Mix it up: That’s not a Papa Doble…. I’ll show you a Papa Doble August 20, 2013 DESPITE the growing popularity of cocktails, many Y-chromosome-carrying homo sapiens still consider mixed drinks too effeminate for public consumption. It wasn’t always thus. Just read the stories of Ernest Hemingway: “Papa”, in his life and in his deeply autobiographical writing, makes modern models of masculinity look like 17th century foppishness. But the good work of [...]
A Range Rover that is truly sporty August 19, 2013 It’s the fastest, most agile SUV the manufacturer has ever built. We put it through its paces… in a jumbo jet They’re known for coming up with imaginative off-road courses, but the Land Rover Experience guys have outdone themselves this time. It’s fantastically silly. I’m driving the new Range Rover Sport SDV6 model up an [...]
Not convinced? August 19, 2013 HERE ARE THE ALTERNATIVES BMW X5 £60,830 The X5 xDrive M50d SUV model is BMW’s rival to the Range Rover Sport. Powered by a V6 diesel engine, it has an impressive power output of 381bhp but it’s a good deal faster with a spritely 0 to 62mph acceleration time of just 5.4 seconds. Its fuel [...]
Alternative Orlando is blooming August 18, 2013 There is more to the Sunshine State’s theme-park capital than Disney Land I WAS in Orlando for the Florida Film Festival. A film I had produced called The North London Book of the Dead was in the British Shorts Now! programme. Great, right? Except… Orlando? Seriously? It’s hardly renowned for its thriving arts scene. But [...]
An era-spanning masterpiece August 15, 2013 THEATRE THE PRIDE Trafalgar Studios | By Xenobe Purvis Four Stars ALEXI Kaye Campbell’s award-winning The Pride gets a powerful revival as part of Jamie Lloyd’s Trafalgar Transformed season at Trafalgar Studios. The play’s protagonists Oliver, Philip and Sylvia exist in two time periods, the 1950s and now, and respond to the social pressures encountered [...]
Where to Drink: King’s Cross: London’s new cocktail capital August 15, 2013 WHETHER it’s down to the two hour shuttle to Paris or the imminent Google HQ arrival, the costly regeneration of King’s Cross means it is quickly becoming a terminus for more than just passengers, especially with its glut of new cocktail joints. Following on from Booking Station, Gilbert Scott Bar, VOC and Shrimpy’s, it boasts [...]
Review: Joe’s Southern Kitchen & Bar August 13, 2013 RESTAURANT 34 King Street, Covent Garden Tel: 020 7240 4008 FOOD Three Stars VALUE Three Stars ATMOSPHERE Three Stars Cost for two without drinks: £45 Restaurant critics are like Eskimos: we lead isolated lives and are prone to eating seal blubber. No, that’s not it. We’re like Eskimos because we both have 20 words for [...]
Mix it up: Wake up and smell the Kahlua: a remedy to the daily grind August 13, 2013 IN 17th century Britain, coffee houses sprung up across London. Idle gossip, radical ideas and business matters were traded freely between men of diverse wealth and class. Unsurprisingly, those with the most to lose were not keen on this outpouring of freedom. Charles II’s edict tried to rid the country of the “very evil and [...]
Fast, sexy, cool: the Seat Leon SC August 12, 2013 Seat may not be the hippest car brand in the world, but the Leon SC provides a welcome injection of street cred BACK in 1990, When VW Group bought Spanish automaker Seat, it wanted to position it in its stable the same way Alfa Romeo sits within the Fiat Group. It has, however, struggled to [...]
Not convinced? August 12, 2013 HERE ARE SOME ALTERNATIVES Kia Proceed, £20,595 The 1.6-litre diesel Kia Proceed costs less than the Leon SC but it can’t match it for power and performance. It takes 10.5 seconds to reach 62mph and its top speed is a comparatively pedestrian 122mph. Its economy and CO2 emissions also compare unfavourably (65.7mpg (combined) and 112g/km). [...]
