I don't actually eat out all that much but for some reason really enjoy reading restauraunt reviews and generally keeping in touch with foodie trends.
In London, American fast food has been the dominant trend for the last two years or so, although the tide is beginning to ebb. AKA dude food, dirty food etc - the aim is to reproduce and gourmandise the humble burger (using high quality meat, sourdough buns etc), the hotdog, frid chicken (cooked in buttermilk) and so on. American BBQ is also becoming popular.
As indicated in this Guardian article, this trend is now moving out of London and into the rest of the country.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/jan/11/why-do-brits-love-american-food (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/jan/11/why-do-brits-love-american-food)
Linked to this is a growing tendency to specialise - the hugely popular mini-chain Burger and Lobster allows just three choices.
The next big thing is Ramen - noodle soup in a pork stock. Several places have opened up in Soho recently and are doing a roaring trade.
At the higher dining end, Scandi food has been pretty trendy for a while now, linking in with the foraging movement.
What (if anything) is going on in your area?
Stone age food is the new thing. Basically don't eat anything they didn't have back then, it sounds horribly like a 1st world idea and it is just that, horrible. Can't eat potatoes, can't eat pasta or bread but lots of meat which is why it's popular. Also tied to the Scandi food thing + foraging.
Quote from: Gups on January 14, 2013, 11:51:35 AM
The next big thing is Ramen - noodle soup in a pork stock. Several places have opened up in Soho recently and are doing a roaring trade.
:wacko:
Quote from: Liep on January 14, 2013, 11:56:55 AM
Stone age food is the new thing. Basically don't eat anything they didn't have back then, it sounds horribly like a 1st world idea and it is just that, horrible. Can't eat potatoes, can't eat pasta or bread but lots of meat which is why it's popular. Also tied to the Scandi food thing + foraging.
That's the paleo-diet, been around for a while now. The missus was on it for a while.
Eating feces.
It's called recycled food.
We don't really do trends here in the heartland, but based on two restaurants (one in Iowa City and one in the family home base of Wapello) some chefs do seem to be pushing "American food with a twist." For example the one in IC has a tuna tartare appetizer and some flaming greek cheese appetizer.
Pedro: a world of difference between noodle shop Ramen and cook your own brick Ramen.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on January 14, 2013, 12:22:58 PM
Pedro: a world of difference between noodle shop Ramen and cook your own brick Ramen.
:yes:
Local food trends...
Of course a place like Edmonton isn't inventing it's own food trends, but rather following the trends from other regions. As such the two trends I've seen would be food trucks, and the whole "fresh and local" idea.
It used to be you couldn't buy any food on the street that wasn't a hot dog, but in the last few years several really good food trucks and carts have opened. In the summer there's a nice Thai food truck I would buy from a few times during the summer. I've seen a pretty good southern barbecue truck as well.
Restaurants themselves seem to be making a bigger deal of advertising where they get their food from.
I did want to pick a bone with one paragraph from your Guardian article:
QuoteUnfortunately, like the political Special Relationship much vaunted in the British press and rarely mentioned in the US, our foodie love affair with America is on unequal footing. We're the love-struck junior partner, the one who – like Blair panting after Bush – does most of the chasing. Americans may be amused by Downton and enamoured of afternoon tea, but British food is never, ever going to be a craze over the pond. There are no secret bangers and mash pop-up restaurants in LA, no Sussex pond pudding fad in Chicago, and no apps listing the top pasties in New York.
The writer is apparently unaware of the "British pub" phenomenon. Now it's dated at this point, getting its start in the 80s and continuing into the 90s. But there still exist a great number of "British pubs" all over north america where you probably can indeed find fish and chips, steak and kidney pie and any of a number of British pub favourites.
I've been in plenty of pubs that served fish and chips but they were generally Mick bars. Never once have I seen steak and kidney pie on a menu.
Actually a lot of generic bars serve fish and chips too. It's just Long John Silvers with a beer on the side.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on January 14, 2013, 01:09:08 PM
I've been in plenty of pubs that served fish and chips but they were generally Mick bars. Never once have I seen steak and kidney pie on a menu.
Actually a lot of generic bars serve fish and chips too. It's just Long John Silvers with a beer on the side.
