Tête de Moine is poised to be the new MVP of the cheeseboard. Salami roses and honey-drenched chevre step aside – this frilly fromage will upstage literally everything on your grazing platter. The effect requires a cheese curler (girolle) and an entire wheel of rare Alpine cheese, which is not readily available from specialty cheese shops. You must be committed to the cause. This is the kind of cheese you want to curl up with – fruity, nutty and pungent with mushroomy flavours that match its unique chanterelle shape.

Don’t try this at home. There’s only one kind of fire you want at your local restaurant and that’s flambé. For the last 12 months, we’ve tossed steak tartare, pounded pesto and scooped tiramisu at the table. This year, we’re kicking the tableside theatrics up a notch and adding in fire tricks. The French technique is catching on across the country, with a return of retro favourites like Crepes Suzette, Bananas Foster and Cherries Jubilee.

For the past few years, we’ve been enjoying our oysters freshly shucked and splashed with lemon. But the tide is turning, with stuffed shellfish coming in hot for 2024. Chefs are increasingly serving oysters, clams and mussels in the half shell with a golden gratinee of crispy breadcrumbs on top. Add some herbs and bacon and you’re never going back.

When it comes to cakes, the bigger the better right? Over the last few months, we’ve watched the meteoric rise of the Russian honey cake and we think it’ll hit new heights in 2024. The gravity-defying gateau is made from alternating layers of honey sponge with sour cream frosting, sometimes up to ten storeys high.

The fin-to-scale movement will propel forward this year, with curious cuts like fish collars hitting the mainstream. This isn’t your usual lean fillet, but a big tasty triangle of rich jowl flesh and fatty belly bits. Plus, no annoying little bones to get stuck sideways in your windpipe. Pick it up with your hands and nibble away.

Say goodbye to your New Year’s resolutions. At the risk of turning this serious work of journalism into a (cream) puff piece, we couldn’t list our top trends of the year without including the cream bun. Frankly, the country bakery staple has been overshadowed by the vanilla slice for too long. The creme de la creme is the maritozzi, a Roman version made from a football-shaped brioche bun filled with a fluffy cloud-like vanilla cream. Image: Maritozzi from Tuga Pastries.

Hot sauce will be hot stuff again this year. Sriracha, kimchi and Chinese chilli crisp have all had their time in the sun and this year we’ll be heading to Japan for our next chilli hit. Yuzu kosho is a fiery fermented paste made from a mix of fresh green chillies with citrusy yuzu fruit. Use it as a marinade for meat and seafood or as an accompaniment to hot pot, sushi, sashimi or yakitori.

Well, why not? Everything else from the ’90s is cool again. Just look at focaccia. And don’t even pretend you don’t have a balsamic reduction in your pantry. Remember when we used to throw together a simple sun-dried tomato pasta or assemble them with olives and bocconcini on an antipasto board? Let’s make this the Year of the Sun-Dried Tomato. Surely everyone deserves a second chance.