There are some restaurants or cafes that I walk in and wonder if they decorated the place keeping Instagram in mind? There are some restaurants in London with some in-your-face Instagram potential – do I need to say Sketch and of course, the afternoon tea at the Berkeley? But the ones in my list below are not the obviously popular ones but definitely Instagram worthy restaurants in their own right. But I also want to specifically say these might be pretty but some of them are also fantastic restaurants too – and some definitely not. Honestly, if the food isn’t great my interest in taking pictures is zero so if I am excitedly taking pictures its a good sign! I decided to do a round up post instead of putting these up on Instagram itself – that way I chat a little bit more!
1. The Ivy Cafe: I’ll be honest, I really did decide to go to the Ivy after seeing how pretty it is. I don’t have a taste for British food so if its not the food that attracted me first. But this place is fantastic. Sadly we had to sit indoors but I am definitely going back to sit outdoors with the plants one day this summer. We didn’t eat a heavy meal here – soup, salad, pancakes and coffee. Both DJ and I would rate it all at least 9 or 10. The service was fantastic too. But (and of course there is one) it is an slightly expensive place although no more or less expensive than a great restaurant in central London.
2. Workshop Coffee: Let me get the bad review out of the way. This place looks great – very Scandinavia cool and minimalistic. Its the coffee shop dream. But I did not like the coffee. At all. And also felt a little ripped off! I remember paying about £3.15 for a skinny cappuccino which was actually served in a flat white size cup. I know, I know, I sound like a total spoilt brat. But I had been really excited to try out this place and was so disappointed. The next time I was walking down the same road, I tried out another cafe nearby but I didn’t like that one either.
3. Wells Deli: I already posted a picture of this fantastic place on Instagram – that leather chair is so luxurious. This place was in Wells-Next-The-Sea, a tiny seaside town near Norwich. Surprisingly, we ate some really fresh, healthy Vietnamese pho in this place and some much needed good strong coffee.
4. The Other Naughty Piglet: We had a friend over from Delhi and he suggested this place. I was so intrigued and amused by the name I was ready to go! We had such a fantastic time! Again, judging a book by its cover I didn’t think the food would be amazing or fancy and it was both. It is again, expensive, but definitely food that is prepared with a lot of attention to detail and very creative, which I enjoyed. I did find some of the food very salty but that may be down to my personal taste since I have very little salt in my food. This winding marble staircase was so elegant which was a fun contrast to what you expect from a place named like this! This long winding leather sofa was pretty Instagram worthy too!
5. No. 33 Cafe Bar: We sadly didn’t have time to actually eat in this place but while we were waiting (we had to rush off because it was getting too late) the chalk board and hanging lamps caught my eye. And of course, the cake list.
6. The Kew Greenhouse Cafe: The place itself is lovely but food is average or below, service is bad. We ended up eating here because there weren’t a lot of other options. Another annoyance is that in this day and age they still don’t take any kind of cards and all payment has to be by cash – I am always suspicious of establishments like these. My suggestion is to go sit there and only have a coffee or just take pictures!
7. Cafe Phillies: This place which is about 5 minutes away from the new Design Museum is fantastic. Make sure you stop in for lunch here if you are going to the Design Museum – skip the Design Museum cafe – its overpriced with very little variety (I didn’t end up eating there even after standing in line to order).
8. No. 1 Cromer: Again, I didn’t end up eating in this place. We only picked up coffee to go since it was such a cold day and we had a good drive back to Norwich. I spotted this window on my way to the toilet – absolutely gorgeous even on that slightly dreary winter day.
9. The Greek Larder: There are so many great restaurants I have discovered around King’s Cross just waiting for a table at Dishoom and this one was the latest! Now I am not a Dishoom fan but end up tagging along with friends and ended up in this cafe. I love Greek food – I have a lot of Greek friends who have introduced me to Greek food thats a little more than feta cheese. I have been lucky to eat Greek food in a tiny village in Greece so I can’t say this was the best Greek food I have had but we did enjoy it. I would recommend trying out the Greek wine they have!
10. Black Sheep: I was quite excited when this place opened up next to my office. They serve robusta coffee which is about 20% of the coffee available. Its only arabica coffee thats served in most places and makes up 80% of the coffee. I wanted to taste the robusta coffee they have – can’t say it made any difference to me. Its a great space but I was not impressed with the coffee. And at the risk of sounding like a total brat they used whole milk instead of skimmed milk – whole milk makes me quite sick so I was quite annoyed.
I hope you have subscribed to our emails – you will find this right below this post. And happy Friday – this week was so bad I think I was wishing for Friday even before Monday was over. On the whole March has not been a great month.
– Anisha
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