Easter Is Just Another Hot Cross Bun Fight in the London Restaurant Industry

Welcome back to Insta Stories, a column examining the London restaurant scene through the often-problematic medium of Instagram. This week’s filter is at least this funny, if not more.

News of the week

One of the more curious things to have happened on the platform in recent years is the emergence of dedicated Insta-friendly products tied into specific calendar events. There was the Christmas mince pie croissant; the Lunar New Year pig bao; the spooky Halloween skull bun. This time round, it’s the turn of all things Easter. Does this sort of seasonal cue act as a useful creative spur, keeping the capital’s restaurateurs and bakeries on their toes, or is it just content for content’s sake, an endless cycle of self-perpetuating hype? Boy, does Eater have a talk worth attending.

Returning trend of the week

Putting an egg on stuff was peak mid-twenty-teens Instagram — a simple, delicious way to make even the most desultory Insta-meal a little bit sunnier. Now, it seems to be making a comeback, proving the edible accessory du jour across a range of accounts. A small plea: get rid of the hashtag #yolkporn this time around.

Retreat of the week

Two of the nation’s pre-eminent restaurant critics on a trip together to one of France’s most storied three Michelin-starred restaurants? The Netflix adaptation basically writes itself; casting one half of the duo may prove trickier.

Celebrity-endorsed turbot of the week

Expect to see more of Make-It-Nice-guy Daniel Humm in London as he prepares to launch Davies and Brook later this year at Claridge’s with partner Will Guidara. For the time being, he’s picked a pretty good place to start.

Celebrity-endorsed bean to cup coffee robot of the week

Wait, isn’t this how the Terminator franchise started?

Topping of the week

In last week’s Insta Stories, duck liver pâté was suggested as a potentially exceptional topping for a deeply of-the-moment hot cross bun. Also for consideration:

Late(r)gram of the week

Don’t call it a comeback.

Week of the week

Presenting a new category, celebrating the account that has spent the previous seven days going absolute beast mode. Fittingly, the inaugural award goes to an institution that has found ways to remain relevant and vital even after decades in the game.

Dish of the week

Followers of Clare Smyth’s account may have noticed a slightly unusual series of posts this week, in which the chef described the lifecycle of her two-Michelin-starred restaurant’s spin on rhubarb and custard, broken up into a series of daily posts. Whilst perhaps lacking the sort of narrative suspense that reportedly had breathless readers storming the docks in New York City for the final instalment of Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop, it’s still a neat way of presenting the sort of process that go into making just a single course in a top-level kitchen. Now in its ninth year as an image-sharing platform, Instagram continues to evolve in weird and unexpected ways. This feels like one of the more benign and better ones.

Shot of the week

Don’t overthink it.