Some British pubs are better/more authentic than others, but I've definitely eaten steak and kidney pie at a pub a few times in Canada.
Quote from: Barrister on January 14, 2013, 01:10:50 PM
Some British pubs are better/more authentic than others, but I've definitely eaten steak and kidney pie at a pub a few times in Canada.
I don't doubt it. I was taking exception to "all over North America."
In my long and illustrious pub crawling career I have been made aware of exactly one "British pub" in the US. That was Spanky's regular hang in North Augusta.
Quote from: Barrister on January 14, 2013, 01:10:50 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on January 14, 2013, 01:09:08 PM
I've been in plenty of pubs that served fish and chips but they were generally Mick bars. Never once have I seen steak and kidney pie on a menu.
Actually a lot of generic bars serve fish and chips too. It's just Long John Silvers with a beer on the side.
Some British pubs are better/more authentic than others, but I've definitely eaten steak and kidney pie at a pub a few times in Canada.
I wonder if it was authentic. Steak and kidney is almost always called a pudding rather than a pie - the case should be made from suet. Savoury pies are usually made with shortcrust pastry and the fillings tend to be things like steak and ale or chicken and ham.
I knew that you had British and Irish pubs in NA, but not that they were at all known for their food.
Quote from: Gups on January 14, 2013, 01:28:54 PM
I wonder if it was authentic. Steak and kidney is almost always called a pudding rather than a pie - the case should be made from suet. Savoury pies are usually made with shortcrust pastry and the fillings tend to be things like steak and ale or chicken and ham.
I knew that you had British and Irish pubs in NA, but not that they were at all known for their food.
Well, they're known for their experience, not their food specifically. Which means warm beer, bar service, and british food classics.
The better ones at least. Some put up a vaguely celtic sounding name over the door and serve nothing but burgers.
Tapas places have been popping up here in the trendy areas faster than MacBook-carrying hipsters in Buddy Hollys with fake prescriptions.
I think they started in DC first, and migrated up I-95. So look out, Philly, if they're not there already.
More restaurants are jumping on the "only locally grown by local farmers/producers" seasonal fare as well. Sustainable agriculture, and all that.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on January 14, 2013, 01:39:01 PM
Tapas places have been popping up here in the trendy areas faster than MacBook-carrying hipsters in Buddy Hollys with fake prescriptions.
I think they started in DC first, and migrated up I-95. So look out, Philly, if they're not there already.
More restaurants are jumping on the "only locally grown by local farmers/producers" seasonal fare as well. Sustainable agriculture, and all that.
I thought Tapas was a big thing like 10 years ago.
It's Baltimore. What do you want.
Quote from: Barrister on January 14, 2013, 01:46:22 PM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on January 14, 2013, 01:39:01 PM
Tapas places have been popping up here in the trendy areas faster than MacBook-carrying hipsters in Buddy Hollys with fake prescriptions.
I think they started in DC first, and migrated up I-95. So look out, Philly, if they're not there already.
More restaurants are jumping on the "only locally grown by local farmers/producers" seasonal fare as well. Sustainable agriculture, and all that.
I thought Tapas was a big thing like 10 years ago.
He was talking about Tap.ass bars.
About 3-5 years ago in Warsaw it used to be sushi - you couldn't throw a rock without it hitting a sushi place.
Then we had a Polish cuisine revival - ranging from rather affordable pierogi-themed places to more expensive and high quality stuff.
Right now it becomes a bit more complicated - for example there has been a lot of "specialist" places opening (such as restaurants that only serve fish) but if I were to name one trend, it's wine houses / bodega-style restaurants which serve simple but expensive food such as high quality steaks, but also have quite well equipped cellars and their own wine shops on the side for taking a couple of bottles home.
On top of that, all the while, we have been experiencing ups and downs of what is ironically called "Polish fusion" or, more descriptively, "a small dollop of goo on a handful of rice on a huge plate sprinkled with pepper" (aka "chef fantasy on a bed of wide rice amidst a storm of pepper", as it is described in the menu). Fortunately the trend is slowly dieing. :P
Quote
Unfortunately, like the political Special Relationship much vaunted in the British press and rarely mentioned in the US, our foodie love affair with America is on unequal footing. We're the love-struck junior partner, the one who – like Blair panting after Bush – does most of the chasing. Americans may be amused by Downton and enamoured of afternoon tea, but British food is never, ever going to be a craze over the pond. There are no secret bangers and mash pop-up restaurants in LA, no Sussex pond pudding fad in Chicago, and no apps listing the top pasties in New York.
