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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 absolutely not.
News of the week
And so #EatOutToHelpOut is finally here. Rishi Sunak’s DJ-Khaled-baiting scheme may have been accompanied by a genuinely atrocious acrostic tweet, but there’s no denying the enthusiasm with which restaurants (and, one hopes, customers) have embraced the programme. Some genuine bargains are out there for the remainder of August, so it’s…
Ombra
Gana
Normah’s
Vasco and Piero’s
Otto’s
Lyle’s
Everest Curry King
Domino’s
Reality check of the week
Given the spirit of (admittedly guarded) optimism engendered by #EOTHO, it might be tempting to think the London restaurant scene has put the worst of 2020 behind it. Mandy Yin’s piece in the Guardian last week was a sobering reminder that so much still needs to be done to safeguard the thousands of businesses still at risk — and her accompanying Instagram post provided some useful tips on where to start.
Indulgence of the week
A perennial lockdown question is finally answered: what people missed most about restaurants was, apparently, pudding.
Related cruel joke of the week
Get Unilever and *checks notes* Roger Moore?! on the line.
Circle of life of the week
Duck, duck… Oof.
Pivot of the week
Coming soon to Somerset House: London’s most Accidentally Wes Anderson pop-up.
Future Insta-sensation of the week
The world may have to invent a whole new language to describe popularity on social media: To put it kindly, “going viral” has lost some of its desirability in the past few months. But exponential community transmission has always been the life-blood of platforms like Facebook and Instagram, however they may choose to describe the process; whatever changes the world outside them may have endured, glossy high-spec photos of glossy high-spec food remain a powerful currency. All of which is to say: post-lockdown London may have found its first foodie thirst trap, and it’s a very familiar sight.
Enduring Insta-sensation of the week
The Quo Vadis tomato: still got it.
Ratio of the week
The Saturday Night Live Blue Oyster Cult sketch, but with horseradish.
Rorschach test of the week
… Another roti?
Returning icon of the week
Terrible decisions, now coming right from the safety of home.
Dishes of the week
A winningly OTT trifecta, the logic behind each seemingly being: Hypebeast dishes, will they blend?
Shot of the week
That’s Friday lunch sorted, then.