Category Archives: Uncategorized
Alice’s Adventures Underground
The Vaults at Waterloo are playing host to an amazing version of Alice in Wonderland. A show that draws you into the world of nonsense and makes you play along with the characters. I don’t want to be a spoiler but it’s an outrageously fun 90 minutes of mayhem. The sets and costumes, intricate and curious. Twists and turns in every room. Unpredictability is the name of the game. I laughed with wonder and humour for the full duration. Puppetry and dance, comedic turns coupled with a lot of being bossed around in the madness. Watch out for the Queen of Hearts! There is a children’s version and an adult version and it’s not on for long. If you can – do it! Photos aren’t allowed inside so I offer my snapshot above. If you wanted to ever visit Wonderland they have made it possible.
https://www.alice-underground.com
Gymkhana
Where to begin with the feast that was laid before us? Gymkhana, needs some booking ahead. Why? Because if you like this sort of food they are at the top of the game in London. I use opentable, book one month ahead and take the £35 tasting menu for a late lunch. Oh you may think it may not look much as a three course meal (you can do four courses should you wish) But I dare you to roll out of that restaurant wanting more.
Traiteur – New London N4 Restaurant
The other night I went with my friends to the new hot Spot, Traiteur in Crouch Hill. Anything new in The Manor I need to know about and quickly. Well well well, what a fantastic find.
The above was a surprise gazpacho with crab Hors d’ouevre for us to have before our meal.
As soon as I took a bite of the beef short rib Croustillant, I wished that it would never end. But I’m greedy so I ate it in about one minute and felt sad it was gone after. It tastes better than my picture. I then had gnocchi, which is one of my favourites and it did not disappoint. No packet gnocchi here. Everyone had enviable meals. I wanted to go back again the next day.
This place is not fancy to sit in, but it’s intimate and it works. The only downside is BYOB. We didn’t pay corkage and if you own this restaurant – do not charge corkage please. You will ruin what is an amazing thing that has happened and annoy people like me who would write about it. I have a feeling that they won’t be there for long and it will expand quickly, so If I was anyone interested in food in London, I would book IMMEDIATELY.
They also cater for events. My birthday is soon and this is happening all over again.
Veneta – Sunday Lunch in London Review
This picture is not mine. It’s far better than what I can take so I used it rather than a blurred picture of goat ragu pasta.
I went for the glorious lunch on a Sunday at Veneta. A restaurant part of the ever so good Salt Yard Group. My friends and I lazed the day away on Sunday for more than a few hours drinking free-flowing Prosecco and wine – all decent and all included with the price with a tasting menu of £35.
To not go for a traditional lunch on a Sunday made me nervous but I cannot even begin to say how worth it, it was. To be able to be eaten over time, some incredibly tasty dishes and not be rushed from the table is a sign of a place worth keeping in the book.
Looking around I was struck at how everyone working there was in a good mood, and helping each other. Looking out for each other’s tables and making sure their customers were not left waiting for anything, but nor were they intrusive. Our waitress even had her family turn up to eat with her between shifts and sat next to us chatting.
The food was plentiful and incredibly tasty and we couldn’t finish it all, but somehow still made room for dessert?! This out of all Sunday meal deals is worth it.
Legends of the Martini – Royal Academy of Arts, London. Belvedere’s a winner.
Hello back room in the Royal Academy. This was a fun little surprise for an hour. This idea is based around an exhibition that’s just a room with a boards on it and some kind of guessing game about martinis. Whatever. You soon spot the giant martini glass you can sit in and have your photo taken in.
We were then taken to a table and intensely taught for one hour about martini making with Belvedere Vodka. And to my surprise it was great fun. And I learned something. You get to learn to say exactly how you like your martini – shaken or stirred – what parts you like in it (forgotten already) and taste different zests. It’s only on until the end of August and as a bit of something to do in what feels like hidden London, go do it. At the end you can buy a very strong martini. If you don’t drink, then don’ go. You won’t like it. Go at night, It feels like you are at a secret London party in a museum.
Double Rainbow
Double the rainbow.
I had to share this. Probably the biggest rainbow I have seen and i was just around the corner. Made me smile during a dreary day.
Castellammare Del Golfo – Sicily part one
The port at sunset
We landed in Palermo and were driven to Castellammare Del Golfo, a place we had randomly picked at the last-minute, from a Sicily promoting website that said it had a great beach and was just simply brilliant. Well it does have a beach, the size of someone’s living room. And even though it was tempting to put a towel down it was like the idea of sunbathing topless in a London park. Just not done. It’s a very pretty port, with literally a handful of restaurants and a town behind it, that looked quite cool even though no one was present in any of the towns we drove through. Everyone for the summer seems to be working on the beach so if you want to drive through little towns at this time of year to discover a hidden world, Don’t.
A port with a view
We thought that we had made a terrible mistake but I have to say that the people in the Hotel Cala Marina that we stayed in could not have been nicer to us if they tried. All of them were genuinely warm and helpful. It’s worth mentioning that if you don’t have a car than book taxi’s ahead, as you will need them, unless you like to cycle. We are glad we didn’t do air b n b on this occasion as we would have been stuck. If you are driving the roads are really good and though mountainous they do have rails on the sides.
When they attempted to sell us the discount voucher for the restaurant next door but onem that had excellent seafood, I met their eyes with the usual traveller’s suspicion. But we were tired so we walked all of the one minute to the restaurant and sat outside staring at the parked boats. We ate and I have to say it was the best meal we had in the four days, amazing seafood and pistachio prawn pasta (which we had three more times in different restaurants in a bit of an obsessive way.)
Sunbathing in the storm.
When everyone goes on holiday they expect it to be sunny but it wasn’t. So we went to the beach and sat in the café praying that the sand storm going into our beer and tapas wasn’t actually happening. When the huge plant fell over for the third time even though they had tied it to the barrier, we did what anyone else on holiday would do. We walked to the shore, sat protected from the rain under the umbrella and carried on.
worldwideattitude 