OUT OF OFFICE July 1, 2009 OPENING OF LIQUID NATION BARFresh on the scene is the communistic sounding “live music venue for the people”. Communism has its upsides: drinks are £2.50; there are two smoking terraces each with their own bar and live music and DJs every Thurs-Sat. More controversially, there are also big pictures in the windows of those involved [...]
Brighter SHADES July 1, 2009 WHEN aviator shades came back into fashion a few years ago, there was more than a whiff of retro about them. It was either about nailing that Donnie Brasco look from the Seventies, or the mirror-shaded naffness of Tom Cruise, Miami Vice and Milli Vanilli. Luckily, things have moved on a bit, and the aviator [...]
La Vie en Rose July 1, 2009 SOMETHING is up with rose wine. Its image as the cheap and cheerful, distinctly low-brow summer tipple is evaporating like water on a hot summer’s day. It’s gone from being the sort of thing you’d drink on holiday in Great Yarmouth or Blackpool while getting sunburned to the colour of a lobster to the drink [...]
ROSE WHAT TO DRINK THIS SUMMER July 1, 2009 Langlois Cremant de Loire Rose Brut (£12.99, Oddbins)This fizz is flying off the shelves – and justifiably so. It’s one of the best in France, being made by Bollinger, with stringent rules determining the quality of its production and grapes. The result is a champagne-standard bubbly, full of raspberry and blackcurrant but also with bite [...]
Automatic for the people? June 30, 2009 THE best high-performance cars come with a manual gearbox, right? Well, not according to Mercedes-Benz. On the evidence of this car, their stance appears to be that machines can change gear more efficiently than humans. But where’s the fun in that? Having driven this car in automatic form, I was yearning to feel how it [...]
Beach bombshells June 29, 2009 THIS season, sexy isn’t about thongs. It’s about celebrating and supporting your curves in unapologetic bombshell fashion, preferably in bright colours. Flying off the shelves is structured swimwear that snugly holds and controls curves without looking frumpy. As any man will tell you, there’s nothing unsexy about a big chest and wide hips, but the [...]
A City restaurant in the crypt of St Paul’s spells an identity crisis June 29, 2009 THE RESTAURANT AT ST PAUL’SST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, ST PAUL'S CHURCHYARD, LONDON EC4M 8AD (entrance through north-west crypt door)Tel: 020 7248 2469Web www.restaurantatstpauls.co.uk Cost per person without wine: £20 ONCE, stepping down into the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral must have been a spooky experience. All those corpses and bones – even if they do belong [...]
OTHER RESTAURANTS IN LANDMARK VENUES June 29, 2009 SKYLON AT THE ROYAL FESTIVAL HALLThe Southbank Centre’s premiere dining venue mixes stunning views across the river with future-kitsch design and sophisticated continental cooking. Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX,www.skylonrestaurant.co.uk BLUEPRINT AT THE DESIGN MUSEUMOverlooking the river near Tower Bridge – with binoculars provided to tables to cast a closer eye across the City skyline [...]
Souks, spas and stunning views, Morocco has it all June 28, 2009 THE HELICOPTER’S blades crank into life. Beneath us, sand is scattered across the sun-baked earth. Soon we are zooming towards the majestic, lunar slopes of the High Atlas mountains, and the lush glory of the Ourika Valley which guards its foothills, gleaming like the proverbial diamond in the rough beneath us. By foot this would [...]
OTHER HOT SUMMER MOROCCO IDEAS June 28, 2009 VINEYARD TRIPMorocco is an Islamic country, but away from the major northern cities it is fairly relaxed about most things, wine included. In the hills of Meknes in northern Morocco there are acres upon acres of vineyards, and 35m bottles of wine are produced a year. Wine-lovers can now take a four-day tour, which includes [...]