I’ve been seeing blog posts and mentions of Warszawski Lukier cafe for quite some time now. Every time it was mentioned the most important piece of information concerned the ‘instagram-friendly’ interior or equally instagrammable freakshakes covered with obscene amount of sugary stuff. Finally the time came for us to check out what all the hype is about.
It was actually Doris’ idea. Her birthday was coming and she insisted that all she really wanted was a sweet, sweet Lord Snickers. What is Lord Snickers, you ask, and what’s its’ connection to Lord Vader? Well, Lord Snickers is the flagship freakshake served in Warszawski Lukier. As you can imagine, it’s based on the popular candy bar, which is one of my favourites. I was expecting great things. And the connection to ‘Star Wars’ character? There’s none, really. Maybe except the fact that both Lords are extremely over the top.
The rise of made-for-Instagram experiences
Social media are important part of our life, there’s no denying that. What we show online is becoming more valuable than what we’re actually experiencing. The autocreation phenomenon is at it’s highest. Well, where’s demand, there’s business. More and more restaurants, shops and cultural institutes are created in a way most suitable for social media sharing. Visual aesthethic is key. One of examples of this practice is an Ice Cream Museum that was so hyped for the last year or so. All the interiors are designed in such a way that you can take a perfect selfie in every corner of every room. Going to this made-for-Instagram institute gives you content to post for weeks and weeks. As you can imagine, tickets to the Ice Cream Museum are constantly sold-out. There are other examples, closer to where we are. One of those is a recent exhibition in Zachęta Art Gallery in Warsaw, constructed around a giant neon rainbow on a wall. Another can be found in Katowice, in Museum Śląskie. Installation by Dani Karavan called ‘Reflection’ is basically a room made out of mirrors. You can’t deny it looks good in pictures. And so there are thousands of selfies took in the museum that you can find on Instagram. The way we experiance ar definitely changed in our selfie-dominated culture. The goal of going to art gallery is becoming less about actually seeing, experiencing art ourselves, and more about sharing it online, thus showing ourselves as art connoisseurs.
The same thing is happening to what we eat. It’s not a revelation that we consume with eyes first. Lately it’s even more so. Taste becomes irrelevant. We don’t go to the restaurant to enjoy food, but to show it on Instagram. And to stand out in social media oversaturated with food from all over the world you have to make an impact. That’s where the exaggerated food trend comes from. That’s where the need for obscene freakshakes, unicorn cakes and galaxy everything comes from. Warszawski Lukier is a perfect example of the widespread trend of aestheticization of food. Everything there is just as it should be. Starting from the interior design flooded with millenial pink, colourful lights and geometric textures that are there to make a perfect backdrop for you food pics. The shakes themselves are decorated to the max. There’s actually more of the donuts, whipped cream, dripping chocolate and candy bars than of an actual drink. Everything is beautiful and the pictures are almost taking themselves.
What about the taste?
The main issue with Instagram and other social media platforms is that they satisfy the needs of our sense of sight, but do absolutely nothing for the taste buds. You can’t see taste so it’s not relevant in all the products and places created with a sheer purpose of being shared online. Unfortunatelly Warszawski Lukeir is no different in this department. Taste is missing. Sure, freakshakes are impressive, but only until the moment you actually taste them. Then they’re just meh. They’re not bad, there’s nothing wrong with them. They’re just meh.
To be honest, the above-mentioned Lord Snickers freakshake was actually ok in comparison to the other shake we ordered – the freakshake of the week made primarily out of Kinder Country bar. This one was an actual fail. There was no taste whatsoever. It actually resembled a cocoa you make out of a store-bought product, but you’re running out of it, so it’s watery and there’s hardly any chocolate in it.
There were three of uswho visited Warszawski Lukier. As we were afraid of going over the top with the sugar intake, we decided to order two freakshakes instead of two. It turned out to be a right decision. The drinks were so unsatisfactory that we didn’t even manage to finish them. And that’s coming from me! The queen of cake, who thinks about sweets 20 hours a day. Every day.
Not worth it
It was supposed to be an epic cheat day. We did indulge and eat tons of sweets, but it’s not really a cheat day when the crazy food makes you sad instead of overjoyed with how good sugar is. Next time we’ll plan our cheat days someplace else. Maybe somewhere where the food is ugly and is not Instagram-friendly. Maybe that will be a guarantee of taste. We’ll keep you posted.
One more thing. We visisted Warszawski Lukier craving the crazy freakshakes that we saw all over the interned but never tasted before. There were some other desserts and cakes available to order, but we did not try them. Maybe they’re actually good. I don’t know. And to be honest, I’m not really willing to go back there to try. In the end, I already have my Instagram pics, so there’s nothing more for me in this cafe.
