smash into a sundae

Porcine (Paddington): chocolate ice-cream infused with hazelnut and cognac, served with house-made Ice Magic and accompaniments

Valentina's: a classic diner doing a traditional banana split

Bones Ramen's prawn toast.Edwina Pickles

Roji Monster: ribbons of soft-serve are arranged on a plate and topped with decorations, including googly eyes for the full monster effect. Or try it with a waffle.

Butter Boy (Manly): the cookie shop also does soft-serve in flavours like oat milk latte

Ciccone and Sons (Glebe, Redfern): you can go big with your sundae - three scoops, caramel sauce, cream and a wafer - or go for the junior sundae, which also comes with sprinkles.

Fior di latte soft serve at Di Stasio Carlton.Luis Enrique Ascui

Where to try tepache

Odd Culture (Newtown): tepache spritz made with tequila, fresh lime and agave syrup

Maybe Sammy (CBD): tepache martini featuring tepache barrel-aged gin from local distillery Hickson Road Gin.

No. 7 restaurant in Healesville's kingfish ceviche made with aguachileSupplied

PS40 (CBD): look out for a tepache boilermaker cocktail on the regularly changing menu

Where to try spicy margaritas

Tio's Cerveceria (Surry Hills): the home of agave drinks is a great place to start

The prawn toast at Lucky Prawn.Jennifer Soo

North Bondi Fish (North Bondi): two margaritas on the Summer of Margs menu have habanero in the mix: Coco Bongo and Frozen Guavarita

Bill's (Bondi, Double Bay, Surrey Hills): jalapeno margaritas made in the Tommy's margarita style (without orange liqueur)

Maiz (Newtown): with muddled jalapenos and chilli oil, the Ms. Margaret is extra hot

Sydney restaurant Pepito's leche de tigre with kingfish, prawns, lime, chilli and fried calamari on top.Edwina Pickles

Fred's (Paddington): a spiced Tommy's margarita is lifted by lemongrass, with cooling cucumber also added

Where to try ceviche

No. 92 (Glebe): Mexican chef Alejandro Huerta makes a traditional aguachile

Pepito's (Marrickville): leche de tigre of chopped prawn and kingish is served with fried calamari for crunch

Warike (Surry Hills): Peruvian newcomer with many choices of ceviche

Esteban (CBD): choose from leche de tigre or ceviche on tacos

Maiz (Newtown): a go-to for Mexican street food taken up a notch

The Sunshine Inn (Redfern): vegans, rejoice: heart of palm ceviche has arrived