Well duh. :P
Ramen's been a mainstay for a while in Vancouver, but that's hardly surprising.
There's a been a bit of an upswing in meat focused places, like Meat and Bread: http://meatandbread.ca/ (with complete rip-offs down to even the signage appearing in Korea and elsewhere) and Wildebeest: http://wildebeest.ca/about/
In general the focus seems to be towards local-ish, sustainable-ish while pulling on a wide range of influences. I'd say it's a further evolution of West Coast fusion and the local movements.
There's been a bit of a growth in "underground" restaurants and one-off/ pop-up restaurants, but I don't know how big it is. I guess it's a bit of a trend.
Asian noodles have become so prolific here that McDonalds has added them to its regular menu.
In my corner of the world it's fancy burger places the ones popping up in the last few months.
I looked up New York food trends 2012 - but almost everything seemed to be people predicting what was going to be a trend. Not exactly a food trend - but I have seen an uptick in speakeasies / desire of people to go to them. Frankly, I don't get that at all. Hard to find locations / expensive drinks / poorer service - no thanks! :D
Quote from: CountDeMoney on January 14, 2013, 01:52:17 PM
It's Baltimore. What do you want.
I want chicken & waffles!!
Quote from: garbon on January 14, 2013, 04:41:53 PM
I looked up New York food trends 2012 - but almost everything seemed to be people predicting what was going to be a trend. Not exactly a food trend - but I have seen an uptick in speakeasies / desire of people to go to them. Frankly, I don't get that at all. Hard to find locations / expensive drinks / poorer service - no thanks! :D
That was the big thing in LA in the 90s-- assuming Swingers was accurate.
Quote from: garbon on January 14, 2013, 04:41:53 PM
I looked up New York food trends 2012 - but almost everything seemed to be people predicting what was going to be a trend. Not exactly a food trend - but I have seen an uptick in speakeasies / desire of people to go to them. Frankly, I don't get that at all. Hard to find locations / expensive drinks / poorer service - no thanks! :D
What, that's the hipster's dream, read exclusive, display of wealth and interacting 'real' characters.
Gups, your article mentioned comfort foods but didn't talk at all about any classic American diner comfort foods, like meat loaf and chicken fried steak. Any of that going on in You Kay, or is all just burgers, dogs, and 'que?
Quote from: mongers on January 14, 2013, 04:49:59 PM
Quote from: garbon on January 14, 2013, 04:41:53 PM
I looked up New York food trends 2012 - but almost everything seemed to be people predicting what was going to be a trend. Not exactly a food trend - but I have seen an uptick in speakeasies / desire of people to go to them. Frankly, I don't get that at all. Hard to find locations / expensive drinks / poorer service - no thanks! :D
What, that's the hipster's dream, read exclusive, display of wealth and interacting 'real' characters.
Well I'm not a hipster. :P
Quote from: garbon on January 14, 2013, 04:56:51 PM
Quote from: mongers on January 14, 2013, 04:49:59 PM
Quote from: garbon on January 14, 2013, 04:41:53 PM
I looked up New York food trends 2012 - but almost everything seemed to be people predicting what was going to be a trend. Not exactly a food trend - but I have seen an uptick in speakeasies / desire of people to go to them. Frankly, I don't get that at all. Hard to find locations / expensive drinks / poorer service - no thanks! :D
What, that's the hipster's dream, read exclusive, display of wealth and interacting 'real' characters.
Well I'm not a hipster. :P
I didn't say you were and I'd guess you knew actual 'authentic' when you found it, unlike a hipster.
Maybe, but you might just be overly kind. -_-
Thread prediction: Josq will be confused, then provincial and then confused again.
I am sick of the continuing cupcake shop trend. Open something else, you cows.
Tired of the 40 year old chicks with no sense opening up another one.
Quote from: Ed Anger on January 14, 2013, 05:54:09 PM
I am sick of the continuing cupcake shop trend. Open something else, you cows.
