Future repasts

Eating out in 2009, in ten easy bites by Antoine Lewis. 
 
Cheaper food, easy meals, goat’s milk cheese and more Japanese – Mumbai is not going to eat out less this year, only more selectively. Appetites haven’t shrunk with the recession, but diners have started tightening their belts and carrying smaller wallets. Restaurateurs are reining in their ambitions for the coming year, and concentrating on keeping their businesses profitable and afloat.
But even as the boom quietens down into a whisper for the next six months, restaurants will continue to open. Restaurateurs may be hesitant to try something radical, but will continue to innovate. New flavours and ingredients will emerge and popular cuisines will be subtly made over. Here are some of the biggest trends.
 
Comfort food
When life gets tough, food gets friendly. Simple, accessible dishes without complex flavours and textures will rule next year. Instead of steak topped with camembert, caramelised yam and wasabi, it’s going to be steak with a simple pepper or mustard sauce and roast or mashed potatoes. The big difference from the earlier versions of steak and potatoes is that this time the best cuts and the freshest ingredients will be used. 
 
Hispania por flavour 
Mumbai’s only Spanish restaurant Caliente has quietly faded from memory, but with a new Spanish restaurant on the cards, the cuisine might make a comeback in 2009. Spanish dishes should appear on Olive’s new menus as owner AD Singh has signed on a Spanish chef. Also in line is Mexican, though the Taj Mahal Hotel’s plan for converting Starboard into a speciality Mexican restaurant has probably taken a backseat in light of the terrorist attacks. Indian computer professionals working in the Silicon Valley turned to Mexican and Tex-Mex whenever they felt homesick. Now back home in Mumbai, they miss the comforting flavours of the substitute and have been wailing about the absence of a good Mexican restaurant. Ever since chef Nobu Matsuhisa, a Peruvian of Japanese descent, became one of the greatest exponents of modern Japanese cuisine with his restaurants across three continents, western chefs have looked closely at Peruvian and Latin American ingredients and flavours. Expat Indian chefs are finally introducing these ideas into Mumbai, which will find expression in restaurants offering modern European cuisine. 
 
A little yen
Japanese, particularly sushi, will finally make the transition from five-star hotels and expensive fine dining restaurants to more modestly-priced affordable outlets. Supermarket sushi, already available at Nature’s Basket, promises to become a citywide phenomenon. By the end of the year, it should be possible to throw a sushi and sake house party at a reasonable cost. At weddings and banquet functions, live Japanese counters will be the next big thing. Demand is expected to be so substantial that freelance Japanese chefs have already started making a beeline for the city. 
 
In praise of prosciutto
The fan following for Italian continues and when things return to normal by 2010, fine-dining standalones should take off. Meanwhile, Italian speciality restaurants in five-star hotels will undergo subtle changes. Instead of generic menus, the diner can look forward to regional menus that also promise to be in tune with seasonal Italian produce. A winter menu, for example, will feature cheeses from Piedmont, which are noted for their quality at that time of the year. A spring menu might focus on dishes from Modena in Emilia-Romagna, which is famous for its vibrant flavours during this season. 
 
More pasta lanes 
With pasta becoming quite quotidian, people have switched from local brands to popular Italian brands to expensive Italian brands and finally to handmade, artisanal pasta. Shapes like chitarra (string-like spaghetti, but square instead of round), penne rigate, fusilli, farfalle, capellini (thinner than spaghetti but thicker than angel hair) and linguini (a narrower fettuccine) hold no surprises. The prediction for 2009: retail stores offering packed gourmet fresh pasta like tortellini stuffed with ricotta or Parma ham; spinach, ricotta and walnut ravioli or chitarra in a squid ink sauce.
 
Go green
Vegetarians will have a great year as restaurants roll out the green carpet for diners with dietary restrictions. Hotel restaurants are planning to offer 100 per cent vegetarian menus alongside their regular menu and are even ready to cater to those with more specific dietary requirements, like vegans. 
 
Tough nut
As diners become more conscious of what they eat, allergen-sensitive menus and allergen-sensitive packaged foods will be a big boon for those who have to follow restrictions. Low-fat, low-calorie and low-sugar options have already been made available. Restaurants are starting to prepare fresh whole-wheat pasta and pizza on request. From 2009, they’ll also be offering sugar-free, gluten-free, nut-free and dairy-free foods on their menus. 
 
Table for one
Hotels have realised that business travellers, Indian and foreign, often travel alone. Guests who dine at a hotel’s Indian restaurant find that they cannot sample a variety of dishes as the portion sizes are too large for a single person. In response, hotels have decided to offer mini meals that are perfect for one. The meal will ideally comprise of a combination of signature vegetarian and/or non-vegetarian dishes along with dal and Indian breads. 
 
Fresh ’n’ fruity
Fresh, exotic fruits are becoming easily accessible and, with the accent on light fresh fare, they are set to become an important part of the diet. Restaurants are planning to offer open cooking stations where fruit juices either singly or in combination will be freshly squeezed. Chocolate, which will continue to reign supreme, will however have to make some elbow room for fruit-based desserts. Syrup-based flavoured cocktails will make way for fruit juice or fruit pulp-based cocktails.
 
Chuffing down chèvre
Indians love cheese but the cold favourite for 2009 is goat’s milk cheese. The popularity of goat’s milk cheese has been growing steadily over the years and is all set to explode in both restaurants and retail stores. Which ones are best-liked? Almost all the varieties including stinky goat’s milk version of Roquefort and gorgonzola. What’s particularly interesting is the demand for these varieties – which are generally thought to be an acquired taste – is not just from South Mumbai. Supermarkets and delicatessens in the western suburbs and New Bombay are picking up small, but significant, quantities on a regular basis.


Published in Time Out Mumbai ISSUE 9 Friday, December 26, 2008