Melbourne and the Yarra Valley: eat, drink, stay, fly April 3, 2011 WHERE TO STAY The Olsen, set in South Yarra, is one of the Art Series Hotel Group (artserieshotels.com.au) along with the Cullen and the Blackman – each of which are named after renowned Australian artists. The Olsen’s 229 five-star suites are adorned with the works of landscape artist Dr John Olsen, while the interior of [...]
Stylish and discreet, but the food isn’t perfect yet March 29, 2011 5 Pollen Street 5 Pollen St, W1S 1ND Tel: 020 7629 1555 FOOD SERVICE ATMOSPHERE Cost per person without wine: £45-£50 WITH Jason Atherton’s much-hyped Pollen Street Social to open next month, this miniscule back-alley behind Hanover Square has been getting more attention than one might expect of such a street. And now – pipping [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 16, 2011 Bank of America Merrill Lynch Bob Elfring will join Bank of America Merrill Lynch as head of investment banking for Benelux and Northern Europe in July, where he will be responsible for the growth of the bank’s investment banking franchise. Elfring joins from Credit Suisse where he was head of investment banking for Northern Europe. [...]
A tapas triumph in Covent Garden March 14, 2011 Opera Tavern 23 Catherine St, WC2B 5JS, Tel: 020 7836 3680 www.operatavern.co.uk FOOD HHHHI SERVICE HHHHI ATMOSPHERE HHHHI Cost per person without wine: £35 OPERA Tavern has been opened by the husband and wife team behind two of London’s best-regarded tapas restaurants, Salt Yard and Dehesa. This one’s in Covent Garden, just off the piazza, [...]
Japan quake losses could reach $50bn March 11, 2011 Damage caused by the 8.8 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that battered Japan’s north-eastern coast last night could cost $50bn (£31bn), analysts have said. The tremor, the most powerful to hit Japan in 100 years, and the 7.3m wave ripped through coastal areas and towns such as Sendai and Fukushima at about 3pm local time, destroying [...]
The toast of New York brings a riot of spices to Leicester Square March 2, 2011 IN the Friends episode called The One Where Ross Can’t Flirt (Season Five, obviously), Chandler divulges to Ross that he has scored dinner reservations at Jean Georges to celebrate his ten-month anniversary with Monica. Jean Georges is the Manhattan restaurant owned by Jean Georges Vongerichten, an Alsace-born, New York-based celebrity chef. To have penetrated pop [...]
Only a dribbling loon would buy a green laptop February 28, 2011 SONY knew it had to up its game for the new range of Vaio laptops. It’s consumer division is struggling and those pesky people at Apple have just launched another shiny new device carved out of a single block of solid gold, featuring a beacon like the Bat Sign that broadcasts into space the fact [...]
Dinner’s on Heston: Fat Duck chef makes a grand entrance to London February 28, 2011 Dinner by Heston Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, 66 Knightsbridge, SW1X 7LA Tel: 020 7201 3833 FOOD SERVICE ATMOSPHERE Cost per person without wine: XXX LEARNING that Heston’s new restaurant was to be called Dinner, I grimaced and sneered. How pretentious! Plain old Dinner indeed – this from the man behind snail porridge and yam flakes [...]
Where to book if you’re planning the ultimate honeymoon February 27, 2011 Jade Mountain, St Lucia JADE Mountain is about the most spectacularly situated hotel in the Caribbean. Facing out across a bay towards the Pitons, St Lucia’s iconic pair of dramatically steep mountains, it hangs against the side of a jungle-covered mountain like an eagle’s nest. Some nest. The rooms – or “sanctuaries” as they are [...]
POLO COMES TO THE O2 AS PONIES AND PLAYERS LINE UP TO IMPRESS February 24, 2011 FOR the first time ever, polo ponies took to the floor at the O2 arena last night at the inaugural Gaucho International Polo event. Teams from England, South Africa, Argentina and Scotland (flying the flag for City A.M.) met in North Greenwich last night to bring a touch of the country to urban London, in [...]