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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 a bit of a spill.
News of the week
Suppliers are the unspoken heroes of the London restaurant scene — good cooking starts far earlier than a chef firing up a burner or sharpening a knife. Suppliers are also among the most influential figures in the London restaurant scene, setting the agenda for what food appears on which menus and, consequently, on Instagram. All of which is to say, if suppliers declare it Green Citrus Season, it’s Green Citrus Season motherf------.
Collab of the week
When plans were announced for a [checks notes] cheese conveyor belt within Covent Garden’s new Seven Dials Market, it was easy to write the idea off as another Hip Chips or Cereal Killer — a flash-in-the-pan shot at short-lived social media virality. And yet … Announcing a series of belt takeovers featuring some of the most renowned cheesemongers and affineurs in the country suggests that Pick & Cheese may actually be more legit than many might have thought. Unbrielievable.
Decisions, decisions of the week
It’s both, duh.
Rival rockpools of the week
Yup, still a thing.
Baller ingredient of the week
It started, perhaps, with the minimalist Sicilians at Quality Wines. It gained mainstream traction at Flor, where a two-step serving codified the joys of head-sucking. Now, can a statement 2019 London restaurant call itself a statement 2019 London restaurant if there’s no fancy prawn dish on the menu?
Influencer of the week
The past month or so has seen chefs take to Instagram singing the praises of Josh Niland’s The Whole Fish Cookbook — a tome that does for piscine friends what the St. John cookbook did for our animal ones. Tom Brown at Cornerstone is one obvious acolyte — but expect to see more Niland-influenced dishes and techniques filtering through into the mainstream over the coming weeks and months. Nose-to-tail? Over it. Root-to-shoot? So 2018. 2020 is all about fin to gill, baby.
Lewk of the week
Iconic.
Constructive criticism of the week
Just riffing on this — perhaps the only way to improve on Sons and Daughters’ monstrous miso egg mayo is indeed to add a little bit more flexibility to the crisp choice. But why stop with the Torres range? A black pepper Kettle chip might go down very nicely — ditto a humble Quaver. Or why not open it out even wider, and provide a BYOC service, allowing practically infinite customisation? Give the people what they want!
Absolute unit of the week
Wait… Viennetta is technically a liquid?
Winter warmers of the week
Even dedicated mope-merchants Travis couldn’t fail to be cheered up by these.
Dish of the week
AKA un trompe-l’oyster
Shot of the week
A big winter mood.