Tired of the 40 year old chicks with no sense opening up another one.
Yeah, thankfully most of those around here have gone out of business.
Molly's Cupcakes near me really is amazing but then it also bolstered shows like Cupcake Wars...
Quote from: Ed Anger on January 14, 2013, 05:54:09 PM
I am sick of the continuing cupcake shop trend. Open something else, you cows.
Tired of the 40 year old chicks with no sense opening up another one.
We already covered that in a whole thread just to itself:
http://languish.org/forums/index.php/topic,8810.msg505417.html#msg505417 (http://languish.org/forums/index.php/topic,8810.msg505417.html#msg505417)
:smarty:
In my corner of London, it's all about street food. Street food you sit down for. And is cooked using gourmet ingredients. In spotless kitchens. So nothing at all like actual street food. But, the concept seems to work and Londoners are happily liberating themselves from their own money paying top dollar for peasant food.
Quote from: Warspite on January 14, 2013, 06:09:53 PM
In my corner of London, it's all about street food. Street food you sit down for. And is cooked using gourmet ingredients. In spotless kitchens. So nothing at all like actual street food. But, the concept seems to work and Londoners are happily liberating themselves from their own money paying top dollar for peasant food.
That really is conspicuous consumption.
Speaking of street food, I'm sick of food trucks also. No, I don't want to pay 10 bucks for a grilled cheese sandwich. Also, wash your goddamned van.
Quote from: Warspite on January 14, 2013, 06:09:53 PM
In my corner of London, it's all about street food. Street food you sit down for. And is cooked using gourmet ingredients. In spotless kitchens. So nothing at all like actual street food. But, the concept seems to work and Londoners are happily liberating themselves from their own money paying top dollar for peasant food.
We do it here and it can be liberating from the otherwise default/monolithic brick and mortar eateries.
Trends here....hmm.....its dying off now but in recent years all things Korean were big leading to a bit of a Korean food fad. Even lots of Japanese places offering special kimchi flavoured whatever.
Quote
The next big thing is Ramen - noodle soup in a pork stock. Several places have opened up in Soho recently and are doing a roaring trade.
Really? How odd. But cool. I love ramen. Interesting though that ramen is synonomous with pork stock, pork stock ramen is the rarer of the main types over here and people are often surprised when I say its my favourite. Its not too popular. More common are miso, salt or soy sauce bases.
I did notice when visiting home over xmas that where before the big mall in Gateshead had no Japanese restaurants it now has three. Ramen seems to be a heavy feature.
Quote from: Ed Anger on January 14, 2013, 06:12:39 PM
Speaking of street food, I'm sick of food trucks also. No, I don't want to pay 10 bucks for a grilled cheese sandwich. Also, wash your goddamned van.
It's going strong here too. Lots of normal restaurants are branching out with food trucks so they can cater events and stuff. And yes, they do the gourmet ten dollar grilled cheese (http://www.gourmeltreno.com/).
There a great one that does Korean tacos (http://renofoodtrucks.com/kenjis-food-truck/) for a buck fifty. Cheap and good. The thing is painted as a Super Mario landscape. :P
The other big trend is the microbreweries popping up everywhere.
Pfft...
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs3-ak.buzzfeed.com%2Fstatic%2Fenhanced%2Fterminal01%2F2011%2F7%2F1%2F15%2Fenhanced-buzz-22607-1309548364-0.jpg&hash=ab300ee76f8957e9fdc49978c00129896989d434)
The trend around here is that the food at gas stations is getting better and more upscale. Why, we even have karaoke night at our local one on Friday night now! :o
Quote from: crazy canuck on January 14, 2013, 06:03:31 PMYeah, thankfully most of those around here have gone out of business.
There were many cupcake shops around? The only one I noticed was the one on Thurlow. I think they have another location on Denman. Other than them, were there others?
It seems like a pretty niche... erh... niche.
In Wyoming the food scene is mostly "You killed it, you cook it."
Oh, the food truck thing is huge in downtown Cincy. I don't usually like to break my lunch routine so I haven't tried any, but apparently the Cajun truck has some good food. Problem is in this weather it would be ice cold by the time I got it back to the office.
