St James Quarter's EL&N cafe sounds perfect for Instagram. But is the food little more than a prop? – Susan Dalgety

Gone are the days when a new café or bar was judged on the quality of its food or beer. Today, the only thing that matters is whether or not a venue is Insta-friendly.

Madame Tussauds unveils their Ariana Grande figure at the 'instagrammable' EL&N cafe in London (Picture: Ian West/PA Wire)

It seems the world’s “most instagrammable café” has just opened in St James Quarter. EL&N is an explosion of sugary pink and neon, where young people go to take selfies sipping red velvet lattes (red velvet cake syrup, beetroot powder, melted chocolate and whipped cream – but no coffee). At nearly £7 a cup, I would have thought they could have tossed in a spoonful of Nescafe, but what do I know?

I drink my coffee black, short and strong. With absolutely no beetroot powder or cream in sight. And their drinks menu hasn’t a whiff of alcohol near it. There are mocktails made with butterfly pea flower tea – whatever that is – and strawberry and mango smoothies, but no wine and definitely no gin, not even of the Edinburgh variety.

I shouldn’t complain. Grumpy old women who spend too much time on Twitter arguing politics are not EL&N’s target market. They are after young people whose idea of the perfect lunch is a coffee-free cappuccino and a sugar-loaded Oreo cheesecake that looks awesome on their Insta feed… except they wouldn’t use a word as out-of-date as “awesome”.

The Edinburgh branch is the company’s 24th venue. The first opened in London in 2017 and it now has cafes in the Middle East, Paris and Milan. There are seven in Saudi Arabia alone, so they must be doing something right.

I may pop in one day, with my two grand-daughters in tow. They will adore the pink glitz and glam. I may even persuade them to try the Turkish eggs instead of the Nutella-covered French toast.

But the point of cafes like EL&N is not the food or drink. It is the brand that matters. It’s how it looks on social media that draws the crowd, not a Michelin Star or an all-you-can-eat buffet.

It’s probably only a matter of time before all cafes and bars are simply the background for selfies, and the food and drink they serve up nothing more than props for Instagram.