Mission: Partially Successful December 22, 2011 Film MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 4 Cert: 12A *** By Steve Dinneen International espionage isn’t a glamorous business. It largely consists of grubby encounters between council members expatriating mundane information about the state of local transport systems. The arrest in New York last year of Russian spy Anna Chapman – who went on to pose for Maxim [...]
The Artist is an unmitigated triumph December 22, 2011 Film THE ARTIST ***** CERT: PG BY STEVIE MARTIN It may be silent, it may be black and white and you may not have heard of the leads, but don’t leave this fantastically original offering from frenchman Michel Hazanavicius to the artsy types. Impressing at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, this is a [...]
WHAT’S ON THIS CHRISTMAS OUR GUIDE TO KEEPING BUSY UNTIL THE NEXT CITY A.M. December 22, 2011 Must-see shows • Slava’s Snowshow is the hottest ticket in town this Christmas. The Russian clowning show with a very big twist has been running for decades but it hasn’t been in London for 15 years. Children and adults alike will be moved and amused by the antics of the cheeky, silent actors with a [...]
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 [...]