London Is in Love With Green Carbs

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 large coffee with cream.

News of the week

As devotees of the TV show 30 Rock know all too well, the term EGOT refers to an entertainer so multitalented and dominant in multiple fields that they have won the four most prestigious American entertainment awards — an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. Repurposing the phrase for the Instagram generation, it might describe a new opening so momentous that all of the capital’s major influencers have paid it a visit. With its undoubted pedigree and oh-so-pretty seasonal Italianate food (wild strawberries with fennel ice cream looks like an early hero dish), could newly opened Emilia be a contender for this level of social media dominance?

Creepy pasta of the week

Just seven days have passed since an offhand prediction that green pasta was going to be the trend of the season and suddenly … Green pasta is kind of everywhere. Is this just a case of confirmation bias? Or does this column suddenly have the power to conjure the zeitgeist out of thin air? With great Instagram power comes a terrifyingly small amount of responsibility.

Creepy rice of the week

Oh no — it’s coming in waves.

Mounting conflict of the week

Another idle bit of speculation looks to be coming rapidly to fruition, as a so-called sandwich arms race shows no sign of abating and looks dangerously close to breaking out into all-out sandwich war. In a happy inversion of the Alien vs Predator tagline: whoever loses, London wins.

Niche pudding of the week

Among English desserts, joining syllabub, posset, whim-wham and flummery on the “words Americans assume are definitely made up” tier.

Deja vu of the week

The Instagram aesthetic is over, proclaimed the Atlantic recently — and whilst it’s certainly true that people seem to be abandoning glossy, perfect shots for something a bit more in-inverted-commas “authentic”, what the piece slightly overlooked is how really all Instagram’s aesthetic ever does is mutate — bending, breaking and reshaping itself in line with evolving tastes and fluctuating levels of engagement. Take breakfast: once, we posted pictures of our avocado toasts as an antidote to grease-laden #yolkporn; then we moved on to colourful acai bowls as clean eating took firmer hold. Once that all got too basic, it was onto the joys of alt-brunch: dishes that showcased our embrace of a whole range of cuisines and ingredients. Now, what will surely be one of the most oversubscribed brunch offerings in the city launches itself onto social media with a comfortingly beige image of … Bacon, eggs and hash browns. The Instagram aesthetic is dead; long live the Instagram aesthetic.

Dish of the week

Could probably do with some potatoes.

Shot of the week

Creely nice.