​​​​Of course, it’s not just kingfish that is ubiquitous. It’s also steak tartare. It’s dry-aged roasted duck, and bombe Alaska. And oh ​​​boy, is it burrata. The first time you spear the snowy-white ball of fresh cheese with your knife and unleash its creamy heart all over your heirloom tomatoes, it’s love at first sight. The 300th time, not so much.

The menus at so many restaurants are becoming mirror images of each other, as if the chefs have decided on the dishes by common consent. Indeed, the restaurants themselves are becoming a hall of mirrors.

What might sound like a new restaurant with a unique point of difference soon reveals itself to be either a thinly disguised steakhouse, or thinly disguised French bistro (and often, both). Check out the latest rash of restaurants in Sydney alone: Clam Bar, inspired by the great New York steakhouse, and the $3 million dollar Armorica in Surry Hills, whose five-metre long Josper charcoal grill ain’t there for the spring vegetable tart.

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Alex Murrell, strategy director at UK brand agency Epoch, recently drew attention to the fact that everything from interiors, architecture, cars, movie posters and brands is starting to look the same. He says we have entered “the age of average”. “Airbnbs all have white walls, mid-century furniture and exposed brick,” he says. “Coffee shops all have Edison bulbs and reclaimed wood. And restaurants all have chalkboards, metro tiles and monochromatic sans-serif typography. These are all part of the same somewhat tired trend of modern industrialism.”

The question is, why the ubiquity? The French bistro model is much-loved, and kingfish crudo is a great dish, but to this keen diner, there seems less forward momentum. Menus may run today’s date at the top, but otherwise seem set in stone. We’re stuck in a rut.