Roux’s knives are out for the Instagrammers
ONE of the country’s threestar Michelin restaurants has erected a sign telling diners not to photograph their food.
Nowadays, the first instinct of many restaurantgoers when their meal arrives is not to tuck in, but to photograph and upload it to Instagram.
At the Waterside Inn in Bray, Berks, where a sixcourse tasting menu costs £167.50 without drinks, the practice has been banned.
Michel Roux, who founded the restaurant with his brother, Albert, said: “I’m really getting so upset about people taking pictures, we put up a card at the door – ‘No photos, please’.”
He added: “What are they doing? Maybe once during the meal you want to take a little photo of something because it’s unusual. But what about the flavours? A picture on a phone cannot possibly capture the flavours.”
The restaurant is now run by Roux’s son, Alain. Albert’s son, Michel Roux Jr, is chefpatron at the family’s other temple to fine dining, Le Gavroche, and is more relaxed about customers photographing the food.
Last year he said: “If someone’s phone goes off, we look at them as if to say, ‘Switch that off or it goes in the ice bucket’.” But he added: “I don’t mind people taking pictures. I’ve been known to do it myself.”
The Waterside Inn has had three Michelin stars since 1985.
A food trends report issued by Waitrose recently found that a third of those aged 18 to 34 regularly posted pictures of their meals on social media.
The backlash against pictures began in France, where chefs campaigned against the practice. Alexandre Gauthier, chef at the Grenouillere, near Le Touquet, said diners spent so long trying to get the perfect photo, the food went cold. “Before, they took photos of their family – now it’s photos of the dishes,” he said.