With the evolving trends in the Food and Beverage space, Abhishek Gupta, Executive Chef, The Leela Ambience Gurugram Hotel & Residences, shares insights on fine dining, beverages and technology in the F&B sector.
What’s hot on the fine dining menu?
- Sustainability will be big as the world is moving towards reducing carbon footprints, supporting farmers, reducing waste and saving energy. So, sustainability will be considered as an initiative from all chefs and entrepreneurs.
- Vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free and keto mock meat will remain and rise further as people are getting more conscious towards plant-based meals and sugar substitutes like monk fruit syrup, jaggery and palm sugar.
- Millets will be big as India is declared the Millet Year 2023 by the Government of India. So we will see a major shift in the usage of millets in different forms and formats.
- Usage of indigenous ingredients will further rise and more restaurants will be inclined towards putting them in the menu.
- Hydroponic vegetables, plants and herbs will be in demand. We, at The Leela Gurugram, were one of the first hotels to launch Hydroponic Moving Salad bar in 2021 for our guests on New Year’s eve and then at all our brunches in Spectra.
What’s brewing in beverages?
People are loving Kombucha, ready-to-drink cocktails and cold brew coffee. Experimentation in flavours – from wild berry to flowers to fruits – is big!
Tech influence on dining
Technology in fine dining experience, not including the apps and reservation platforms, is yet to be seen. For example, something like the Sublimotion Restaurant in Ibiza is yet to happen in India.
