Six food trends that you can already enjoy in Düsseldorf

These culinary trends will define the year 2022. Here you can try them hot and greasy, served with scoops or topped with Nutella. 

Long a delicacy in China and Southeast Asia, experts believe that there is a very special trend dish for the coming twelve months: jellyfish! While we are still a little skeptical about eating the sea creature (minus the poisonous tentacles), we can't wait to enjoy other trendy dishes and foods. Or would you say no to an injection of Nutella? Or turn down crispy deep-fried chicken served in soy sauce? The resolution to keep a closer eye on the kilos will have to wait for now. 

Quite crispy: Karaage 

Chicken deep-fried in batter that melts in the mouth: invented and long established in Japan, Düsseldorf-based Michelin-starred chef and owner of the restaurants Nagaya and Yoshi by Nagaya, Yoshizumi Nagaya, predicts that karaage will delight Germans at least as much as his fellow countrymen. If you want to shine with insider knowledge while enjoying the specialty: the difference between simply deep-fried chicken and karaage is that the meat is first seasoned and then coated in flour in the trendy dish. With simply deep-fried meat, on the other hand, the spices go into the breading, so they don't get into the chicken itself. Can you taste the difference? Try it at Tokyo Ramen Takeichi at Immermannstraße 18 or at Takumi a few doors down (Immermannstraße 28). Karaage with lemon, soy sauce and sesame oil at Rika (Gehrtsstraße 16) should also be a hit. 

On the way to becoming an Italian classic: Pinsa Romana 

Are the Romans crazy? In some respects, Asterix and Obelix may be right. But when it comes to "Pinsa Romana", the two Gauls are definitely way off the mark! After all, who could dismiss a dish related to pizza as nonsense? The little sister of many Germans' favorite dish was created around 20 years ago by a resourceful businessman - with a legend to match. According to this legend, the dish was already the favorite dish of the Romans in the time of Julius Caesar. The dough, which can be topped with salami, salmon, beet or avocado, depending on taste, consists not only of wheat flour (as in the classic pizza), but also lots of water, rice flour, soy flour or chickpea flour, sourdough and yeast. These ingredients are not only intended to make the dough looser, but also to make it easier to digest. After all, the dough is left to rise for between 24 and 120 hours. In Düsseldorf, you can try this trendy dish at the Nuvola restaurant in Oberkasseler Luegallee or at Ratatouille (Auf der Lausward 51), for example. 

Completely relaxed: Hemp as a foodstuff 

Choose a variant with cannabidiol (CBD) instead of olive oil for your salad? Bake the bread with hemp nuts? Sprinkle the dessert with crunchy chocolate hemp brittle? What sounds like a kitchen of the distant future will already be possible in 2022 - with products from the Düsseldorf-based company Grinland! While hemp has already been established in products for mental calming for several years, it is slowly but surely making its way into the German food industry. Industrial hemp is legal in the EU, writes the Grinland founder on her website. "The ingredient THC, which gives cannabis its intoxicating effect, is less than 0.2 percent in foods made from hemp seeds and therefore within the legally permitted limit." In other words: get to the legal pleasure! 

Classic with balls: Bubble tea 

Will one of the trend drinks of recent years make a comeback in 2022? It certainly looks like it. Because bubble tea is back - and with it one of the most controversial foods of all. While some of you might consume gallons of the sweet thirst quencher invented in Taiwan back in the 1980s, others are more reluctant. Admittedly: The mixture of green or black tea, milk, fruit syrup and pieces of fruit with balls of tapioca, the starch extracted from cassava roots, doesn't necessarily sound tempting. And yet the triumph of bubble tea proves the opposite. It's best to try it for yourself, for example at Neko (Herzogstraße 10b), Teamate (Immermannstraße 65c) or Combo Tea in the Düsseldorf Arcaden (Friedrichstraße 133). 

Nutella until the doctor comes 

A syringe for breakfast? Sounds horrible - unless it's the famous "Nutella injection" from Café Buur! The waiters serve this with every pancake that you cover with the sweet cream. The restaurant, located at Friedrichstraße 120, also serves a whole range of special creations that have the potential to be the next food trend. Or what do you think of the sushi burger with a rice lid that the café has on offer during its Asian Weeks? When it comes to the origin of the ingredients, owner Parham Pooramin thinks locally, as the name of his café reveals: "Buur" means "farmer" in Rhenish.  

Plant-based please: meatless cuisine 

The movement - or conviction - to eat meat-free can clearly no longer be described as a trend. Or do you know of any restaurants that still manage without vegetarian dishes? However, not least because of climate change, more and more women, men and children have recently been trying to eat an exclusively or predominantly plant-based diet. The dishes at Shari's Kitchen (Collenbachstraße 41), Laura's Deli (Carlsplatz 1) and Fleischfrei (Oberbilker Allee 256) are highly praised by guests. It's always good for the environment, your conscience and your health. And you'll also come across the odd well-known food hype from 2020 or 2021. We'll just say: superfood. 

Cover picture: Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash