One drunken night that I’m regretting now April 26, 2010 DEAR VEXED: I was at a conference last week and some of our clients stayed at the hotel. Well, after a bit too much to drink, I ended up in bed with one of them. We both agreed to never mention it again, but a colleague saw me doing the walk of shame. Nobody has [...]
FOOD & BOOZE NEWS April 26, 2010 SUNDAY LUNCH AT BOCCA DI LUPO Forget pub lunch on a Sunday. Head to Soho for Bocca di Lupo’s new “pasta al forno” menu, featuring authentic baked pasta dishes. Think lasagne bolognese, melanzane Parmigiana, pasta con lumache (pasta baked with snails and pecorino), scamorza and pesto lasagne and bavette with spider crab (baked together in [...]
THREE OTHER LONDON BRIDGE RESTAURANTS April 26, 2010 MAGDALENE This smart, popular restaurant is a lesson in gutsy modern European food. Have quince fizz and grilled chestnuts with butter to start with, then fried crispy pig’s head and gribiche, grilled calves’ kidneys, or smoked haddock choucroute: just the type of inventive dishes that have made this bistro one of London’s best. 152 Tooley [...]
Rejuvenation and wine in Lombardy April 25, 2010 PLINY the Younger wrote his Tragedia and Comedia in a villa on Lake Como and the lake has continued to attract the best and the richest of society, from Madonna and George Clooney to Gianni Versace, Ronaldinho and Sylvester Stallone. Indeed, the lakes of the northern Italian region of Lombardy – the most famous being [...]
TRAVEL NOTES April 25, 2010 Gecko Beach Club reopens After a six-month renovation, this boutique hotel on the island of Formentera (the sophisticated person’s Mallorca), has reopened. It’s the epitome of understated luxury, with clean lines and expanses of pale wood. Its proximity to the turquoise waters of Migjorn Beach in the Hamptons-esque area of Ca-Mari, its sexy bar terraces [...]
Carell and Fey hit the funny bone April 22, 2010 Film DATE NIGHT Cert: 15 Tina Fey and Steve Carell are such comic dynamite that their pairing up for Date Night promised explosions of mirth, especially when directed by Shawn Levy, of Night At the Museum fame. Saturday Night Live afficianados (where Fey and Carell made their names) – and those who regard Carell’s work [...]
ALSO OUT THIS WEEKEND April 22, 2010 FILM IT’S A WONDERFUL AFTERLIFE Gurinder Chadha’s latest comedy. CENTURION Amusingly awful Romans vs Picts action flick. AGORA More from ancient Rome, this time with Rachel Weisz. DVD THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS Zany satire with George Clooney. THE THICK OF IS SERIES 3 The latest season of the great political comedy. THE BOX [...]
WHY YELLOW AIN’T GREAT FOR WHITE April 22, 2010 Sara Hollamby Style Counsel BLAME his party’s colour, but Nick Clegg has demonstrated a fondness for yellow ties in recent months, the result being that he tends to look rather washed out. Yellow is an extremely difficult colour for anyone to wear who is starved of sun and over the age of 30. Yellow looks [...]
Know your Derbys from your Oxfords April 22, 2010 WHILE it’s tempting for a chap to slink to work each day in the same tatty lace-ups he’s owned for years, a pair of fine, handmade English shoes is a worthwhile investment for any City gent worth his salt. In fact he should have several, ensuring that each lasts longer and that he can vary [...]
Pick up a slice of European history April 22, 2010 ANYONE buying a Continental holiday home has a choice to make – do you like cutting-edge design and built-to-spec polish, or do you like something steeped in history? A minimalist mansion on an Ibizan hillside is one thing (a very nice thing), but a rambling old farmhouse or converted medieval church comes with a romance [...]