London restaurant predictions: the trends that will be big in 2017

Anyone for a duck taco and a bowl of soup in a restaurant that’s also a deli, bar and spa?
Watch out burritos... tacos are taking over (El Pastor)
Ben Norum1 January 2017

Smoking hot barbecue food, tip top Thai and the best of British were all big in 2016. But what does the year ahead have in store?

Let’s take a look into our collective crystal ball to predict what will we be eating in 2017, and where we’ll be eating it...

Taco takeover

After years of sitting in the shadow of London’s burrito big boys, 2017 will be the turn of the taco. The Mexican revolution is already well underway. The past month alone has seen three taco restaurants — taquerias, if you will — open in London. The team behind Barrafina have launched the brilliant El Pastόr in Borough Market, serving a selection of different tacos alongside its signature al pastor variety — a Mexican take on a Lebanese kebab. In Soho, Corazón taqueria has arrived on Poland Street. And over in Clerkenwell London taco pioneers and street food stars Breddos Tacos have finally settled into their own site. Their taco varieties include rib eye, pig’s head cochinita and masa fried chicken.

Chef: Francesco Mazzei manning the pass at Sartoria

Mucho Italiano

Italian restaurants will hog more than their fair share of the gastronomic limelight in 2017, with three big-name venues on the way. Jason Atherton is gearing up to open Hai Cenato — which translates as ‘have you had dinner? — in Victoria early in the year. February will see Stevie Parle launch Palatino in Clerkenwell, inspired by Roman cuisine. And Francesco Mazzei, formerly of L’Anima and currently of Sartoria, will transform the Almeida site in Islington into a southern Italian restaurant.

The Ned: Why have one restaurant when you can have eight?

It’s complex…

Why have a restaurant when you can have a restaurant, bar, hotel and member’s club all rolled into one? That seems to be the thinking behind several new food and drink-led complexes heading to town. Soho House founder Nick Jones is leading the charge with his £200m project The Ned, due to open in the City in April. It features a spa, eight restaurants, several bars and live entertainment every night and is also a hotel and member's club. Earlier in the year Six Storeys will bring half a dozen floors of prohibition era-style bars, restaurants and private spaces to Soho Square. Later in spring Robert De Niro is due to open his hotel The Wellington in Covent Garden, complete with two restaurants, a deli and a members’ club.

Coming to the City: Anne-Sophie Pic

Haute hotels

You might be dining at hotels more than you’d expect in 2017. As well as De Niro’s offering — which is likely to come with a statement restaurant — the Nobu hotel is due to arrive in Shoreditch with its own dining spaces. In Covent Garden the Henrietta Hotel will open early in the year complete with a restaurant from Ollie Dabbous. A Four Seasons will open in the City with restaurant Le Dame de Pic from multi-Michelin-starred French chef Anne-Sophie Pic. In Mayfair The Connaught will welcome back to London Jean-Georges Vongerichten, whose West End restaurant Spice Market closed in early 2016, while down in Knightsbridge Jumeirah Carlton Tower is bringing in The Hand & Flowers’ Tom Kerridge for his first London restaurant.

What the duck? Duck Duck Goose is coming to Brixton

Ducking out

London will go quackers for duck in 2017. It’s a bold claim, but not an unsubstantiated one. While the bird is already becoming a popular menu addition, former Rita’s chef Andrew Clarke is preparing to (finally) launch Bastien, his restaurant built around the meat. And he’s not alone; to Duck, Duck, Goose specialising in roast duck is also set for Brixton.

Birds

It’s not just duck set to have its day — poultry in general is coming home to roost. We’ve already got The Holy Birds, a 70s-inspired winged food fest, and The Game Bird at Mayfair’s Stafford Hotel, run by former Maze chef James Durrant will specialise in exactly what its name suggests. Meanwhile, rotisserie chicken will be a primary focus at Pique-Nique, from the team behind nearby Casse Croute.

Going it alone: Clare Smyth at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay (Picture: Rebecca Reid)

Females at the forefront

While restaurant kitchens are still far from being gender neutral, the gap is oh-so-gradually closing. 2017 Looks set to give it a bit of a boost as women look to lead the kitchens at some of the year’s biggest launches. First up is ex Le Gavroche chef and Masterchef judge Monica Galetti, who will open her restaurant Mere on Charlotte Street early in the year. She’ll be followed by former Restaurant Gordon Ramsay chef Clare Smyth. Top Mexican chef Martha Ortiz is also opening in the capital, there’s Anne-Sophie Pic, and restaurant doyenne Ruth Rogers is planning to open her River Café follow-up in Mayfair too.

Bowled over: The Laksa Kitchen

Souper dooper

While I can’t rule out a Heinz pop-up featuring a swimming pool filled with sloshed tomato, it’s Asian soups that I’m thinking of. Following a recent sold-out residency in Kentish Town, The Laksa Kitchen is set to go from strength-to-strength — maybe even a permanent site? — and Taiwanese restaurant group Din Tai Fung, which specialises in dumpling soup, is about to open in the capital. Dumpy Lynn, from the team behind Tandoor Chop House, will also serve dumpling soup when it arrives in Clerkenwell. This is on top of ramen still raging, and Thai soup featuring on the menus of both Som Saa and Kiln.

30 must-try dishes in London restaurants

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Veg on

The march of the veg-led dish has already begun, and the smart money is on this accelerating into 2017 — and that’s partly because of a lack of money. As costs continue to rise for restaurants thanks to Brexit-related exchange rate woes, and the purses of diners are also tightened, dishes with less meat will become more affordable for both restaurateur and customer. Think dishes such as preserved peppers, air dried bonito and spinach at Luca; the bonito adds flavour, but the bulk of the dish is meat-free.

Visit standard.co.uk/restaurants for the latest news and reviews from London’s food scene.

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