Our site manager had a gourmet ice cream truck come out to our building last year. The ice cream was pretty good but not as great as everyone else seemed to think. And they had like 5 or 6 people working it-- doesn't seem too efficient when all you need to do is make ice cream cones or dishes.
The food scene in Provo, Utah is pretty bland. Not a whole lot of adventurous appetites here. There is one place in Provo that seems to try to offer 'affordable gourmet' type food. I think mostly the trick is in their presentation rather than their ingredients.
That said....it mostly appeals to a certain portion of the local college crowd. For the rest of us, its funeral potatoes and meatloaf.
Oh yeah... the "new and adventurous food truck" scene has some traction in Vancouver too.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on January 14, 2013, 04:52:09 PM
Gups, your article mentioned comfort foods but didn't talk at all about any classic American diner comfort foods, like meat loaf and chicken fried steak. Any of that going on in You Kay, or is all just burgers, dogs, and 'que?
For some reason meatload has never caught on here. I've never eaten it or seen it on a menu. And I've never even heard of chicken fried steak. So, yeak, burgers, dogs, bbq and fried chicken. I'd love to see a trend towards American regional cooking - po boys, clam chowder etc.
Other London trends I forgot to mention - ceviche, small plates (i.e. overpriced tapas but from any cuisine), regional, authentic Chinese.
Pop ups and dining clubs have been going strong for a few years now. The food truck thing was pretty strong as well but most of teh successful ones have moved into their own places.
Quote from: Ed Anger on January 14, 2013, 06:12:39 PM
No, I don't want to pay 10 bucks for a grilled cheese sandwich.
http://www.ilovegrilledcheese.com/
We already have 3 locations.
We had two frozen yogurt places open... in September. I didn't get that, wouldn't you want to start in the spring or early summer?
Quote from: Jacob on January 14, 2013, 07:28:42 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on January 14, 2013, 06:03:31 PMYeah, thankfully most of those around here have gone out of business.
There were many cupcake shops around? The only one I noticed was the one on Thurlow. I think they have another location on Denman. Other than them, were there others?
It seems like a pretty niche... erh... niche.
Yep, they popped up all over the place. One even opened up in Edgemont Village but that only lasted a few months. Two were on Robson at one point - just think about the number of cupcakes one needs to sell to cover that lease payment.
It's all Japanese where I work. They closed the local M&S Food and opened another one. I may write to my MP! There's also plenty of Italian caffs for budget coffee, past or toasted sandwiches, of which London has a strong history.
Edit: The places I can't afford to eat round here are "nose to tail" gourmet meat restaurants, and those Scandi scavenged type.
My suburb has just discovered Mexican restaurants 25 years after the rest of London. Besides that, it's awash with pizza places. But of all the outlets, it's always Nandos that has a queue of young folk right out the door.
Don't you work in Smithfields Brazen? Loads of good places there. You should try the culinary desert that is the City
Mississippi is developing an absurd cuisine primarily focused on combining soul food with cajun cuisine. It produces some really weird shit, including the fabulous fried green tomato BLT with pork jowl bacon.
Quote from: Scipio on January 15, 2013, 12:33:37 PM
Mississippi is developing an absurd cuisine primarily focused on combining soul food with cajun cuisine. It produces some really weird shit, including the fabulous fried green tomato BLT with pork jowl bacon.
I have no idea what that might be or taste like; Two nations divided by an uncommon diet ? :bowler:
A Japanese ramen place just opened in Porter Square (Cambridge, Mass.) and a friend wanted to go a couple of weeks ago. A tiny little joint with huge lines out the damn door, constantly; pretty impressive. Tons of (presumably) Japanese student-types eating there, and wacky Japanese instructions on how to order on the window outside to read while you wait freezing your balls off. The chef screams in Japanese to ask if you want extra pork fat or extra garlic in your bowl. It is really pretty delicious, if a little overwhelming in its total pork and garlic experience -- it could never be a frequent place, for this American palate at least. And not exactly cheap (maybe $13.00 for the big bowl with 5 pieces of pork), but tasty, very filling, and pretty unlike anything I'd ever had before (and extremely unlike Maruchen ramen), so it was worth it and I would go back on another occasion.
