Opulence, ostrich and eggs benedict as West End landmark goes weird August 10, 2009 The Criterion224 Piccadilly W1J 9HP Tel: 020 7930 0488 Cost per person without wine: £43 OUTSIDE the Criterion’s grand entrance it’s like Piccadilly Circus – a grim, heaving mass of tourists and traffic that swarms in every direction. Okay, it is Piccadilly Circus, and as you arrive it’s hard not to feel a bit sorry [...]
The pasta is brilliant, but eating at Jamie’s can be a stressful experience August 3, 2009 Jamie’s ItalianUnit 17, 2 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, E14 5RBTel: 020 3002 5252 Cost per person without wine: £25 THIS is the second of Jamie Oliver’s chain of wallet-friendly eateries to open in London – one opened in Kingston in late 2008, following the first in Oxford – and he couldn’t have chosen a better [...]
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 [...]
CITY HELL’S ANGELS TO DON THEIR LEATHERS July 26, 2009 EAT your heart out, Ewan McGregor: there’s a new globe-trotting motorbike posse in town. Lord Gillford, founding partner of communications firm Gardant, and his partner-in-crime Levan Vasadze, the chairman of Prometheus Capital Partners, are about to embark upon their annual jaunt to Eastern Europe atop their BMW Adventure “monster” motorbikes. The pair have been doing [...]
In a bubbly mood July 22, 2009 BAB – short for “bonuses are back” – has replaced “doh” as the word on the City’s streets, following revelations that bankers raked in end-of-year payouts like the credit crunch was all just a bad dream. But whatever the reality for those outside the gilded top offices of the Square Mile and Canary Wharf, there [...]
Oh I do like to be beside the seaside (with billionaires) July 19, 2009 IT’S mid-morning, and having got a crack-of-dawn BA flight from London City Airport, I am now in a helicopter flying from Nice to Monte Carlo. Out of the window, the warm sunshine and blue sea provide a stunning backdrop to the hotels and villas carved out of the white rocks. As a helicopter virgin I [...]
Tories are right to want to scrap the FSA July 19, 2009 SO the Tories are going to bite the bullet and abolish the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Most of its banking and financial stability powers will be handed over to the Bank of England; the rump, focussing on consumer protection, will be relabelled as the Consumer Protection Agency. The Bank will become home to a new [...]
It’s summer time and the boozing is easy … and delicious July 8, 2009 WHEN was the last time you really felt you were drinking a perfect drink? The right glass, the right temperature, the right mixture, composition, a veritable wash of refreshment and taste? Chances are, most of the time you knock back whatever is on offer – be it in the pub, or from your fridge at [...]
Now it’s my turn to slay the Aussies July 7, 2009 WHO could forget it? It was Sunday 7 August 2005, Australia needed just two runs to win the third Ashes Test at Edgbaston, England needed a solitary wicket. Steve Harmison thunders down to the crease, batsman Michael Kasprowicz gets the faintest of edges and Geraint Jones dives to his left to take the catch. The [...]
It’s vulgar and brash but perfect for a big old all-American blowout July 6, 2009 PLANET HOLLYWOOD60HAYMARKET, SW1Y 4QXTel: 020 7437 7639www.planethollywoodlondon.com FOODSERVICEATMOSPHERECost per person without wine: £20 WHEN I think of Planet Hollywood, I think of family-themed nights – sticky floors, screaming babies, hassled staff. But London’s new PH, a revamped affair just down the road from the old one, is trying to go for a different demographic. “Our [...]