Restaurants in London are buckling under the weight of their own success, thanks to influencers
Last month I spent a weekend in London, and it remains one of my favorite cities, but holy hell, was it busy. Because London is popular, very popular. And then there are a few places in particular. But that exact success now seems to be becoming a problem.
Back to my weekend in London. Want to eat somewhere? This is roughly how it works. At popular restaurants, you have to book at least a month in advance — exactly when reservations open. Most restaurants open their reservations a month in advance each time, so you have to be quick. So I checked a popular restaurant — how naive — only at the end of the afternoon… and there was just one spot left, at a quarter to ten in the evening….
Restaurants can’t handle it
It’s simply too much. We have previously written about London’s most beautiful hotspots. Places like Jolene, Sketch and Circolo Popolare have become such a hype that the people who do go there are often sitting on their phones. Take a quick photo here, make a quick TikTok there, oh — and could you take a photo of me with it too? Influencers are taking over the whole place; at the trendy restaurants, it’s one big photo shoot.
And the well-known site TimeOut has had quite enough of it, which is why it wrote a lament that I personally can relate to. Even a place like Jolene, whose interior and styling are not exactly Instagrammable, is bursting with popularity, resulting in queues outside.
TikTok madness
Does that sound familiar? Absolutely, we’re dealing with this in Amsterdam too. The TikTok madness is especially noticeable in the Nine Streets. Bizarre queues for sandwiches from Chun, where people stand in line for hours (and that’s no exaggeration), the fries from Fabelfriet a street away, and the cookies from Van Stapele. All these places suddenly exploded in popularity because they became a trend on TikTok.
I do wonder, though: trends blow over again. What will these Amsterdam establishments, and the ones in London, be like in a year or two? Will all those trend hoppers have moved on to the next hyped restaurant, or will any loyal customers remain? People who genuinely enjoy themselves without taking 78 photos during their lunch or dinner? Let’s hope so.
Taking a good look at myself
Yeah, yeah, I can already see you pointing a finger in my direction: ‘hello, YOU do this too!’ Um, yes, that’s true. Although I have to say that I’m very aware of how you’re supposed to behave in a restaurant, and I won’t quickly want to be the center of attention in the picture. Besides, I love food too much to let it go cold for the perfect photo. But honestly, I do take part in the hype too.
As Taylor Swift sang so poetically: ‘it’s me, hi — I’m the problem, it’s me.’
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