Indulge in style with our guide to festive booze December 22, 2011 If you’re inclined to splash the cash when you imbibe or if only the finest and rarest liquids pass your lips, you’ll be pleased to know one of the oldest and most expensive spirits in the world has landed in London. The 153-year-old Cognac Croizet Cuvee Leonie 1858 will set you back a princely £2,500 [...]
Carve yourself a very merry Xmas December 21, 2011 IN the Lord Byron room of Brown’s Hotel on Albemarle Street, a slow-grown just-roasted chicken rests on a bespoke stand and our mission is to carve it – properly. Mark Hix, ex-chef-director of Caprice Holdings, is hosting a masterclass to revive “the lost art of carving”, and he is teaching over a long roast lunch [...]
The Range Rover Sport is refined power December 20, 2011 How can a car be comfortable when you’re off-roading?” asks my incredulous co-driver of the latest 2012 Range Rover Sport, as we ascend a rocky river bed, somewhere on the Roxburghe Estate in the Scottish borders. It’s a good question. We’ve just descended a drop to access the river we’re in, that saw the 2.5-tonne [...]
CAR TALK December 20, 2011 MERCEDES-BENZ SHOWS OFF ITS LATEST ALUMINIUM SL Mercedes-Benz has revealed the new SL ahead of its introduction at the Detroit motor show in January. The new SL is built almost entirely from aluminium, has a rigid all-aluminium body shell to improve agility, and weighs 140kg less than its predecessor. New, more powerful BlueDIRECT engines are [...]
Hitting the right note at 34 December 19, 2011 Restaurant 34 34 Grosvenor Square, W1K 2HD Tel: 020 3350 3434 FOOD *** SERVICE ***** ATMOSPHERE ***** Cost per person without wine: £50 YOU missed Bill,” my companion informed me as I sat down to dinner at 34, the new restaurant from Richard Caring’s Caprice Holdings Group. “Bill Clinton,” he clarified. Like fellow Caprice outposts [...]
For turkey, try out a Nebbiolo December 19, 2011 IF you are roasting a Turkey this Christmas, I direct you to my earlier article on Thanksgiving (still available on the City A.M. website) – for more exotic meats read on. Duck, Goose and Pork are, let’s not mince words, fatty. What they need is a wine with a whack of acidity to cut through [...]
FOOD & BOOZE NEWS December 19, 2011 MONTHLY ART AT SUDA THAI Covent Garden’s Suda Thai restaurant (pictured left) is hosting monthly art installations to showcase work from up-and-coming artists. Kicking off is industrial designer Kijtanes Kajornrattanadech, whose Trace of Shadow collection is on display now. Following on in January will be a selection of works from award-winning photographer and columnist Oat [...]
HOUSE PRICES SOAR ACROSS LONDON December 18, 2011 LONDON’S house prices rose 6.4 per cent in the last 12 months – an average of £500 a week – and have further to rise next year, according to Rightmove. Nationally, prices rose 1.5 per cent, and are expected to go up by two per cent in 2012.
Bach, Goethe…and you: a weekend in Leipzig December 18, 2011 YES, Germany is well-known for its conference facilities and, yes, for weekenders, we British love the down and dirty vibe of the new Berlin and the madness of Munich’s Oktoberfest, but much of the country has lain forgotten by visitors in recent years, yet it’s only a 90-minute flight away. In the east, the fall [...]
KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA December 15, 2011 OAKLEY STREET, CHELSEA Price: £4.2m A five bedroom, three bathroom townhouse in Chelsea. This period property features a double reception room, open plan kitchen/dining area with wine cellar, sitting room, master bedroom with en-suite, four additional bedrooms, a study, family shower room and patio garden to the rear. Contact Wilfords London on 0207 361 0400 [...]