The best places in London to gorge on grouse August 12, 2014 Boisdale Boisdale (Canary Wharf, Bishopsgate and Belgravia) will be serving a young roasted Berwickshire grouse from tonight. From 18 August you can get the bird with game chips, and a 175ml glass of Pinot Noir for £26.50. Visit boisdale.co.uk and quote “Grouse Offer”. The Jugged Hare Traditional City eatery The Jugged Hare is kicking [...]
Get your game on for the Glorious Twelfth August 12, 2014 The Glorious Twelfth has come around again and it looks to be a bountiful season following a warm winter and a dry spring. Since 1831, 12 August has been the official start of the red grouse shooting season, the date when marksmen from up and down the country reach for their guns, don their wellies [...]
Spitbank Fort: Welcome to the UK’s craziest hotel August 8, 2014 Spitbank Fort is a granite maritime castle marooned in the home waters of The Solent, one mile out of Portsmouth harbour but a comfortable breast stroke swim from the Isle of Wight. It was built by Prime Minister Palmerston in 1878 to discourage Napoleon III in his ambitions of sailing the French fleet up the [...]
The Weekend Starts Here: Richard Bernstein, Orbit Lates and more August 8, 2014 Art: Richard Bernstein at The Mayor Gallery Pop art creator Andy Warhol famously predicted that everyone would experience 15 minutes of fame. But Richard Bernstein, an artist and illustrator who partied with the Studio 54 set, immortalised the rising stars of the 70s and 80s forever on the cover of Warhol’s Interview magazine. The [...]
Film Review: God’s Pocket August 8, 2014 ★★★★☆ God’s Pocket is what Goodfellas might have been like had it been directed by Alexander Payne. It follows the lives of a group of ageing petty criminals as they attempt to blot out the overwhelming futility of life in a down-and-out American town through the liberal use of alcohol and violence. At the funeral [...]
Film Review: Lilting August 8, 2014 ★★★★☆ Mass migration is one of the epic stories of our time, but Lilting finds a smaller tale hidden among the great shifting of cultures. It’s primarily about integration; two parents move from China to the UK with their young son so he can “have a better life”. Thirty years on, the boy, Kai, has [...]
Theatre Review: My Night with Reg, Donmar Warehouse August 8, 2014 ★★★★☆ Kevin Elyot’s 1994 play charts the romantic entanglements of a group of gay university friends, now well into their 30s, set against the backdrop of the Aids crisis. It explores issues of love, loss, infidelity and insecurity, and how they are all tainted by the shadow of the disease. The Donmar’s new production is [...]
Film Review: Welcome to New York August 8, 2014 ★★★★☆ Welcome to New York is a grotesque character study of the French head of a world bank – not to mention Presidential hopeful – who stands accused of raping a maid in a New York hotel. Director Abel Ferrara’s film is certainly bold. In fact, you wonder how he got away with it: the [...]
Dish of the Day: Salt Yard’s Ben Tish on the perfect strawberries and cream August 6, 2014 There’s nothing like the sight and scent of perfectly ripe, red strawberries to get summer spirits soaring. My take on the quintessentially English classic of strawberries and cream is quick and easy to prepare, making it a great choice of pudding for a spontaneous barbecue or al fresco lunch. Macerated simply means you’re throwing it [...]
Mix it up: Take a victory sip of the cocktail created by the UK’s best bartender August 6, 2014 For centuries, we got along just fine making cocktails without the need to turn it into a competition – the winning was in the drinking. But in recent years, drinks companies have been putting on more cocktail competitions than you can shake a shaker at. Don’t let the thought of competitive drinking lure you in [...]
