2013 food and drink trends

Wine and the City looks into its crystal ball to bring you 13 food and drink trends set to tickle your tastebuds in 2013.

1: Ramen

Already big in New York, ramen will continue its charge, building on the momentum provided by Bone Daddies, Tonkotsu and Ittenbari in Soho and Shoryu Ramen at the Japan Centre on Regent Street, as Londoners devour oodles of noodles in 2013.

2: Korean food

Korean cuisine will blow up in 2013 the way Peruvian did in 2012, capitalising on the hype of Psy's Gangnam Style hit, with the roll out of the fresh food focused Bibigo chain. By the end of the year, Londoners will know their bibimbap from their bulgogi.

3: Doughnuts

Homer Simpson’s favourite snack will be the latest sweet treat to get the gourmet treatment, finally knocking the cupcake off its perch. Top chefs like Yottam Ottolenghi and Fergus Henderson have been fuelling sweet-toothed Londoners with churros and a salted caramel version respectively, while Pizza East sells hot cinnamon rings and the Harwood Arms a lemon curd version. Late night revellers will be able to get their sugar fix at Soho Houses's Electric Donuts, offering the likes of bergamot orange and maple bourbon.

4: Chicken

Chicken will be the meat of 2013 – following on from the trend that started last autumn at places like Tramshed in Shoreditch, Chicken Shop in Kentish Town and Wishbone in Brixton, more chicken focused restaurants will emerge, will all styles, from fried to rotisserie getting Londoners clucking with delight. Move over Nandos…

5: A tipping point for beef

Burger and steak restaurants will reach a tipping point. With MASH and STK opening late last year, and Eva Longoria's female friendly SHe steakhouse due to hit our shores soon, Londoners are likely to lose enthusiasm for this meat heavy approach peddled by a plethora of identikit restaurants. It will become a survival of the fittest scenario, with burger joints like the MeatLiquor chain likely to thrive, while others fade into obscurity as we tire of beef encounters. 

6: Pizza

Pizza will become the next gourmet junk food of choice, with more "by the slice" restaurants emerging. 

7: Tea

For 2013, tea will be the new coffee, and will be taken increasingly seriously, with more tea bars emerging, selling vintage and single tree teas. The Rare Tea Lady will be much in demand for events and tastings. HKK (the latest in the Hakkasan group) has already started the tea trolley trend rolling. 

8: Vintage cocktails

Veteran Italian bartender Salvatore Calabrese kicked off a vintage cocktail trend late last year when he broke the record for the world's most expensive cocktail by using, among other things, Cognac from 1788. The Nightjar in Shoreditch quickly followed suit with a value-led approach, launching a vintage spirits list, including 1863 Rye and El Chico rum from the '30s, at deliberately affordable prices. Expect more rare vintage spirits lists to pop up at trendy bars across town, giving a new meaning to Prohibition cocktails. 

9: "No choice" restaurants

“No choice” will become the restaurants of choice as an increasingly dizzying array of choice in all elements of our daily lives leads us to eateries with refreshingly little on the menu. Burger & Lobster and Tramshed spin-offs will no doubt pop up.

10: Aperitivo hour

Inspired by the Milanese tradition, the aperitivo hour will become mainstream in 2013, with Italian restaurants offering free, freshly prepared small plates of antipasti, cured meats, cheeses, crostini and pizzette to those who buy a cocktail at the bar between 6-8pm. Theo Randall, Apero, Aperitivo at Banca, Il Tempo and Market Quarter are currently spearheading the aperitivo hour trend, with the Negroni and Aperol Spirtz the bitters of choice. 

11: The carafe

The carafe will become the wine measure of choice in 2013 – expanding from hip London wine bars and small plates restaurants to more mainstream venues. Smaller than a bottle but larger than a glass, the carafe is ideally suited to after work drinking with friends, when one glass isn't enough but three is too many. By-the-glass offerings will also become more interesting and plentiful in 2013, championed by the likes of Sir Terence Conran's Lutyens Bar & Bistro on Fleet Street. 

12: Affordable glamour

More "affordable glamour" restaurants like Bob Bob Ricard and Brasserie Zedel will emerge that combine beautiful decor and delicious, refined food with affordable prices. They will be characterised by their friendly service and all-day dining. 

13: The death of the main course

And finally… I see no end to the casual dining/no reservations trend just yet, which will gather pace in 2013 and polarise diners. As small plates take over menus, the main course is in danger of becoming an endangered species. Happy munching in 2013 folks!

