Aesthetic Instagram Locations: London
Like millions of other Instagram addicts around the world I am a complete sucker when it comes to good locations. The usual culprit is a pink background, probably with flowers somewhere in the vicinity, and those flowers are probably peony roses. Every time I see one of these locations on Instagram my first instinct is to screenshot it and save it to a folder on my phone called ‘Places to Go’. Admittedly I’ve screenshotted the majority of these places because the food looks spectacular, but some of them it’s purely for the aesthetics- and the aesthetically pleasing ones tend to be in London.
‘sketch’
‘sketch’ is somewhere I had seen time and time again on Instagram. I feel like everyone has seen the egg pod toilets, the disco floor style ceiling, and the pink velvet chairs at least once. Firstly- I’ve not made a grammatical error in using a lowercase letter at the beginning of the restaurant name, I think that’s something they’ve done intentionally to add to the ‘this place is too cool’ vibe of the place. It has annoyed me since the first time I saw the location tag. Name aside, the place is very cool. They charge your phone for you while you’re there in case the three thousand photos you’ve taken have run your battery dry, the staff are dressed differently according to the room that they’re in, and every room has a theme. It is an absolutely huge place- much bigger than I had anticipated (probably because of the ideal central Mayfair location). The restaurant is on Conduit Street, which isn’t a far walk from Oxford Street if you happen to be shopping there.
‘sketch’ looks exactly like the pictures, it’s a pink and velvety as it looks on Instagram. At the bar in the pink room (The Gallery) the bar tools are as copper as can be, and the straws match the chevron print on the floor. The toilet pods are as gleamingly white as you can imagine and the roof is as bold and bright as it looks in the photos- but this is where the illusion ended for me.
We asked to be seated for a drink and were then taken through to another very aesthetically pleasing room (The East Bar). The lighting was strange, the staff were too busy talking amongst themselves, and the drinks menu wasn’t great. We then moved back to the pink room and sat at the bar in there which was better, but it still didn’t feel like anything special. The drinks were good, but the staff are too cool to talk to you and they don’t really make much eye contact making it hard to get good service. The atmosphere is, for lack of a better phrase, non-existent: not what you’re looking for when you’re in central London which is packed 365 days a year, and you’ve just paid the equivalent of a night out in Institute for one drink. I can’t comment on the food as we didn’t stay for long and we weren’t inclined to go back afterwards, so maybe the blogger Afternoon Tea is what I’m missing. In short: good for the photos, but in London there’s too much to see, do, eat and drink to waste time somewhere that looks nice and that’s all.
‘Peggy Porschen’
Peggy Porschen is at the complete opposite end of the spectrum for me. It is well located in a relatively quiet part of Belgravia. There are little cafés around but not many shoppers which makes the outdoor seating an ideal place to enjoy your tea and cake. Peggy Porschen re-do their outdoor décor seasonally which makes for perfect photos. Everything is as pink as you’d hope and the staff are extremely helpful when it comes to taking photos. They are also helpful when it comes to recommending cake- exactly what you want from London’s cutest cake shop.
My favourite cake they do is the Eton Mess cupcake- they serve it with a little love heart syringe full of raspberry coulis which is the cutest little detail. My mum had an almond tart and said it was delicious as well. They have a huge range of cakes in the shop and lots of drinks options too (including different types of tea). I would recommend eating outside if you can- the outside seats are like a suntrap so if you get there early it’s the perfect start to your day.
I don’t know if any of you have been persuaded to go somewhere purely because of Instagram, but my list is ever-expanding. My next target is Élan (also in London), where there is a flower wall I am dying to see, but I’ve also seen great photos from Bonobo Café in Aberdeen which appears to have the best acai bowls in the North-East. Fingers crossed the next few places on my hit-list are as dreamy as Peggy Porschen.
(ALL PHOTOS CARLY’S OWN)