The Long Weekend: The alpine retreat of Le Grand Bellevue is an ice-cool luxury break February 3, 2017 Gstaad is everything you could wish for in a traditional alpine town: chocolate-box wooden chalets, pine trees, mountain air, glaciers among the peaks and the clanging of cow bells as the dairy herds come in for milking. A handful of grandes dames hotels, called the palace hotels, continue to attract the jet-set for winter sports, [...]
Plan ahead for Valentines day and book yourself a table: The restaurants that serve London’s poshest dishes February 3, 2017 Sometimes, pie and mash just won't do. Here are some of London's poshest dishes. Fancy. Beef Wellington at The Ritz Restaurant The beef Wellington at The Ritz must be ordered to share between two people but oh, what a magnificent dish, and one of the greatest British dishes. Its perfect latticed pastry is a dark, [...]
JLR has lovingly updated its original Range Rover Classic – and it can be yours, for £135,000 February 3, 2017 If you're a British car buff, here's one to get your engine revving: as part of its "Reborn" series, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has lovingly recreated the original Range Rover Classic – and it's absolutely gorgeous. The restored car, in Bahama Gold, features a V8 petrol engine and 132 brake horsepower. Want one of your own? [...]
Fantastic Mr Fox at Hammersmith Lyric review: stage musical is good, dirty fun February 2, 2017 Roald Dahl’s fabulously lurid stories translate well to musical theatre, and since the runaway success of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Tim Minchin’s Matilda, we can no doubt look forward to a production line of singing Witches and Twits and Dirty Beasts. The latest to get the treatment is Fantastic Mr Fox, in a [...]
I didn’t cry when my own father died but I will mourn the end of the Resident Evil franchise of terrible films February 2, 2017 There’s a point early on in Resident Evil: The Final Chapter – around the time when Milla Jovovich is riding along a motorway in her zombie-proof battle tank – where the film reaches critical levels of schlock, a sort of self-aware tipping point after which the rest of this mad ordeal makes a strange kind [...]
The way you drink your coffee says a lot about your age February 2, 2017 Believe it or not – the way you like your coffee depends on your age, and the more millennial you are, the more adventurous you are with your coffee choices, according to a new study. Espresso machine maker Eversys found older generations of coffee drinkers prefer to keep things basic and stick to traditional brews, [...]
Six romantic National Trust destinations for Valentine’s Day February 1, 2017 Eating out in a chain restaurant in London is hardly the most imaginative way to spend quality time with your loved one on Valentine's Day – so why not try something a little different this year? Escape the city – and the awkward sight of couples on blind dates at Pizza Express – with a visit [...]
Kricket Soho review: this former pop-up is so good it will make you question your life February 1, 2017 I’m ambivalent about pop-ups. I want to like them, to buy into the democratisation of the food business, to support the little guy who isn’t propped up by hedge-funds or millionaire parents. But my god, they can be terrible places to eat. I’m haunted by memories of burgers that seemed destined to never arrive at [...]
Som Saa review: Very likely to be the best Thai food in London January 31, 2017 A plucky Peckham-pop-up turned permanent E1 resident, Som Saa is a Thai restaurant specialising in creative regional dishes from the country’s north-eastern province. Enjoy sweet and sour comfort food from the grill or masterful curries so hot you’ll walk away feeling like you’ve just been punched in the face. In a nice way. WHERE? 43A [...]
How to buy a classic car: The Ferrari 328 GTS is a sound investment and a surprisingly sensible classic January 30, 2017 Welcome to the first in an occasional series of classic car reviews. We’ll highlight some of London’s most desirable used cars, classics that are great to drive and likely to offer a healthy return on investment. And where better to start than with one of motoring’s blue-chip brands? Ferraris make up seven out of the [...]