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Welcome back to Insta Stories, a column examining the London restaurant scene through the often-problematic medium of Instagram. This week’s filter is exactly this feeling.
News of the week
The 25 January is a date with a special place in the culinary calendar. On Scottish poet Robert Burns’ birthday, the U.K. – and the broader Scottish diaspora — celebrate with a storied, multi-course dinner typically involving regional delicacies like haggis, neeps, tatties, cranachan, and Irn Bru. Fittingly for one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities, London celebrated in a whole host of different ways: some traditional, some modern, some creative, some deeply weird. Sláinte!
Feed-clogging event of the week
See above. But also see the annual Quo Vadis x Black Axe Mangal Burns Night lash-up, which this year featured all the usual debauchery, and a very outré riff on a much-loved biscuit. Nice.
Incoming ingredient of the week
Quick: what’s the most Instagram-friendly fruit out there? Quince might have a strong case, but the sheer range of presentational permutations for the gorgeous, millennial pink stalks of early-season rhubarb are pretty hard to beat. Add in a season covetable for its brevity and a suitably neutral earth-tone backdrop — or just a fake one — and that’s a guaranteed like-magnet, right there. Incidental bonus: it’s also delicious.
Incoming year that is also an incoming ingredient of the week
5 February marks Chinese New Year, and this time round, it’s the year of the pig. Expect a whole host of seasonal, celebratory, and decidedly porcine dishes to be cropping up in feeds any time soon — and be thankful it’s still another five years before restaurateurs have to start sourcing dragon.
Corn-stitutional crisis of the week
[Insert Venezuelan flag emoji]
Levitating carbohydrate of the week
The #noodlethotshot phenomenon just got even weirder.
Domestic breakfast of the week
Coco Pops are also good.
Dish of the week
Put on five extra layers and it could almost be high summer.
Shot of the week
Look outside and it definitely isn’t high summer.