I eat out a lot. Business lunches, dates, meals with friends. High-end, low-end and everything in between. So I’m often asked to recommend the best restaurants. But it’s often an impossible question. What price? Where? Which cuisine? Miss H asked me for some tips and advice recently, which got me thinking. Why look back, when we can look forward? The result is my hot new dining trends for 2011. A round-up of what will be coming to a restaurant near you soon and why it’s worth your time checking them out.

Chefs getting lost

We’ve had pop-up restaurants, where unlikely venues (often private homes) open up as restaurants one night a week for just a few people. Then came fixed venues permanently featuring a restaurant, but with the particular restaurant changing. This year, look out for chefs collaborating with other chefs and moving into one another’s kitchens. I wrote about this happening in the London Restaurant Festival last October with chefs pairing up, but it’s now happening independently of festivals and it’s a takeover, not a collaboration. New Zealander Anna Hansen of The Modern Pantry in London recently moved into the Meza kitchen in Soho for a two-week cheffing stint.

Celebrity chefs losing it

Some celebrity chefs are well known for their fiery tempers and pan-banging in the kitchen. Soon, some of them may have something to actually be upset about. Their restaurant empires are struggling and they’ve over-stretched themselves. Expect some big names to lose a restaurant or two as a result.

Farmers in the kitchen

Buzzwords like ‘provenance’, ‘locally-sourced’ and ‘rare breed’ have been on menus a while now. It’s all about where your food has come from, how well it’s been looked after and, in 2011, who raised it. Farmers are now the new celebrity chefs, particularly when it comes to TV, since it’s their efforts making a difference on the plate. People like Dan Barber of Blue Hill Farm in New York state. 

Everything-to-everyone restaurants

Restaurants have to work even harder these days to make a profit. That’s why everything-to-everyone restaurants are on the rise. These are eateries which serve a mean breakfast to office workers, morph into great lunch spots and change again into retro bar hangouts in the evening when a DJ might throw on some tunes. That way they’re fuller, longer.

Eat-what-you-want restaurants

You fancy Chinese food and she wants Indian food? No problem. There’ll be a lot more buffet-style restaurants with different stations for each of you. Restaurants won’t just house one cuisine, but lots, as with Vegas-style hotel restaurants catering to every taste.

Waiterless restaurants

I was in Bruges, Belgium last year on a weekend break. At one restaurant, the chef was cooking everything on an open fire, for the entire restaurant. And serving it to each table. No waiter. Absolutely incredible. There’s a new generation of chefs thriving on the feedback of their customers – no more ‘them and us’ in the kitchen, just an honest interaction with diners.

Surprise menus

‘Tasting’ menus of signature dishes are old news – wine-pairing menus too. In 2011, it’s all about surprise menus. Some venues’ best dishes are deliberately left off the menu. It’s special request only by those in the know. Other restaurants don’t even have menus. There’s just a quick preference check by the waiter and then the food parade. Expect high prices for this sort of entertainment.

Cuisines to keep an eye on

Korean food will hit Europe, following the wave of Vietnamese food that arrived in 2010. Street food will continue its rise, particularly Mexican dishes doing well with the new boutique tequilas.

What to do with all this inside information? Share it of course. I’m about to e-mail it to Miss H. Safer for everyone than sharing in person over dinner and drinks. Not after what happened last time.