2023 food trends: what to expect in restaurants this year

The last few years have been a bit of a whirlwind, haven’t they? A worldwide pandemic, the UK’s exit from the EU single market, and a subsequently rickety economy has resulted in a seismic shift for the restaurant industry. Despite 2022 being a year when our lives inched back towards normality, restaurants are still feeling some intense aftershocks from the events of the last few years.

Truth be told, we’re not out of the woods just yet. With energy costs, rent costs, produce costs and wages all rising, many restaurants are feeling the strain. 2023 has already seen a spate of restaurant closures, and there will likely be more to come. 

It isn’t all doom and gloom though - out of those blustery storm clouds come more than a few silver linings. 2023 will be a year of adaptability, as restaurants innovate to come up with unique ways to work within the current constraints of the economy. We have already seen plenty of this in 2022 as talented chefs came up with ingenious ways of repurposing offcuts and wasted food, as well as a continued shift towards using local, seasonal produce.

Despite the challenging conditions, the UK’s dining scene is as exciting and diverse as it has ever been, and 2023 promises much in terms for foodies and diners alike. Scroll down for a few of the key food trends in 2023 to look out for, and a taste of what to expect in restaurants this year.

Special experiences

Restaurants aren’t the only ones feeling the strain in the current economy, and many of us will find ourselves going out less as we feel the pinch in the cost of living crisis. When people do decide to treat themselves to a meal out, there’ll be a desire for more maximalist experiences that really feel special. That could be more theatrical environments (Big Mamma Group is opening its most extravagant restaurant yet in January with Jacuzzi, for example), more live music or entertainment or an emphasis on tableside theatre and fun cocktails.

Mayfair restaurant Bacchanalia ticks the box for theatre, with tableside service, glamorous interiors and a member of staff who will feed you grapes as you dine.

A shift for fine dining

The recent announcement that Noma will close in 2024 does seem to be a harbinger for a seachange in global fine dining. If Noma can’t make it work, then doubtless there are many others on the same trail that will find the same. We expect some top-end fine dining restaurants to pivot towards more sustainable models that are far less labour intensive but still provide something unique and exciting.

Tasting menus

That said, tasting menus are very much here to stay. Some have been predicting their demise for years, but if we’ve learned anything in the last couple of years it’s that running an excellent a la carte is tremendously difficult. Tasting menus allow a restaurant much more control over food wastage and overheads, and there’s less to go wrong in the middle of a service. They can also be tightly curated so that diners still feel like they’ve had a special experience, and run with fewer staff (in line with the decreasing availability of chefs in the industry).

Brighton's Furna is a great example of a restaurant that has the tasting menu concept nailed.

Omakase

Like tasting menus, we're all becoming very familiar with what the word 'omakase' means. The likes of Sushi Tetsu and The Araki paved the way for a new style of exclusive counter dining, where you receive many, many courses of small morsels, chosen entirely by the chef. After the wild success of Endo at the Rotunda, more omakase restaurants are popping up in London (Mayha and Roji, for example) and we reckon there'll be more across UK cities throughout the year, as omakase-style dining falls in line nicely with experience-led and tasting menu trends.

Read more: The best omakase experiences in London

Sea plants

That’s right - sea plants are coming. That means seaweeds, which are nutrient-dense and very versatile to cook with, but also sea herbs like samphire, kelps and plenty more. Elsewhere, food scientists are using microalgae to make meat-free burger patties, and there’s potential for other sea plants and seagrasses to become a bigger part of our diet, potentially reducing the burden on traditional agriculture.

Humble ingredients

We’ll doubtless see even more of a shift towards plant-based dining - not only are a larger proportion of the population taking up vegetarian and flexitarian diets, but vegetables are more affordable for restaurants to work with too. There are brilliant plant-based restaurants opening all over the country now, and we’re expecting to see more in 2023.

Tendril's innovative vegan plates have set the bar high for vegan food in London and beyond.

This may also be the year that we start to really embrace the humblest of ingredients in order to really pinch the pennies - onions, potatoes and the like. Get ready for some truly mind blowing spud dishes in the next 12 months.

Sparkling wines

We all want dinner out to feel special, and what’s more special than a glass of bubbly? Sparkling wines will continue to be mega-popular in 2023 - not just a classic Champagne, but also cava, prosecco, perhaps even a glass of Italian Franciacorta. Not forgetting of course the continued success of English sparkling wine, which further leans into a growing desire to support British businesses.

Chefs leaving the Big Smoke

As the costs of running a business get steeper and steeper in London, we fully expect to see more talented chefs heading out to less saturated pastures around the UK, either permanently or to work on second sites or pop-ups. There are plenty of examples of this already - see Merlin Labron-Johnson at wonderful Osip in Bruton, Nicholas Balfe's delightful Somerset bolthole Holm, and lots more. Already for 2023 we're excited about Margot Henderson's upcoming west country pub The Three Horseshoes, and doubtless there will be more talent exiting the city for exciting opportunities. 

Diversification of spaces

As cafes, restaurants and bars look for ways to ease the financial pressure, many will look to make their spaces work better for them. Cafes that are open from 9am to 5pm, for example, may start opening up in the evenings as event spaces for supper clubs or pop-ups. Likewise, more restaurants may shift towards four day weeks to give staff more time off, or diversify with businesses that work at different hours, doubling up as delis, bakeries or small grocery stores.

Lyme Regis fine dining spot Robin Wylde announced recently that it will be diversifying, operating as a bakery during the day and as a restaurant in the evening. 

Focus on zero-waste

Get ready for more restaurants doing thrilling things with oft-wasted foods. This was a highlight of 2022 in many ways, with restaurants like Humble Chicken and Fallow showing what you can achieve with bits of vegetables and animals which would normally be ignored or thrown away. We’re excited to see more of the same.

Food halls

From London’s Arcade Food Hall to Manchester’s Escape to Freight Island and Brighton’s Shelter Hall, food halls are really having a moment and that’s bound to continue this year. There are some obvious reasons for that - food halls provide diners with a wide range of choice and convenience, and that itself may provide more stable footfall for the eateries within. Booking platform Resy says that Escape to Freight Island draws the most new user bookings of any of its venues in the UK - plenty of proof that these food hubs are here to stay.

Head on over to our list of the most exciting London restaurant openings planned for 2023 for a taste of what's to come in the capital this year.