What does it take to be an Instagram-worthy restaurant?

Restaurants are pulling out all the stops to provide the insta-friendly experiences. Food theatre has become an inevitable experience to offer for restaurants to stay in the game. Pop up cakes, mega burgers and Bohemian chic now saturate your social media feed.

At the L’amour dessert studio in Rutland Gate, Chennai, The Bridgerton Story, a popular dessert is doing its rounds on social media. It is a chocolate and hazelnut pastry that is served with tricks straight out of the molecular gastronomy textbook. When the cloche filled with dry ice smoke is lifted, phones are pulled out before the spoons. Slow-motion videos, boomerangs and selfies fill the room. “But wait, let me first take a picture,” echoes.

Food theatre has become an inevitable experience to offer for restaurants to stay in the game. As plates of well-presented food are achievable even in home kitchens, social media and the accessibility to molecular gastronomy has pushed the boundary further. Just as milkshakes once became more flamboyant simple latte art on coffee has now been overshadowed by photographs printed on the foam.

Restaurants are pulling out all the stops to provide the picture friendly experiences. “They now ask us to provide lighting that does not cast a shadow on the plates when photos are clicked,” says Vikram Singh Minhas, whose interior design studio creates retail spaces.

Swetha Kishore of Lafayette in Nungambakkam, Chennai has been the recent beneficiary of this trend. Her cafe is known for butterfly cakes where mock butterflies fly out of the box when opened. “I got the message out through an influencer, and the reel they made got 20 million views. It brought me a huge influx of customers,” shares Swetha.

Restaurant chain Fruitbae has adopted a social-media friendly agenda in all aspects right from its name which is reminiscent of the social media sensation ‘saltbae’ to the logo with colours similar to that of Instagram’s for better recall. This brand harnessed the surge in interest in Tsunami cakes and burgers (where a plastic ring containing cream or sauce is lifted to allow it to drench the cake or burger) with its viral offering ‘Berry up’ yogurt cup. Here, berry puree, yogurt and muesli are layered in a cup which is then inverted on a plate when it is time to eat. There are over 10,000 reels and posts of social media influencers and other customers inverting this cup.

“From the very beginning, we have been focused on using Instagram for the growth of our business. We sell more than 150 Berry up plates daily in each branch,” says Abdul Manaf, founder and CEO of Fruitbae, which has nearly 40 branches across the country and one in Dubai.

While photos of the food and beverages take the first priority in bringing about the most instagrammable-dining experience, the ambience has a major role to play as well.