By: Steve Dinneen

Life&Style Editor I'm the editor of City A.M. The Magazine, and editor of the daily newspaper's Life&Style section. We cover food, wine, going out, culture, technology and travel. I'm also the head judge of our Toast the City awards that celebrates hospitality in the Square Mile. Find me on X @steve_dinneen

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The Frog restaurant in Shoreditch review: Masterchef contestant Adam Handling launches an intense new venture that defeats our critic

June 21, 2016

Pop quiz: who invented molecular gastronomy? Was it Heston Blumenthal, with his test tubes full of liquid nitrogen? Or Ferran Adria in his beach-side epicurean lair, churning out unholy delicacy after unholy delicacy? No, no, no. That’s all PR. Like most things, molecular gastronomy – a term most chefs, including Heston, hate – was created [...]
Learn to sword-fight with Adrian Paul, star of TV show The Highlander

June 21, 2016

The idea: Adrian Paul, star of the ‘90s fantasy TV spin-off Highlander: The Series, now travels the globe training fans in the art of stage combat. I expected the gathering to be attended exclusively by middle-aged men called Gareth. In reality, it was far more varied, with a more or less even split of men and [...]
The six best boutique and art hotels in Tel Aviv, Israel, from the eye-popping Artplus to The Montefiore

June 17, 2016

Until about 2008, if you wanted to stay in Tel Aviv without slumming it, your options were limited to the hulking, ageing concrete corporate hotels lining the beach. Embarrassing, really, for a city so flush with style in art, design, food, and fashion. But in the last eight or so years, Israel’s biggest city has [...]
Richard III at Almeida Theatre: Ralph Fiennes puts the bunch-backed toad and the bottled spider into Shakespeare’s villain

June 17, 2016

Richard III | Almeida | ★★★★★ Richard III is the ideal play for these post-facts times, where rhetoric is no longer anchored to reality and fear is the prevailing political currency. We approach a referendum whose result will be decided by whichever apocalyptic vision of the future the public chooses to believe. Across the pond a [...]
Tale of Tales film review: Salma Hayek is brilliant in this gory fairytale

June 17, 2016

Tale of Tales | Dir. Matteo Garrone | ★★★★☆ Italian film maker Matteo Garrone, best known for his realist Mafia drama Gomorrah, makes a surprising choice for his English language debut in this 17th century fairytale. We follow the interweaving stories of three monarchs – an ageing ruler (Toby Jones) who acquires a strange [...]
Soul at Hackney Empire review: This play about the life of Marvin Gaye fails to hit any high notes

June 17, 2016

Soul | Hackney Empire | ★☆☆☆☆ On April Fools Day, 1984, Marvin Gaye was shot and killed by his father in the house they shared. Gaye’s was a life ripe for drama, and Roy Williams’ new play explores it, seeking to answer the questions essential to understanding the man. Who was Marvin Gaye? Why [...]
Where You’re Meant to Be Film review: Arab Strap singer Aiden Moffat meditates on life, death, rivalry and the cultural importance of music

June 17, 2016

Where You're Meant To Be | Dir. Paul Fegan | ★★★★☆ This wistful documentary about a folk-music tour by former Arab Strap singer Aiden Moffat starts out as a road trip but becomes a meditation on life, death, rivalry and the cultural importance of music. The voice-over, delivered in Moffat’s distinctive dry prose, is [...]
Long Way North film review: Beautiful animation hides an age-old story

June 17, 2016

Long Way North | Dir. Rémi Chayé | ★★☆☆☆ Long Way North is at its best when nothing’s happening. The French-Danish animation, set in St Petersburg and voiced in English, unfurls languidly, idling over shots of the sun setting over the Winter Palace, or seagulls slowly circling a ship adrift in a blue ocean. The [...]
Late Night at the Barbican review: a surreal mesh of dance, sorrow and economic woe

June 17, 2016

Late Night | Barbican | ★★★★☆ Three couples sit in the wreckage of a music hall. A song comes on and they start to dance, expressionless, waltzing in neat circles around each other. Every so often one breaks ranks to stand before a microphone and deliver opaque lines of dialogue. Europe has fallen. War and [...]
E3 Round-up: All the top announcements from PlayStation VR and Xbox One S price and release date to Arkham VR, Death Standing and The Last Guardian news

June 15, 2016

Every year, the world’s gaming press jets off to Los Angeles to be wowed by Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and all the top games developers, who lay out their plans for the future of the industry. This year there was a big push for virtual reality, with the big players throwing their weight behind the nascent [...]

Retailers enjoy boost from ‘really positive’ Boxing Day bounce

Battle of the Sexes tennis: Billie Jean King says it’s just entertainment

The Italy holiday taking in amazing skiing and a lesser-visited city

By: Steve Dinneen

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