In New York, restaurants with more than 15 outlets are obliged by law to display calorie contents on their menus, a scheme that has led to an average reduction of 50-100 calories in each order placed. In the UK, the FSA has introduced an initiative of voluntary measures for our own restaurant industry. Some of the big guns such as Pizza Hut are trialling schemes, but it’s been the boutique end that has chosen to embrace the concept.
London’s seven-strong Real Greek chain (therealgreek.co.uk) is the first restaurant group to include a comprehensive calorie listing on its menus: tzatziki, 146 — good, but deep-fried whitebait with rich mayonnaise, a staggering 1,172 — bad.
Pizza Express’s (pizzaexpress.com) Leggera range features pizzas inspired by Neapolitan fresella — bread with a hole in the middle. The centres have been cut out, replaced with a salad and are only 500 calories each with less than 5g saturated fat.
Smithfield’s Saki Bar and Food Emporium (saki-food.com) has devised a low-cal, three-course menu weighing in at a minuscule 285kcal with nigiri, shirataki noodles, chicken and shiitake cutlets in plum dressing and miracle fruit (an African berry that makes bitter ingredients taste sweet) sorbet for dessert.
London’s new fro-yo (frozen yogurt) bars Yu-Foria (yu-foria.com) and Snog (ifancyasnog.com) have 70 calories per 100g thanks to their use of non-fat dairy and low-GI agave nectar.
But as for the local curry house, you might be waiting a while before they fess up to the calories in a ghee-filled chicken korma.