Other food trends... Southern BBQ has been a niche market in the Northeast for a while (plus decent chains like Dave's Famous), but I see the higher end stuff getting a lot of attention in Boston. Even the mid-priced places are always packed when I've been there. I'm sure the local ingredients/ecological practices/animals struck down with a sacred arrow/etc. concept has got to be pretty popular around here. I definitely saw cupcakes come and go. Sour frozen yogurt (a la Pinkberry) hit Philadelphia in about 2009, and by last summer TCBY in Charlotte, N.C. had reinvented itself to do that fro-yo by weight racket... no more giant parfaits like the old days. :(
In the arena of dubious dietary developments, however, Gluten-Free Living has definitely reached epidemic proportions around me. I haven't even figured out exactly what food and beverage products contain gluten, but a whole lot of people are getting ready to do without. It must be just a little bit frustrating for the celiac disease sufferers: while I'm sure they appreciate the new gluten-free options, it's got to be hard to have your legit medical affliction bathed in a sea of lifestyle poseurs. Like no-prescription glasses-wearers to a much heavier degeree.
And somebody told me, more seriously, that there is no oversight for claiming "gluten free" the way there is for most other nutritional claims, so these options are not necessarily even safe for those with celiac disease.
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on January 16, 2013, 12:33:28 AM
A Japanese ramen place just opened in Porter Square (Cambridge, Mass.) and a friend wanted to go a couple of weeks ago. A tiny little joint with huge lines out the damn door, constantly; pretty impressive.
My mother was telling me something like this but she actually didn't know what type of Asian food it was. :D
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on January 16, 2013, 12:43:05 AMI haven't even figured out exactly what food and beverage products contain gluten (...)
Basically everything that contains wheat and similar cereals like barley and rye. I had a teacher on a field trip which was a quite extreme celiac and he couldn't even use cutlery that had been used for stuff he couldn't eat.
Funnily over here there's a huge supermarket chain that has almost every conceivable item available for celiacs because the daughter of the owner is one.
From the Grauniad
So Yanqui hotdogs, who will has the better posh burgers? Shake Shack or Five Guys?
-----------------------------
A tweeted picture of George Osborne tucking into a takeaway from the upmarket chain Byron late at night while completing details of the spending review may have prompted ridicule this week, but the chancellor was bang on trend in buying a "posh" burger.
The mushrooming of upscale burger joints, especially in London, is set to escalate next week when two US companies open their first UK outlets within 24 hours of each other – and just 320 metres apart.
Five Guys, America's fastest growing restaurant chain, which counts Barack Obama as a fan and is said to have half the market for posh burgers, opens its first non-US outlet on Thursday in Covent Garden. And a day later New York's Shake Shack will make its London debut four minutes' walk away.
Both companies claim to have known nothing of the other's intentions and were quick to try to downplay any suggestion of competition between them. Randy Garutti, chief executive of Shake Shack, said Five Guys "do something very different to what we do". "We don't talk about competition because we think there is enough to go around," he said.
Five Guys intends to open five outlets in the UK – four of them in London – by October and between five and 10 more every three months after that, in a joint venture with the Carphone Warehouse co-founder Charles Dunstone. John Eckbert, the UK managing director, who works with Dunstone, said Five Guys had a "very respectful" relationship with Shake Shack.
"We have yet to find someone in the US that we believe is really like us," he said. "We think the burger is as good as we can make it." The simple Five Guys menu and style were more akin to the operation of the sandwich chain Pret A Manger, he said.
It is a boom time for high-end burger chains. Eckbert said research showed that almost a third of the US burger market was taken up by "better burger" outlets. In the UK, homegrown companies such as Byron, the Meat chain and Honest Burger have grown rapidly on the back of soaring demand. This month it was reported that Byron, which launched five years ago and now has 34 restaurants, had been withdrawn for sale after bidders failed to meet the £100m asking price.
Tom Barton, who with two business partners runs the critically acclaimed Honest Burger, is working on plans for the company's third restaurant in two years, having started the first for £8,500. He said the burger trend was based on consumer demand for simple, quality food.
"I think everybody has always had this interest in burgers but unfortunately burgers have always been generally pretty average. For me it has been a very simple meal done very badly so it has been stuck in its way like that for a very long time," he said.
