No more BEER FEAR July 29, 2009 I’M sucking a cocktail of coconut and banana beer through two straws, grasping the coconut shell in which it is served with glee. This tastes like a combination of Malibu, suntan lotion and fizz – I feel I’m not meant to like it, but I do. “See, beer is fun!” bellows the buxom Melissa Cole, [...]
Good-looking but a trifle shallow July 28, 2009 THE FACTS: AUDI A5 SPORTBACK 3.2 LITRE FSI QUATTRO7-SPEED S TRONIC PRICE: £36,110 0-62MPH: 6.6secsTOP SPEED: 155mph CO2 G/KM: 379g/kmMPG Combined: 30.4/216g/km AUDI is celebrating a one hundred-year history of building cars, competing in motorsport and having its vehicles at every red carpet event. How is it celebrating? By building more cars. Whatever your needs [...]
W11 scores a gastropub bullseye July 27, 2009 The Clarendon123a Clarendon Road, W11 4JGTel: 020 7229 1500www.theclarendonlondon.comCost per person without wine: £25 AS I CRAMMED homemade fish fingers into my mouth via a glob of chivey aioli, hungry after my trek into deepest Holland Park, I thanked the food gods for the continuing and improving presence of gastropubs in London. The Clarendon is [...]
THE SUMMER’S TOP GASTROPUBS July 27, 2009 THE ALBION, ISLINGTON 10 THORNHILL ROAD, N1 1HW. TEL: 020 7607 7450Arguably the best Sunday lunch spot in north London’s trendier parts, this recently relaunched pub is a bastion of the Best of British gastro-glory tradition. Aside from blinding roasts, everything from the bar-snacks (enormous, fresh-made pork scratchings and bone marrow) to the meaty mains [...]
Panamania SETS IN July 26, 2009 THINK of the Republic of Panama and the two words most likely to follow are “hats” and “canal”. The last thing you’d associate with this odd-shaped country at the very bottom of Central America is a Manhatten-esque skyline, sophisticated nightlife and luxury hotels and spas. But make the 14-hour journey to this isthmus and these [...]
How to turn your home into an eco friendly palace July 23, 2009 FINDING ways to make your home kinder to the overtaxed enironment has become an enormous topic since it grew so close to our hearts. These days, it’s not even about simply doing your bit for the earth’s atmosphere – it’s about looking like a caring citizen of the modern world. To be found keeping extra [...]
FOCUS ON: CROYDON, GREATER LONDON July 23, 2009 39 RADCLIFFE ROAD, CROYDON, CR0 5QJPrice: £765,000If you’re a cricket lover glued to the television at the moment, then this smart four-bedroom period house backing on to the exclusive Whitgift Foundation’s cricket grounds is exactly what you are looking for. It comes with four bedrooms and has been refurbished to the highest standard by the [...]
Go South East to find a commuter’s haven by the sea July 23, 2009 WITH the High Speed One train line speeding towards completion, promising to connect major points in Kent to St Pancras in under an hour, the south east coast has become even more attractive a spot in which to settle. With its surprisingly numerous sandy beaches, it’s an ideal spot for young families as well as [...]
The return of film’s enfant terrible July 23, 2009 FilmANTICHRISTCert: 18 AFTER weeks of films vying to be the biggest of the year, it’s time for the one that already has the title sewn up of most harrowing and controversial. Lars von Trier has spent years gleefully blowing raspberries in the faces of moral arbiters, but the traumatic violence he’s constructed here is something [...]
NOW SHOWING SIX OF THE BEST July 23, 2009 FILM: Soul Power Terrific documentary about the concerts that accompanied the Foreman-Ali Rumble in the Jungle boxing match. THEATRE: A Little Night Music Trevor Nunn’s charming revival of Stephen Sondheim’s classic musical, at the Garrick Theatre. ART: Per Kirkeby Tate Modern’s survey of the lauded Danish artist. theatre: Phedre Dame Helen Mirren delivers the towering [...]