Hawksmoor Guildhall

As the home of the City of London, Guildhall has been the centre of City government since the 12^th century, and still serves as the City’s ceremonial centre. Recently discovered remains of a Roman amphitheatre indicate that the site was significant as far back as Roman times. Having survived the Great Fire of London, it is the only pre-1666 secular stone structure still standing in the City. The gothic building served as a base for the Lord Mayor in an era when mayor rivaled the monarch for influence and prestige. Trials in the hall have included those of Thomas Cranmer, Lady Jane Grey and Henry Garnet (in connection to the Gunpowder Plot). Fast forward to late 2011, and the team behind Hawksmoor Spitalfields and Seven Dials have cleverly chosen to open their third steakhouse in the suit-filled, BMW-lined, cash-rich City of London, housing Hawksmoor Guildhall in a Grade II listed building inches away from the Guildhall’s soaring ceilings.

The latest addition to the Hawksmoor family is the largest of the trio, able to accommodate 170 covers. A circular sapphire stained glass window prettifies the main entrance, where a sweeping staircase leads you down into the expansive space furnished with chocolate brown leather seats, polished wooden floors and walls lined with wood panelling, which give the impression you’re aboard a vintage sea liner. Reinforcing the nautical theme are porthole lights, a low ceiling and art deco light fittings modelled on the ones used in the Titanic. Specimen cabinets from the Natural History Museum populate the room, while tables have been pilfered from school science departments.

Beef dominates proceedings, with a six-course tasting menu the star attraction. The affable waiting staff sport rolled up checked shirts, fitted jeans and goofy grins. It’s a Tuesday night and the room is abuzz with animated chatter. To my left, a table of sharp-suited businessmen who look like they’ve even nothing but T-bone steak their entire lives, gesticulate wildly with their meaty hands. I kick off my meat feast with a duo of aged whites by the glass, impressed to see both Rioja stalwart López de Heredia Viña Gravonia Crianza Blanco 2001 and Lebanon’s finest, Château Musar 2003 on the list. Two generous glasses of liquid gold are brought to the table, the López de Heredia showing the signature nuttiness of aged white Rioja, while the Musar has a perfumed nose of dried quince and exotic fruits, which pairs perfectly with a sextet of saline Dorset native oysters. Clean and direct, they cleanse the palate in preparation for the pleasures of the flesh.

As inseparable on a 2011 menu as Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, a second starter of woody salt-baked beetroot and crumbly Childwickbury goat’s cheese dances across the palate. For the main event, I default to the waiter, who, displaying an encyclopedic knowledge of each cut, talks me through the flavour nuances of each. I settle on a 600g sirloin, and, feeling primeval, ask for it rare. The Flintstones-sized steak is the largest piece of meat I’ve ever encountered. So huge as to be rendered cartoon-like, it could have fed a family of five. Determined to do it justice, I grab my knife and fork and venture into its soft interior.

There’s something about eating a steak that unleashes the inner caveman (or woman). A thick, bloodied slab of meat brings you face-to-face with your carnivorous nature. Attacking the cut and devouring the rare meat links you to your Neanderthal ancestors who hunted to survive. It’s inherently masculine; the ultimate Alpha Male meal, and the polar opposite of a pretentious organic salad filled with frippery. There is something honest and pure about enjoying a steak; a reaffirmation of our status at the top of the food chain.

Aside from its arresting size, the sirloin is moist, tender, juicy (from the fat), and well seasoned. Perfectly pink inside, it has a smoky edge and is so supremely cooked, and such a pure expression of itself, that the accompanying béarnaise and bone marrow sauces hinder rather than enhance the flavour. A side of piping hot triple cooked chips held the crown of the best in London for all of a week, until a visit to Dinner by Heston Blumenthal knocked them from their perch. Hawksmoor’s homemade tomato sauce, served in a retro glass bottle, is given a playful twist by the addition of fennel.

Excited to see Pulenta Malbec 2008 on the wine list, on asking for a bottle, I am told they have run out, so opt instead for Luigi Bosca Gala 1 Malbec 2008, which charms with its fragrant nose of raspberries and plums. Voluptous, and with an alluring sweetness, the fine-grained tannins cut through the fat in the steak, while searing acidity adds wonderful freshness. Dessert presents an array of enticing options, from sticky toffee pudding to an old school popcorn sundae. I go for the peanut butter shortbread with salted caramel ice cream. A dynamic and decadent duo, the shortbread arrives as a parcel, its interior revealing molten peanut butter sauce.

The Hawksmoor team have struck gold with Guildhall, the word fittingly deriving from the Anglo-Saxon “gild”, meaning payment. Building on the success of its older siblings, the new kid on the chopping block has an electric atmosphere, refreshingly unstuffy staff, and fleshy food that satiates even the strongest of carnal desires.

Hawksmoor Guildhall, 10-12 Basinghall Street, London EC2V 5BQ; Tel: +44 (0)20 7397 8120. A meal for two with wine costs around £130.