The Purge: Election Year review – this take-down of Donald Trump’s politics is a joyous satirical juggernaut August 25, 2016 The Purge franchise, now on its third iteration, takes a simple, silly premise – that for one night every year all crime is legal – and holds onto it like a rottweiler on a toddler’s arm. The first instalment, starring Ethan Hawke, was a straight-forward home invasion thriller, Panic Room by way of The Strangers, [...]
They Drink it in the Congo at the Almeida Theatre review: A witty, gritty exploration of post-colonial guilt and privilege August 25, 2016 From the fluorescent paint-splashed posters of They Drink it in the Congo, you’d be forgiven for thinking this new production was a warm up show for the Notting Hill Carnival. In fact, Adam Brace’s second play is a dark, unflinching look at a troubled country and the poster is just one of many misconceptions shattered [...]
It’s #NationalBurgerDay – Here are the eight best burgers in London, from dirty to honest and everything in between August 25, 2016 1. DIRTY COP OUT DIRTY BURGER, 13 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA, £6 While our fickle burger culture might have reached a “dirty” nadir to make room for the rise of more modern “cheeky” food, the Dirty Cop Out deserves to live on in the annals of burger history. A mushroom burger to tempt even [...]
If you enjoy eating lunch in very pointy buildings, floating high above ant-sized Londoners, well you really can’t go far wrong with Oblix August 23, 2016 A dazzle-swank brasserie and rotisserie on the 32nd floor of a very tall building, Oblix is a high-altitude restaurant serving grilled Western comforts, steaks and fine seafood with impressive panoramic views of London all around. Sit by a window and you’ll feel like an omniscient god in some top-down strategy video game. WHERE? Easily the [...]
Our resident chef Mark Hix champions the Kentish cob nut, a great seasonal ingredient and friend to Brussels sprouts August 23, 2016 The Kentish cob nut is one of those great seasonal ingredients, with an even greater history behind it. In the early 1800s, the Victorians loved this variation on the hazelnut and planted thousands of acres of cob nut trees. They were cultivated in large amounts by Mr Lambert of Gourdhurst in Kent and that’s how [...]
The superyacht haven of Porto Montenegro is a hidden paradise on the Adriatic August 19, 2016 Starboard is on the right when the boat is moving forward, and port is left. The thing in the middle pointing up is called a mast, and this horizontal bar is called the boom,” explains Ben, the man (or skipper, if we’re going to get technical) that we were to entrust our lives to for [...]
David Brent: Life on the Road review: Ricky Gervais plays his excruciating old hits one more time August 18, 2016 Ricky Gervais may have captured the zeitgeist with The Office, but he’s reminded us often enough in the 13 years since it finished that it’s a bar he’s not always capable of hitting. This movie spin-off shows he can still play those toe-curling greatest hits, even if his film isn’t exactly brimming with new ideas. [...]
The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips is an utterly refreshing family drama August 18, 2016 The extravagantly titled 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, is a conventional tale of wartime Britain, made extraordinary by an unusual approach. Stripped-back staging and exaggerated performances create a heightened reality, and pervasive humour means that when tragedy inevitably strikes, it’s blindsiding. Based on real-life events – and a novel by Michael Morpurgo – [...]
Groundhog Day at the Old Vic review: Tim Minchin’s follow-up to Matilda is a bawdy, hilarious modern-day Dickens tale August 18, 2016 At the opening of Groundhog Day I overheard David Walliams say to writer Tim Minchin: “This better be bloody good.” He was saying what everyone was thinking: there’s an absurd amount of expectation heaped on Minchin’s first musical since 2010’s Matilda, a level of hype perhaps not seen since The Book of Mormon. So it’s just as [...]
Property of the Week: Tour de France presenter’s studio flat in Soho is ingeniously designed August 18, 2016 Simple living in the messy heart of London – that’s what this extraordinarily modern studio flat offers in Soho for £699,000. Owned by ITV’s Tour de France presenter Gary Imlach, it’s a perfect pied-a-terre tucked away in a gated period building on Broadwick Street. To get to it, you need to climb a set of [...]
