By Marie-Antoinette Issa.
Having recently returned from a transformative journey across Spain and Greece, Joaquin Saez Binder, the culinary force behind Bondi’s Mediterranean meze bar Ikaria and Spanish-inspired kitchen Iberica, is emerging as one of Sydney’s most authoritative voices on 2026 European dining trends.
From Asturian seafood houses to Athenian street stalls, his pilgrimage through Europe’s most vibrant dining scenes has reshaped not only how he approaches food back home but also his vision for the next wave of dining experiences.
"The future of dining is all about local products, sustainable eating and truly seasonal cooking,” he says, reflecting on a plate of impossibly fresh, simple ingredients that stopped him in his tracks.
"I like fine dining, but I think the direction everything is heading is toward intentional simplicity. Not basic food…far from it, but dishes with only a few components, each one chosen because it genuinely deserves to be there. When you reduce the number of elements on the plate, each ingredient suddenly carries more weight, more relevance.”
At San Sebastian’s Gastronomika Fair, the message from Chefs like Albert Adrià and the team from Disfrutar was unmistakable: excellence no longer relies solely on Michelin-starred perfection.
"I don’t think Chefs like Albert Adria are abandoning precision in favour of something more rustic. If anything, the level of precision they pursue - through technique, textures, sauces, even the emotional narrative behind a dish - is incredibly complex. What’s shifting is not the craft, but how that craft is presented. When all of that complexity arrives at the table in a way that feels cohesive and natural, that’s where the honesty comes in.”
Joaquin has observed this shift firsthand, tracing the future of dining across Europe. For him, honesty on a plate means expressing depth and intention through restraint. Across both Spain and Greece, he noted a return to authenticity: dishes that honour heritage while embracing subtle innovation.
"They’re taking the dishes they were fed as kids or the products they remember from a local shop and expressing them in new forms…sometimes with more complexity, sometimes with a different structure, but always with the same emotional core. Innovation isn’t replacing tradition; it’s giving it new life.”
Whether sampling just-caught percebes on the Asturian coast or grilled vegetables from a bustling Athenian street stall, the common threads were clear: locality, seasonality, identity and unapologetic authenticity.
"Traditional food in both places isn’t trying to be pretty. It’s not meticulously plated or visually polished. It’s unapologetic, rustic, direct and deeply authentic,” he says.
Some of the most striking lessons came not from tasting but from witnessing community in action. In a family-run restaurant in Conceyu d’Ayer, Asturias, he watched three generations work in harmony: a Chef, his mother preparing cider and his grandmother baking bread in the kitchen.
"The depth of what they were doing wasn’t just in the food; it was in the continuity. The utensils they cooked with, the oven they still used, the way they made their bread and cider…none of it was random. It was all inherited, refined and carried forward. That moment captured exactly what community and storytelling mean in food today.”
This balance of tradition and modernity extends to the concept Joaquin calls casual excellence. "It’s effortless on the surface, but built on incredibly high-quality products…food that’s so flavourful and satisfying you simply don’t want to stop eating. You don’t need theatrics when the ingredients are already extraordinary. That’s casual excellence, confidence in the product, restraint in the technique and a focus on pleasure rather than performance.”
Sustainability and seasonality remain central to his vision for 2026 menus. "One thing the best Chefs kept repeating, almost like a mantra, is that you have to treat your suppliers like family. You need to trust them, understand them and genuinely care about the work they do. Local producers shape the soul of the menu and maintaining those close relationships is what makes true sustainability possible.”
Back in Sydney, the lessons of Europe are taking shape at Ikaria and Iberica. At Ikaria, story-driven dishes such as galaktoboureko will sit alongside seasonal menus celebrating simplicity and produce. Iberica continues to champion shared dining, sourcing artisanal ingredients and nurturing a sense of connection around the table.
"Meals aren’t just about the food, they’re about connection, conversation and laughter,” he says. "Australian diners are craving that same feeling right now, letting the food be the centrepiece of connection, not just an isolated experience.”
Joaquin’s authority on 2026 European dining trends comes from this immersion, observation and firsthand experience. "Trends are great, they spark ideas, they inspire and they push the conversation forward. Tradition has a different kind of weight. That’s what I really connect with: the depth, the history, the things that have been shaped and reshaped over generations.
"The reality is that there are only a few true creators in the world. Most of us are re-creators. We’re building on everything that has been passed down to us - techniques, flavours, memories, ways of cooking and thinking that existed long before we stepped into a kitchen. What I brought home wasn’t a trend to copy; it was a mindset.”
As he looks ahead, his guiding philosophy for 2026 menus is clear. "Intentional simplicity rooted in authenticity. That means designing menus around seasonal, local ingredients, honouring traditions and stories and creating dishes that feel effortless but are full of depth and flavour. It’s about making every element on the plate count, letting the quality of the product shine and fostering genuine experiences for diners.”
For Joaquin, the journey through Europe wasn’t just about trends or techniques. It was about translating emotion, history and story into every dish and inviting diners to feel as much as they taste.
"I want diners to live the experience as if they were in Europe, to feel the connection to the roots of the food, to its traditions and authenticity. Beyond taste, it’s about being immersed in the story, the culture and the care behind each dish.”
In his hands, Sydney is poised to embrace European food - with soul, sincerity and simple sophistication.
