I'm opening a food business. What do you want to see on the menu?

[DonLewis]

I know it's not an AIBU!

But I want to get my menu right! I love street food and we have some amazing street food where I live, but I want to do something different.

We have, on our doorstep, phenomenal Japanese food, Lebanese food, tapas, chicken, burgers, Vietnamese, gastro pub food, Indian, you name it, we've got it.

I'm keen to do great veggie and vegan stuff alongside proper meat.

The restaurant already does an amazing daytime menu that I don't want to change but the evenings is ripe for the taking.

I've got ideas, but I love you guys and want to know what you want to see on a menu.

In a hipster area. (yak, but true!)

Hit me with your ideas

There's a series on Netflix about the most renowned street food vendors around the world.. I would highly recommend for inspo!! It's also just a great series for anyone else who likes food and the stories about the sellers are fascinating!

I agree you need to tell us a bit more about you and the place and what the food is like in the day time, we can all tell you our favourite is Indian street food or European fine dining but if that doesn't fit with what you are working with as a basis then that won't work for you. For instance I would find it really weird for a place that does Thai in the day to convert into a pancake house at night and I probably then wouldn't want to go to either! I'd stick with the same broad theme of your venue, so if it does Mexican in the day then it needs to be at least something south american in the evening IMO. You can probably put a slightly different spin on the style of the daytime food though, I've seen fairly average cafes convert themselves into trendy upmarket modern european supper clubs by night, or conversely places that are a bit formal and stuffy in the daytime do a more relaxed bar snacks/sharing platters to go with drinks type evening menu, but still in the same broad food 'family' if you see what I mean?

I really dislike and avoid restaurants that try and do more than one food type, I'm deeply suspicious of places that claim to do Indian and Chinese and sushi for instance, I tend to suspect they do none of these things well so I'd say pick your cuisine and stick with it

• personally I would pick a type of food you are personally familiar with and love, rather than what is fashionable or popular right now, even if you aren't cooking the food yourself you need to be able to talk about it creditably and genuinely to customers so if you know nothing about spanish cuisine and have never been to spain, it would be weird to run a tapas place even if you employ a spanish chef IMO.

My personal preference is for a short, simple menu where everything is done really well than having huge amounts of choice. YY to at least one good vegetarian option and preferably a separate vegan option, I'd really like a place that uses ethically sourced, sustainable, seasonal ingredients, especially one that pays attention to where its meat comes from, but appreciate that may be outside your price point...

Not veggie but i like those jamacian curry beef patties - but all the ones these days are bought in from tesco - uncle rons or island - which are not as good as home made ones .
Otherwise nice falafel on white mini baguettes is nice - but again everyone buys in from tesco ?

Korean fried chicken

Well, I eat low carb vegetarian food (no eggs) so anything 'new' that fits that criteria would be amazing!

If being diet controlled diabetic wasn't ruling my choices, I'd say

Haloumi fries

GOOD vegetarian burger (not a stack of vegetables chucked inside a bun

GOOD mexican

Good Thai

Giiid luck with evening crowd!!

Nachos, halloumi and nice proper milkshakes.

Hey, loving all of your ideas.

I've run a food business before, yes.

I won't be cooking. This is an established day time restaurant with staff. But we are able to open in the evenings and I want to get the food right. (they don't currently open at night)

I love food full stop. We have all of the things I mentioned in my op and more on our doorstep, so in terms of competing, I guess I feel like the Indian, thai, burgers (out of this world burgers), chicken, mezze, tapas are all done really, really well already.

For info, I'm veggie and I hate eating out and only having the choice of a (microwaved?) mushroom risotto, pizza or mushroom burger too.

I also live in a very vegan heavy area and want to provide vegan customers with what they want.

I used to love eating at Mildred's in Soho when I went to London. Ditto ottolenghi. I also follow some amazing places on Instagram, like temple of seitan, green grill and think we could go that way ish. But with a meat offering too, and one that isn't a second thought iyswim?

I wouldn’t try and do veggie AND vegan AND “proper meat” x pick one thing & do it really well. A steakhouse does a great steak but not much else, if I want steak, I know where to go, if I want veggie I don’t go there!
I think a pure vegetarian with vegan options would be good, or focus on something quite different like mushrooms & get really good at mushroom burgers, mushroom curry, mushroom ......

You often see the vegan places empty while McDonald's is chocka.
Do you want to make money or explore your passion for food? I ask because McDonald's certainly know how to make money.

I really miss the Australian cafe culture - a good brunch and some decent seafood options.

All I’m looking for in London is proper, Canadian poutine, with thick gravy and real cheese curds. I’d travel miles for proper poutine.

We used to go to a place that sold rotisserie chicken on a waffle with chilli maple syrup, chips and slaw that was to die for! We loved it, they’ve changed the restaurant now and don’t think we’ll ever get to eat it again, it was delicious! We drove quite far out of our way to get this meal a few times.

Focus on vegan food that can be "pimped up" with cheese or meat.

Sushi

Really good (charcoal) bbqed meats and veg. Served with perfect fries (somewhere between chips and French fries in terms of size) and a range of sauces.

@MaverickDanger

I really miss the Australian cafe culture - a good brunch and some decent seafood options.

Have you been to a branch of lantana? That's pretty much exactly what they do

Veggie fish and chips (battered halloumi)

Too big a menu leaves me thinking that things are brought in ,as better to do smaller selection well , with maybe a Handful of daily specials to give a mix up
I like Greek food and where I am not a lot do it

Sorry to be miserable but the people you should ask the people of the area you're opening up and not us, since they will have an idea of what the gap in the market is and what they're wanting and can't get. The location you're opening up is important too and whether you can get a chef that can put together an enticing menu that will encourage people to travel to you like they do for Mildred's and the awful vegan fast food places.

A grazing platter or tapas type dishes. You go with friends or loved ones, served a few smaller different dishes to pick at and graze.
You could do differrnt themes mexican one month, Vietnamese the next, cheese and cracker type with meats and salads.

Thai or Mexican or Greek....flatbreads and wraps and fresh, tasty delicious fillings that you can mix up...

I’ve always thought what’s missing is an evening takeout you can pick up one the way home

Sort of fresh healthy bucket of stew or soup, like a take out lunch but healthy evening food.

Walk in, pick from a few decent choices, carton of soup and chunky bread, stew with mash, noodles with spicy chicken. Quick and easy on the way home.

Bombay masala toast, panipuri, chole bhature, pav bhaji and masala dosa, they are all amazing street foods

Chicken tikka, but done like a fajita except using a naan.

Sweet potato fries