Chakra: good but not great March 19, 2012 157-159 Notting Hill Gate, W11 3LF Tel: 020 7240 2078 FOOD *** SERVICE *** ATMOSPHERE ** Cost per person without wine: £50 WE hate it when our friends become successful,” lamented Morrissey back in 1992. “And if they’re Northern, that makes it even worse.” I have to disagree with the last part. In Birmingham, Manchester [...]
Savour a Sipp, but fit it with your appetite March 18, 2012 THE popularity of self-invested personal pensions (Sipps) has risen impressively in recent years. They look like the perfect way to save for retirement – flexible, good value for money, and easy to access and control — and they fit comfortably with the growing view that we must engage with our pension and take responsibility for [...]
The rise of gourmet cinema March 5, 2012 WE settled into our indecently capacious seats, placed our drinks on the sidetables and leaned back, sighing with satisfaction. This was certainly the First Class cabin of cinemas: leg room enough for a couple of giants; an array of buttons for seat adjustment and waiter-summoning and, of course, a substantial food menu masterminded by one [...]
Wetherspoon and co make for easy laughs March 1, 2012 Film THIS MEANS WAR Cert: 12A *** WHEN Charlie’s Angels director McG meets Simon Kinberg, writer of the original Mr and Mrs Smith script, the result is big, brainless fun. Throw a great cast into the mix, ensuring they can deal with some incredibly cringeworthy clichés, and you’re onto a dumb-but-enjoyable winner. When CIA agents [...]
Better squeezed than baffled by tax breaks February 27, 2012 WHEN my wife was pregnant last summer we received a £100 voucher from the government to ensure she was eating enough fruit and vegetables. She already was eating enough fruit and vegetables, but the money came in handy for other things. This is just one small example of how a well-intentioned policy is a waste [...]
From Russia with fusion food February 27, 2012 Novikov 50a Berkeley Street, W1J 8HA T NW1 7JN , Tel: 020 7387 5277 FOOD *** SERVICE *** ATMOSPHERE **** Cost per person without wine: £50 It’s Russian, it’s huge, it’s in Mayfair and it has doormen inside and out, guarding its two restaurants and thumping bar. To me this sounded dubious, a blingy hangar [...]
Rich pickings in poor man’s Verbier February 5, 2012 IT’S unlikely you’ll have heard of La Tzoumaz. With just 300 permanent residents, few hotels and no town centre (or après ski) to speak of, it’s not the sort of place you’d expect to find a ten-minute ski from Verbier, Switzerland’s sexiest resort. No: La Tzoumaz (rhymes with satsuma) is quite definitely Verbier’s shy, unfashionable, [...]
Patron saint of retailers says co-ops won’t work for everyone January 29, 2012 RESPONSIBLE Capitalism. Moral Markets. Whatever you call it, the debate raging around executive pay and “predator” business shows no sign of dying down. All political parties have tried to claim the issue as their own, but they have struggled to articulate what a fairer form of capitalism might look like. Enter John Lewis, the patron [...]
Forget the Kate Effect: we need Maggie Power January 24, 2012 IT’S a very dreary landscape out there right now for retailers. Unless, of course, you happen to be one of the lucky few – Burberry is one such brand. It can do no wrong, it seems, and never less so than when the Duchess of Cambridge is seen sporting its togs. After being spotted wearing [...]
Lobster and burgers, folks… that’s it January 23, 2012 THE vogue for culinary simplicity has been around for a while. The shorter the menu, the better – after all, asks the modern diner, how can caviar, steak, chicken, risotto and a thousand other dishes from one kitchen and one staff be fresh, made with the best of the day’s ingredients? Well, the guys behind [...]