EL&N, knightsbridge
EL&N, Knightsbridge (££)
Okay, let’s talk about the elephant in the room - the Instagrammable latte Section. Where else will you find a cafe that prides itself so much on its drinks that it outright lets you know which lattes are best for the ‘gram? I mean, that is why you go though, right? The self-titled ‘most Instagrammable cafe in the world’, EL&N promotes fun, chic drinks, and sweet treats to match. Now an international empire, EL&N has cafes all over the world, but we found it most fitting to visit in Knightsbridge, opposite perhaps most of the patrons’ spiritual home, Harrods.
Walking in, you are hit with a wall of pink, both figuratively and literally, from the pink seating and chrome tables to the flower wall and neon signs. You have two options here: takeaway or dine-in, and lucky for us, we found a table right away when choosing to dine-in (about ten minutes later, there was a dine-in queue going out the door). The menu is heavily skewed towards the sweet, and hence, while you can get lunch here, you’ll find many more options for French toast and patisseries than sandwiches and mains.
We started off with two of the specialty lattes: the rose Spanish latte and the pistachio Spanish latte (all iced). These looked, and I somewhat hate to admit it, fantastic. In a sort of DIY latte, you’re given three glasses: a glass with ice and syrup (for us, rose and pistachio), a vial of milk, and a small vial of coffee. The rose latte a wonderful pink, and the pistachio an enticing green, the bright colours of the drinks matched the upbeat energy of the cafe. Once you’ve admired the set-up in front of you, you then get to make your coffee to suit your taste, with more or less milk or coffee.
As mentioned, there isn’t a massive range of savoury items; your choices are really between a few egg dishes and some sandwiches. If you’re not coming for cake and a coffee (or a Spanish iced rose water latte; I don’t think they do ‘coffee’ per se), the idea is that you’d come for brunch, and to be fair, for a brunch, I would say that there’s enough choice. For our brunch, we ordered eggs Benedict and a chicken focaccia sandwich.
Given that the main draw for EL&N is its looks, we had high expectations for what were essentially two sandwiches. And to be fair, it delivered. Starting with the eggs benedict, you had two well-toasted muffins (on a bright pink plate, no less), a generous amount of turkey bacon, large, well-cooked eggs, and (most importantly) plenty of hollandaise sauce, garnished well. And it tasted great! The hollandaise was made well, was warm, and tasted well balanced; overall, the dish tasted well balanced.
Also ordered was the chicken focaccia, a toasted sandwich filled with chicken (of course), harissa, and a few (countable on one hand) bits of assorted greens. Also served with it was a simple salad topped with pomegranate seeds and a balsamic glaze. A simple toasted sandwich, but nicely elevated by the harissa and focaccia.
Walking past EL&N, if the bright pink wasn’t a big draw for you, then all the cakes and pastries in the window may help. And for us, it certainly did. To finish off, we ordered one portion of carrot cake and one tiramisu. Not the cheapest slices of cake you’ll get, but generous portions—easily enough to share a slice between two. The carrot cake was nicely layered, with a soft sponge dotted with texture from the carrots and a rich cream cheese frosting to loosen each bite. The tiramisu, albeit looking a little flat in comparison to the cake, was rich with a strong coffee flavour. Soft sponge and rich cream -it wasn’t necessarily a traditional tiramisu, but it was a tasty one. Dusted with plenty of cocoa powder, you weren’t without the flavour of chocolate with this one.
Whilst insanely busy, not a spare table in sight, and service could have been better in places, ultimately for EL&N, it’s the food and decor that you’re here for. And the food and decor? Pretty good. Would I be back, though? Well, unless I was taking someone there specifically for some Instagram snaps, I think I’d go elsewhere, but by no means was I upset about my meal here.