City favourite banking on a revamp March 22, 2010 IT’S hardly as if the City’s been short of “sign of the times” changes, but another came late last year when Prism, the Harvey Nichols outpost that was one of the Square Mile’s grandest and most lauded fine-dining restaurants, was reborn as a brasserie and bar. That meant a back-to-basics menu emphasising cosy ingredients including [...]
THREE OTHER RESTAURANTS IN FORMER BANKS March 22, 2010 1 LOMBARD STREET You could argue that 1 Lombard, with its palladian entrance opposite the Bank of England, has the most desirable restaurant location in the City, and it also has some of the best food. Under a fabulous neoclassical dome you can enjoy some serious haute cuisine from chef patron Herbert Berger. 1 Lombard [...]
FOOD & BOOZE NEWS March 22, 2010 THAI NEW YEAR AT MANGO TREE Belgravia’s smart Thai eatery, Mango Tree on Grosvenor Square, is holding a Thai New Year Party on 14 April. The celebration of the Songkran festival will feature a show of traditional dances, while diners can enjoy a special tasting plate of delicacies from across Thailand – including hormok (fish [...]
The chicest way to buy and sell March 21, 2010 TARA Nash-King does something most women would find difficult at best, and impossible at worst. She lives in a showroom, and the cascades of bags, shoes and clothes that greet you on entering her mews house in Westbourne Park are not her own. They are the perfectly placed, impeccably hung and ubiquitously photographed desiger items she [...]
HOW TO LOOK HIP IN MATERNITY WEAR March 21, 2010 APREGNANT belly can be the sexiest thing on earth. But figuring out how to clothe yourself when your body is changing rapidly, expanding in unexpected places and presenting you with a big growing bump, can be a source of panic. But with great maternity wear across the high street and and at boutiques and top [...]
Foodie Puglia finding a place in adventurous tourists’ hearts March 21, 2010 FOR centuries, sophisticated Italians from the north have regarded their southern compatriots with a mix of disdain and snobbery, even going as far as to brand them “terrone” in an allusion to the region’s historical dependence on agriculture and the peasants that used to work the land. Although modern-day Puglia – which occupies the heel [...]
WHERE TO STAY: MASSERIE TORRE COCCARO AND TORRE MAIZZA March 21, 2010 ON arrival in Brindisi, we were greeted by a smiling Italian named Carmello, who took our bags and drove us the 40 minutes or so to the Masseria Torre Coccaro, where we were to spend the first two nights of our stay in Puglia. Coccaro is, like many other boutique hotels in the area, a [...]
TRAVEL NOTES March 21, 2010 Bikini Bootcamp Looking to improve your fitness and have a blast doing so? Bikini Bootcamp has returned to The Grove in Hertfordshire with its programme full of various exercises designed to test and improve strength, stamina and overall health. Training will include tennis, boxing, dancersize, power yoga and much more. The Right Body Image team [...]
Live above the rooftops in City’s sleekest building March 18, 2010 THE Heron, the City’s first residential development in 30 years, will be second to none, from Hong Kong to LA, in terms of style, views and overall quality of design and finish. This assertion is made in a matter of fact way by Lisa Ronson, head of marketing at The Heron’s mothership, Heron International, and [...]
FOCUS ON: BELSIZE PARK, NW3 March 18, 2010 BARRIE HOUSE, ST EDMUNDS TERRACE, NW8 Price: £799,000 This two-bedroom flat in Chalk Farm – 20 minutes from Bank – is on the sixth floor of a modern block and so has great views over nearby Primrose Hill. Inside, the flat has recently been refurbished and the open-plan kitchen/reception room has views on both sides. [...]