Mike Palmer, a restaurant consultant, said people wanted to "consume experiences" and now had a much more advanced idea of what they wanted to eat compared with in the recent past.
One of the most successful of the new breed has been the Meat chain, which started out as a burger van touring London and now, five years later, is preparing to open its fourth outlet, in Brighton with 110 seats. The co-founder Scott Collins said turnover last year was £8m, of which 21% was profit. This year the company projects turnover of £10m.
Large players have also caught on. The Soho House Group opened Dirty Burger in Kentish Town last year and it has so far exceeded expectations, according to the group's director of restaurants, Nick Canton.
The proliferation of restaurants has led to suggestions that the market could become over-saturated, especially with the new arrivals. Collins predicted a "war-off" between the two, which are both located close to a Meat branch.
"I don't think people are going to stop eating good burgers and go back to bad burgers, so as long as these companies keep evolving I think there is plenty of room. I think people will be trading up – McDonald's eaters, Burger King eaters will go on to a better burger," he said.
5 guys is "posh"? :hmm:
Plenty of burger joints out there where you pay twice as much and have to tip.
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on June 28, 2013, 11:51:27 AM
5 guys is "posh"? :hmm:
Plenty of burger joints out there where you pay twice as much and have to tip.
Yeah I'm not sure how shake shack or 5 guys are posh. I mean when you order take out at shake shack, they pour extra fries into the paper bag. :D
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fthumb%2Fc%2Fc2%2FShake_Shack_Madison_Square.jpg%2F800px-Shake_Shack_Madison_Square.jpg&hash=42669d4464350e63c3675323d6ebcb2772e5657c)
That said, I think I prefer shake shack as the portions are smaller. Taste-wise I think burgers are similar though 5 guys has better fries.
My wife went to Five Guys recently here in Edmonton (which means London is certainly not getting the first non-US Five Guys). She said the burger was okay, nothing special, but loved their fries.
Posk compared to MaccieDs or BK
Quote from: Gups on June 28, 2013, 11:58:54 AM
Posk compared to MaccieDs or BK
Seems like a silly qualifier then.
Quote from: Barrister on June 28, 2013, 11:57:39 AM
My wife went to Five Guys recently here in Edmonton (which means London is certainly not getting the first non-US Five Guys). She said the burger was okay, nothing special, but loved their fries.
They're alright. I like Chili's burgers better. Or BK's Angry Whopper(which describes how I feel that they keep taking it off the menu :mad:).
Quote from: Barrister on June 28, 2013, 11:57:39 AM
My wife went to Five Guys recently here in Edmonton (which means London is certainly not getting the first non-US Five Guys). She said the burger was okay, nothing special, but loved their fries.
Five Guys have been here for years.
I think its the Euro/Brit usual mistake of forgetting that North Americans are not all Americans...
Quote from: crazy canuck on June 28, 2013, 12:05:19 PM
I think its the Euro/Brit usual mistake of forgetting that North Americans are not all Americans...
Eh plenty of people over here, like viper, seem to forget that Brits are not all English so it all evens out.
Vienna has recently seen an influx from the Vapiano chain:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vapiano
QuoteVapiano is a German fresh casual restaurant chain offering Italian food. The concept is a pizza and pasta bar, where food is made to order. Vapiano also serves made-to-order salads and dessert and has a bar with alcoholic beverages available. There are 97 restaurants all over the world, 45 of which are located in Germany where the concept was invented in 2002.[1][2] Vapiano has its headquarters in Bonn.
Vapiano employs a unique interface for customers to order and pay for their food with. Each diner is provided an RFID chip card (even if dining together to avoid customers charging one card and waving another when exiting) that the customer waves in front of the counter when ordering food and drink. When the dinner is finished, the card is waved in front of the register and the bill appears on the screen. All dough and pasta are manufactured on-site in a glass room so that customers can watch while waiting in line. All of the herbs and salad greens are grown in an enclosed space in the dining area. It is commonly known as "The V".
Vapiano was created by a group of US entrepreneurs. It offers a dining experience that combines fast food and a more extravagant experience, with distinctively modern Italian decor and high quality food options, including hand-tossed pizzas and freshly made pasta that they use in their dishes.
