Food | Elan Cafe London review, chocolate fudge brownies and unicorns

I'll be honest with you, I was a bit reluctant to enter Instagram's Latest Hotspot. My bestie, Gabi, pulled me inside yelling...

"YOU HAVE TO TAKE MY PHOTO BY THIS UNICORN!"

It turned out it wasn't actually a unicorn but a pink carousel horse. Anyway, I figured it would be rude to just climb on their decor without eating anything (that and I was starving). It's not that it didn't look like a really cool place - trust me it does - you'll just more likely find me stuffing my face with waffles in some deserted diner in the middle of nowhere rather than fighting with hoards of sophisticated looking people to get the perfect photo. I know, you probably wouldn't tell that from looking at me... or maybe you would from the way my hair looks like a bush in these photos.

So, back to the cafe. I've visited two of these: the one by Harrods and the South Kensington branch. Both were very different experiences. South Kensington was not so great.

The place was crammed, the decor was pretty plain and the whole thing was a blur of me being rushed around and my friend screaming, 'take a photo with me next to this'. Safe to say it wasn't the relaxing cafe experience I desired.

On the other hand, the one next to Harrods was pretty cool. The decor was amazing with the flower coloured walls, neon lights and life-sized pink carrousel. We got lucky and it was also pretty quiet, the tables were pretty much empty and we could just chill. I actually had a lot of fun, eating, chatting and taking photos.

The Food

The South Kensington branch focused more on snacks and the one by Harrods seemed to focus on desserts. It's a little on the pricer side of things. The chocolate fudge brownie I had was pretty good, it was really gooey and that's how I like my brownies. The strawberry sponge cake I had was also good. It was large and I had to ask for a box to take half of it away to eat later.

All in all I'd say that food wise I was pretty much content. I wasn't blown away from an amazing taste sensation but I also wasn't displeased with the experience. There's been a few 'Instagram Cafes' pop up over the years and I've found that sometimes the standard of food doesn't match the levels of decor but I was pleasantly surprised by this chain.

Would I recommend it? I think that all depends on what you're looking for. If you want a fun novelty and plan to take lots of photos, then I defiantly would (although some of them are more decorated than others so do your research first). It's definitely one of the better Instagram cafes I've visited.

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