Current 2024-2025 food trends are pointing more and more toward luxurious food items. Could it be that consumers want to get more bang for their buck?
As we see it, if you’re going to spend significantly more money to dine out than you did four years ago, you might as well treat yourself. You can make the basics at home, but you’re not likely to add gold leaf to your homemade chocolate cake.
Our list of luxe food menu ideas goes beyond lobster and foie gras, but it does include caviar.
1 – Caviar
Caviar works well for an appetizer. Try a dollop on a blin – an Eastern European pancake – or a delicate cucumber canapé. It sets a high standard for the courses to follow, too.
While the price of beluga caviar makes it out of reach for most profit-driven establishments, there are hybrid options for much less. Or go beyond the ordinary with sea urchin roe, which has an entirely different look than traditional caviar. The Kimpton Hotels 2024 Trend Report says it is an ingredient to watch.
Want strictly plant-based? There are many options including seaweed caviar and even beluga lentils, which are known for their rich flavor and caviar-like appearance.
Beluga lentils (pictured here) look similar to traditional caviar. Dress it up with thoughtful plating and pairing for a luxe-looking and tasting appetizer.
2 – Seacuterie Boards
This is a take on the better-known charcuterie board and is one of those TikTok-influenced food trends where photos hit more eyeballs than food hits actual tastebuds. Either way, a seacuterie board is luxe and it’s trending.
With a seacuterie board, you get the opportunity to showcase high-end crab legs alongside canned tuna on crackers. Add fresh fruits and savory sauces for visual appeal and to get costs down.
3 – Matcha
Speaking of flavor combinations, how about a honey cinnamon matcha latte? While we’re at it, how about matchamisu for dessert?
Matcha is a finely ground powder made from specially grown and processed green tea leaves. It has transcended its traditional Japanese tea ceremony roots to grocery store shelves in the USA. (FDR works with Tenzo to offer wholesale matcha powder to restaurant operators.)
It goes beyond a simple tea or latte. Social media influencers are getting creative with matcha smoothies and pastries, too.
How might you bring matcha to your menu to meet consumer interest in this luxe food trend?
4 – White And Black Truffles
We’re not complaining about the persistence of truffle. The unique umami flavor of black and white truffles (mushrooms) will never go out of style. Intact truffles are too spendy and delicate for any but the finest dining establishments, but a truffle-flavored salt, butter, oil, or sauce is very doable and especially complementary to beef, pasta, and root vegetables.
Black truffle pizza, anyone?
5 – Luxe Finishing Butters
It’s rare to see real dairy milk butter on the menu anymore. Somewhere along the way, restaurant operators unilaterally decided it was vegetable oil spread or nothing. (We were plant-based when plant-based wasn’t cool). While that works perfectly well 90% of the time, finishing with dairy milk butter pays off.
That’s one of the reasons we delight in working with Epicurean Butter and introducing their compound butters to restaurant brands and other foodservice operators. Prepared finishing butters save time and help bring consistency to every plate. Plus, you haven’t lived until you’ve tried the Black Truffle Butter, and you’re missing out if you haven’t worked with their Roasted Garlic Herb Butter. Game changer.
6 – Fragrant Spices And Floral Notes
Dress up a menu description and a flavor experience with interesting spices and floral flavors. Here are some of the combinations we’ve noticed lately with interest:
- Saffron avocado aioli
- Barbecued fish topped with Kalahari desert salt pearls
- Lavender ice cream
- Honey rose simple syrup
7 – Cocao, Cocoa, Chocolate, Mocha
Chocolate is experiencing a particular resurgence in popularity, with a shift toward premium, single-origin chocolates, which highlight the unique flavors of cacao beans from specific regions. In a way, the current market for chocolate parallels that of food in general with its focus on sustainability, ethical sourcing, and transparency in production processes.
There is so much you can do with chocolate. From dark to milk to white, it can be the central ingredient or a side note. Beyond the tried and true, we’re seeing some version of luxurious chocolate show up in beer and wine, paired with matcha, and as a spread.
To Sum Up
You don’t have to take your diners to space for them to feel the luxe treatment. As we’ve shown with this list, there are many small ingredient shifts or add-ons that any restaurant operator can focus on to increase the luxe factor.