History[edit]
Vapiano was founded by Kent Hahne, Klaus Rader and Mark Korzilius in 2002, the first restaurant opened in October 2002 in Hamburg. Mr. Hahne is now expanding VAPIANO full-time and with a group of experts he is responsible for worldwide franchise sales, support and communications.[3]
The world's biggest Vapiano is located in Vienna, Austria.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dca.at%2Fimages%2Fzubereitungsbereich.jpg&hash=df5a9b9e97d7540a6a603f80eb016771bdd50b73)
Fancy burgers and US diner style places have slowly started to appear over here in the last few years as well.
I hate those chairs in that picture.
Quote from: Ed Anger on June 30, 2013, 05:33:46 PM
I hate those chairs in that picture.
And what about the zillion available waiters? If they're zooming up and down the aisles it'll be a huge jam sooner or later.
I'm sure the service will be surly.
Quote from: The Larch on June 30, 2013, 05:38:25 PM
Quote from: Ed Anger on June 30, 2013, 05:33:46 PM
I hate those chairs in that picture.
And what about the zillion available waiters? If they're zooming up and down the aisles it'll be a huge jam sooner or later.
It's self service, with some stuff brought to your table, so I guess it's just for show. :P
Normally it looks more like this (when it's busy):
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.baslerstab.ch%2F_filesystem%2Fimage%2Fgallery%2F2010%2F5%2F2705_PEO_Aufmacher.jpg&hash=db5e3d1e361ba0d063ed405db518e9cef125067a)
Ugh.
Quote from: Ed Anger on June 30, 2013, 05:33:46 PM
I hate those chairs in that picture.
Those aren't chairs--they're stools. And stools don't belong at a table, they belong at a bar or counter.
Here in Portland, the trends are artisanal this and organic that, food carts, dive bars that serve ridiculously good food, upscale bars that offer really overblown, overrated food, Asian fusion stuff, farm-to-table stuff, etc.
Quite honestly Portland's a bit of a food Mecca.
Quote from: fhdz on July 02, 2013, 11:45:41 AM
Here in Portland, the trends are artisanal this and organic that, food carts, dive bars that serve ridiculously good food, upscale bars that offer really overblown, overrated food, Asian fusion stuff, farm-to-table stuff, etc.
Quite honestly Portland's a bit of a food Mecca.
Is it local? Are the chicken free range? Can we visit the farm?
Quote from: The Larch on July 02, 2013, 12:03:10 PM
Quote from: fhdz on July 02, 2013, 11:45:41 AM
Here in Portland, the trends are artisanal this and organic that, food carts, dive bars that serve ridiculously good food, upscale bars that offer really overblown, overrated food, Asian fusion stuff, farm-to-table stuff, etc.
Quite honestly Portland's a bit of a food Mecca.
Is it local? Are the chicken free range? Can we visit the farm?
:D
I have some questions about the salmon. What's its name?
Quote from: Syt on June 28, 2013, 12:45:04 PM
Vienna has recently seen an influx from the Vapiano chain:
I was in Taiwan recently and some of my local colleagues wanted to go out for dinner. They told me about this cool, hip place with a great view on Taipei 101 and I looked forward to it. Then they told me that it was Pizza and Pasta and I figured that I would have preferred something Taiwanese. And when we arrived I found out that it was a silly Vapiano. :yucky: Halfway around the world, when I can have that here at home...
Quote from: fhdz on July 02, 2013, 11:45:41 AM
Here in Portland, the trends are artisanal this and organic that, food carts, dive bars that serve ridiculously good food, upscale bars that offer really overblown, overrated food, Asian fusion stuff, farm-to-table stuff, etc.
Quite honestly Portland's a bit of a food Mecca.
Your doughnuts are overrated.
Quote from: Zanza on July 02, 2013, 12:20:53 PM
Quote from: Syt on June 28, 2013, 12:45:04 PM
Vienna has recently seen an influx from the Vapiano chain:
I was in Taiwan recently and some of my local colleagues wanted to go out for dinner. They told me about this cool, hip place with a great view on Taipei 101 and I looked forward to it. Then they told me that it was Pizza and Pasta and I figured that I would have preferred something Taiwanese. And when we arrived I found out that it was a silly Vapiano. :yucky: Halfway around the world, when I can have that here at home...
:lol: