Food trends 2021: where to find the globe’s most-talked about dishes in Dubai – Time Out Dubai

From achingly hip treats to chefs favourites making a comeback, in vogue recipes that are taking social media by storm and lesser-known ingredients suddenly making a splash, theres a whole lot going on in the food world.

With that in mind, heres our round up of the 15 zaniest food trends around right now.

Think of Basque burnt cheesecake as the cooler and edgier, but no less delicious, cousin of traditional sweet and fluffy baked New York cheesecake. The rule-breaking dessert (scorched edges are actively encouraged) was invented in San Sebastian in Spains Basque Country decades ago, but its only now that the dish is having its moment in the culinary sun. One taste and youll wonder what took it so long. Boasting a barely set, silky-smooth, custardy centre and characteristic crackled and crinkled crme brle-like crust (no biscuit base necessary here), this is the sort of pudding that can silence a crowd.Where to get it: For a first-rate rendition of the increasingly popular dish, the version served up by the husband-and-wife team behind online dessert delivery shop The Kakao Guy is the one that those in the know whisper about reverentially. Want to go out for cheesecake? Head to Nightjar at Time Out Market Dubai for a cracker of a dish, with deliciously creamy cheese in a burnt crust.From Dhs35. thekakaoguy.com (055 229 8823). Dhs40. Time Out Market Dubai, Souk Al Bahar, Downtown Dubai, timeoutmarket.com/dubai.

Theres an old-school revival going on: beef wellington is back. All the rage in the early 2000s, until relatively recently the once iconic wellington might well have been considered pass. In these uncertain, post-lockdown times though theres something that just feels right about the rich regality, sumptuous luxury and sense of comfort that a fillet of beef wrapped in golden pastry provides.Where to get it: This is a signature Gordon Ramsay dish so it seems only fitting to suggest sharing a wellington with someone special at either his Bread Street Kitchen restaurant or at one helmed by his alumni, Jason Atherton at Marina Social.Bread Street Kitchen. Dhs286. Atlantis The Palm, Palm Jumeirah (04 426 2626). Marina Social: Dhs450 (for two). InterContinental Dubai Marina, marinasocialdubai.com (04 446 6664).

The phrase best of both worlds might well have been invented for garlic bread crumpets, otherwise known as the latest food craze to takeover TikTok. Here we see the quintessentially English teatime treat meeting everyones favourite Italian restaurant side dish in an alliance that might well be lasting.The idea itself is simple: quartered crumpets are arranged in an ovenproof dish, drizzled with melted garlic butter, scattered with Parmesan and baked. The genius lies in the way in which the punchy, garlic-flecked butter permeates through the crumpets signature holes, drenching them in flavour from top to the bottom. A quick flash in a hot oven turns the cheese gooey and oozy and gives the crumpets a texturally pleasing toasted element.Where to get it: If youve ever wondered if theres anything better than a dripping-with-butter crumpet, we say fling a pack in your shopping basket, try this trend at home and report back.

Reliable, quick-to-cook and family-friendly as it may be, its been a while since gnocchi could be considered cool. But much like Sandy (Grease) and Andy (The Devil Wears Prada), the Italian potato dumplings have been given a makeover and the internet is very happy indeed.

The key to gnocchis reinvention lies in the cooking method and heads-up: regular boiling or blanching is out. Instead, barbecue fiends advocate slinging fresh gnocchi skewers on a searing hot grill for an end result thats crispy and crunchy with smoky undertones. A fast-food twist on the traditional preparation method meanwhile sees gnocchi pieces battered and deep-fried to golden, bite-size, nugget-like perfection.Where to get it: To taste gnocchi truly transformed in Dubai the best place to do so has to be the always inventive Carnival by Trsind, where crisp on the outside, pillowy soft in the centre potato pieces are served on a bed of garlicky shredded spinach.Burj Daman, DIFC, carnivalbytresind.com (052 242 4262).

If you thought that sunflowers were just there to billow cheerily in the garden, TikTok wants you to think again. Foodie hipsters first started talking about munching on grilled sunflower heads last year, but its a recent second wave appearance that has really caused a stir with videos of people eating them corn on the cob-style going viral.Where to get it: To get in on the action you will of course need to be in possession of a sunflower head and ideally one that isnt fully mature and has light, soft seeds. So, take a trip to the garden centre, and on your return lop the head off the sunflower and peel away the leaves. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and grill, face side down, for 15 minutes. After that, its snack time.

Cans of fizzy soda no longer cut it and the days of syrupy sweet juices are well and truly numbered. In their place, fridges are being filled with premium, complex-tasting drinks that feel grown-up. This increased thirst for high-end domestic drinks has been reported around the world, with many attributing the trend to clean living millennials and a post-pandemic desire to spend more time at home.

The movement is very much in evidence in the UAE. Take a quick saunter down the drinks aisle at your local supermarket and youll encounter a growing array of soft drinks including flavoured tonic and bespoke botanical-based blends.Where to get it: Online shop Drink Dry was launched with exactly this shift in attitude in mind and has a well-curated selection of sophisticated soft drinks, from sparkling options to speciality hops, mocktail bundles, aromatic infused sodas and more.UAE-wide next day delivery on orders placed before noon (except Fri). drinkdrystore.com (056 415 0041).

How do you make pasta more appealing? Why you serve it up in pretty pie form, of course.

Otherwise known as rigatoni pie, honeycomb pasta cake ticks all the right boxes when it comes to social media food trends: easy to prepare, makes a star of everyday ingredients and looks impressive, too.

A carb-fest of a recipe (were in real comfort food territory here), blanched rigatoni pieces are packed into a springform cake tin to create the all-important honeycomb effect, before being stuffed with string cheese, doused in sauce, covered with more cheese and baked. Once released from the pan, youve got yourself a towering, layered creation that can be sliced as you would a cake. Genius, right?Where to get it: Weve yet to spot rigatoni pie on a Dubai restaurant menu, so until the idea catches on youll need to make your own at home which, lets be honest, is really no hardship.

Fashionable omurice only calls for two core ingredients (rice and eggs) and initially the fusion recipe seems rather simple: a light and fluffy Western-style omelette is draped over Japanese fried rice and finished with a little sauce (sometime a rich demi-glace, more often than not ketchup).

Dont be fooled though, theres serious skill required to achieve the picture-perfect presentation that has seen the dish become a sensation on social (were talking a plump omelette cylinder with a thin, just-set exterior wrapped around a gooey, cheesy interior brimming with flavoursome fried rice).Where to get it: You could absolutely try this trend at home, just dont be too hard on yourself if it doesnt look quite like the photos. Alternatively, local favourite Bentoya dishes up a decent version, stuffed with chicken-fried rice and slathered in ketchup.Dhs53. Al Kawakeb Building, Sheikh Zayed Road, bentoya.info (04 343 0222).

Simple to make and dangerously easy to eat, pasta chips might just change the way you snack forevermore. The trend originated on TikTok (where else?) and calls for pasta pieces to be boiled, tossed with olive oil, seasoning and plenty of umami-rich grated parmesan, before being air fried until crisp, crunchy and golden with a pleasingly chewy centre.

As usual with chips (crisps to the Brits, but lets not get into that one), these are best served with dips. We think youd be well within your rights to call it a gourmet feast if you offer them with bowls of pasta sauce for dunking try melty, molten cheese sauce for a riff on mac n cheese, chilli-spiked marinara or people pleasing pesto.Where to get it: Get that air-frier on standby, theres carb-eating to be done.

While an Italian might well snigger into their pre-11am cappuccino at the thought of this hundred-year-old technique being considered a new trend, until recently the Roman-style pizza preparation known as pinsa was relatively unknown outside of its home country.

Now though pinsa is well on its way to going global, with pinsa-style pizzerias proving popular all over the world, including deep-dish loving Chicago (a feat in itself). A long-fermented, hand-stretched and often double baked dough sets pinsa apart from its contemporaries; made from a blend of rice, soy and wheat flours, the result is a crisp and crunchy, thin, bubbly crust thats lighter and arguably easier for the body to digest than regular dough.Where to get it: The Pinza version is a cross between pizza and flatbread, and it has fewer calories than a regular pizza so you can dig in guilt-free. The totally twisted pinza comes with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, green, red, and yellow pepper, black olives, wagyu sausage, and basil. Alternatively try Pinsanity, a spin-off from the pizza maestros behind 800 Pizza, coming particularly highly recommended.Pinza.com; tastepinsanity.com.

