By Elizabeth Wessel
For this month’s edition of Trend Watch, we’ve teamed up with Technomic to highlight some of the top trends gaining popularity on restaurant menus across Canada: flavoured foam, white soy sauce, aromatic spirits. We also take a look at how some Canadian restaurants are successfully adding them to their menus for an innovative and unique guest experience.
Flavoured foam accents
Food and beverages with innovatively flavoured foams are transforming the dining experience across many iterations with their weightless, cloud-like consistency. These foam additions deliver concentrated bursts of flavour with a sophisticated, modern flair.
Menu examples:
- The Five Fishermen in Halifax, Nova Scotia, offered Tuna Tartare on the menu, featuring avocado, miso foam, ponzu, and lotus root.
- Botanist (Vancouver, British Columbia) had Haskap Berry and Honey Verrine, including haskap berry compote, buckwheat crumble, olive oil foam, and sourdough toast ice cream.
White soy sauce
Operators are elevating menu staples with this Japanese soy sauce made primarily from wheat, sea salt, and a small amount of soy, often combined with kelp and mirin to form shiro dashi soup stock.
Menu examples:
- Tuna Tartare was also on the menu at Sara in Toronto, Ontario, highlighting white soy, yuzu, black truffle, and potato chips.
- In Monarque (Montreal, Quebec)’s Scallop Crudo, cucumber, lemon verbena, white soy, and tomato water were featured.
Spirits infused with aromatics
Cocktails enhanced with functional aromatic ingredients, such as herbs, spices, or botanicals are making their way onto menus as consumers continue to crave savoury beverages.
Menu examples:
- Calcutta Cricket Club in Calgary, Alberta menued a Black Cardamom Rye Old Fashioned, with black cardamom, fresh curry leaf-infused Alberta premium rye, green cardamom syrup, orange bitters, and orange expression.
- The Five Fishermen’s Ginseng Old Fashioned spotlighted ginseng infused-bourbon, brown sugar, and bitters in the lineup.
Trend Watch is based on menu trends noted by Technomic. Technomic is a Chicago-based foodservice research and consulting firm, providing clients with the facts, insights and consulting support they need to enhance their business strategies, decisions and results. The company’s services include publications and digital products as well as proprietary studies and ongoing research on all aspects of the food industry, including menu trends.
