May we not live in interesting times, goes my internal 2025 chant. Part of my day job is to look at restaurant trends – a trickier job than ever in the Upside Down of nowadays. There is the stuff you know, the stuff you hope for, and the guff that you hope goes away.
I know 2026 will be another year of M&Ms: martinis and mince. Burgers, pasta with meatballs, mince on toast, maybe sausage rolls, all paired with martinis as cold as an Eskimo’s nose, many with Manhattan vibes.
We will have more pubs doing proper food. There will be classier Korean food about the place. Pizza by the slice isn’t going anywhere. Smash burgers will become fatter. On the other side of the divide, tasting menus are becoming thinner, as weight-loss drugs drive more decisions.
I dream of consommé becoming a competitive sport. I’d love a convoy of boozy crêpe Suzette trolleys heading to a restaurant near you. I wish natural wines as a cult would become more secular, and be based on, you know, flavour. Also more restaurants with actual phone numbers would be nice.
The first of the first-world problems that I wish would feck off back to where they belong are caviar and gold leaf.
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