Put that soy latte order on hold, theres a new plant-based, gluten- and lactose-free milk in town. Pale mint-green pistachio milk is the hipster drink of choice thats currently pushing oat, almond, coconut and the aforementioned soy milk out of the limelight.Where to get it: The first brand to launch a pistachio milk in the US and the one thats on everyones lips when the conversation turns to the coolest nut milk around is Tche, a family-run, US-based company founded by half-Persian Roxana Saidi. The good news is that their made-from-Middle Eastern-pistachios milk is available in the UAE courtesy of Kibsons, so you can make up your own mind as to whether this trend is a keeper.kibsons.com (800 5427667).

Before you call us out on it, were well aware that its not breaking culinary ground to identify ramen as on-trend, but like the broth itself, this one just seems to get better with time. There is also a newish addition to the foodie zeitgeist that goes by the name of TikTok ramen noodles currently being whipped up in kitchens the world over. Here instant noodles are given an upgrade thanks to being stir-fried in a buttery, sweet, soy-sauce-forward sauce, with egg and Kewpie mayo whisked in for good measure. Further additions to the pan are optional, but omitting the sachet of seasoning that comes with the noodles themselves is mandatory.Where to get it: If the above seems verging on the crazy and you just want to slurp the perfection in a bowl that is ramen done well, there are two standout places to do so in Dubai: Reif at our very own Time Out Market Dubai and Kinoya in The Greens. Go hungry to both, and get ready to dig into a silky smooth, comforting hug-in-a-bowl.Kinoya: From Dhs50. Tower 2, The Onyx, The Greens, kinoya.ae (04 548 6776). Reif Japanese Kushiyaki: From Dhs65. Time Out Market Dubai, Souk Al Bahar, Downtown Dubai, timeoutmarket.com/dubai.

The King of the smoke, brisket maestro, trailblazer for low-and-slow cooking in the UAE and the force (and all-round good guy) behind Time Out Market Dubais Local Fire, Hattem Mattar spent part of the summer out of town launching a The Mattar Farm Egypt pop-up.

And while his signature slow-cooked meats were very much in attendance, we couldnt help but notice a new, locally-inspired addition to the ensemble in the form of smoked brisket fteer. Unsurprisingly the limited-edition dish featuring that incredibly juicy, insanely tasty pulled meat scattered with cheese and encased in layer upon layer of light, golden pastry sold out every time it made an appearance. So, were putting it out there, calling this a trend in the making and asking ourselves (and Hattem) the question: when is smoked brisket fteer going to make its debut in Dubai?Where to get it: Until that happy day though, carnivores are certainly not short of options for sating cravings for something meaty and delicious at Local Fire, so head to Time Out Market Dubai and youll be one happy diner.Prices vary. Time Out Market Dubai, Souk Al Bahar, Downtown Dubai, timeoutmarket.com/dubai.

Say hello to the dish thats currently making its mark on brunch menus everywhere. Essentially a vegan version of scrambled eggs, the silky, creamy nature of protein-rich bean curd means turmeric tofu scramble has the potential to taste just as good as the original.

No stranger to it-ingredient lists, turmeric plays a pivotal role in this recipe giving the dish a pleasing (Instagram-friendly) sunshine yellow hue and adding an earthy flavour note. The endless ways in which turmeric tofu can tweaked only adds to its appeal: tomato salsa and black beans take it in a huevos rancheros direction, while maple syrup-drizzled vegan bacon brings a taste of the US to the party.Where to get it: Were predicting that youll be seeing much more of this dish in the weeks to come, but for now you can tuck into turmeric spiced tofu scramble with portobello mushrooms, avocado, kale and roasted peppers at The Coffee Club as part of its new plant-based menu.Dhs49, various locations including Dubai Marina and Sheikh Zayed Road, thecoffeeclubme.com.

For the uninitiated, ube (pronounced ohh-bae) is a purple fleshed yam native to the Philippines. When boiled and mashed the tuberous vegetable has a mild and mellow, slightly nutty flavour and has been used in Filipino desserts for years. As the cuisine has increasingly come to global attention so too has ube, with keen cooks experimenting with the veg-in-dessert idea and Instagram grids lighting up with lavender-hued sweet treats from doughnuts to waffles, macaron to cheesecakes. We think theres something about the taste and texture of ube that lends itself particularly well to ice cream though.Where to get it: For an on-trend lick of the action, Jelly Belly and iScream both serve up tasty scoops in a vibrant purple dish.Jelly Belly: Prices vary. Various locations including Bluewaters Dubai. jellybellyicecream.com. iScream: Prices vary. La Mer, Jumeirah 1 (04 220 8648).

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Food trends 2021: where to find the globe's most-talked about dishes in Dubai - Time Out Dubai