The Kills

I have mixed emotions about the Boston and it’s two music venues, The Dome and the Boston Music Rooms. On the one hand I used to live very close to it and the noise from that place on a Friday or Saturday night was intense and not conducive to sleep of any kind. Some nights when the pub and the music rooms kicked out me and my housemates would fund ourselves watching small-scale riots taking place in the street. It was more than once that we ended up having to call the police. But you see on the other hand the place is one of London’s hidden gems in terms of music venues. In a city where you can find yourself paying £150 to watch someone perform on a stage from the other side of a stadium, the smaller venues need to be preserved.

The Dome has the habit of hosting secret gigs by famous names and has also given it’s stage up to bands in their formative years who have gone on to sell millions. A secret Kills gig there not so long ago filled the street outside with paparazzi waiting for a shot of Jamie Hince and Kate Moss. It may not be London’s most glamorous venue – you’re unlikely to get anyone to make you a glamorous cocktail and at some point in the evening sweat will drip from the ceiling and on to your head – but then this is the essence of the gig venue: dirt, grunge and venues that can be fully rocked out in without causing too much damage.

Coming up at the Dome is the electronic wizardry of Joy Orbison and Four Tet and the venue also hosts some rather legendary parties for the underage of London. These are often the nights of the riots so I’m reluctant to promote them too much for the sake of the neighbours. But keep an eye on the bill for this place its certainly one to watch.

The Boston Arms

178 Junction Road

Tufnell Park

London

N19 5QQ

Claridge’s Bar

There are times in life when a glass of tepid rose in a Slug & Lettuce just won’t do.  There are times when you want to be ensconced in a red leather chair with armrests that sit in just the right places rather than a wobbly bar stool that someone could pitch you off at any moment. And there are times when you would like the 12% service that seems to be being added to every single drinks bill for a member of staff to lift that tepid glass of rose from the bar to your table, to feel like it’s actually worth the money – like the waiter/ess with the wine really wants you to enjoy that glass rather than harboring the desire to tip it in your lap.  It’s at times like this my friends that only Claridge’s will do.

Claridge’s bar was designed by David Collins and has original Art Deco features complemented by a silver-leafed ceiling, green glass chandelier and red leather banquettes. Each shiny round table is decorated with a single dark red rose.  If you want to fit in with the locals you’ll be having champagne chosen from one of the widest varieties in London, cocktails classic and contemporary, served cold and in crystal or spirits, the very best selection for the most dedicated connoisseur.  There’s also a selection of bar type food (although maybe no pork scratchings), including sushi and sashimi, salmon, truffle risotto and fish and chips.

Or there’s The Fumoir, where you can enjoy thirties-themed cocktails, tucked away behind a door adorned with an original 1930s Lalique panel in a sumptuous bar that is steeped in history.  The décor is a rich aubergine with leather seating and low crystal lighting and the walls are hung with vintage photographs.  The bar offers a selection of cognacs, armagnacs, rums, tequilas and ports as well as cocktails inspired by the era and served in a Lalique glass.  For when that tepid rose just won’t do.

Claridge’s

Brook Street

Mayfair

London W1K 4HR

020 7629 8860

Greenwich Summer Sessions

One of the best things about this glorious weather is the fact that you can take yourself off outside and just make a day out of sitting in the park.  It also means that we are treated to a number of events that otherwise would not be able to take place – outdoor events that with even a spot of rain would feel really rather miserable.  Outdoor parades, picnic concerts, sports matches, mini festivals.  One of the newer of these is the Greenwich Summer Sessions.

Officially, The Greenwich Festivals: Summer Sessions, these outdoor concerts take place from 21 – 25 July (excluding Saturday 24) at the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich in SE10. The sessions are a collection of four open-air music events themed around Greenwich’s unique heritage and history – ‘Rebels, Royals, Rivers and Runners’. The series will help to celebrate Greenwich’s role as a host borough for London 2012.

The lineup is as follows: Wednesday 21 July – “Rebels”, The Levellers and Seth Lakeman (“established anarchic folk-punks are sharing the bill with the new hero of indie-folk”),  Thursday 22 July – “Royals”, Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra with Timothy Redmond (conductor), Nicky Spence (tenor) and Natasha Marsh (soprano),  Friday 23 July – “Rivers”, Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, featuring Gilson Lavis and special guests Alison Moyet, Ruby Turner and Louise Marshall and finally Sunday 25 July – “Runners”,Athlete and special guests Local boys from Deptford plus a supporting cast of special guests.

The idea is that punters spread a rug out in the grounds and chill out in the evening sun, making it “an ideal place to share a picnic with friends or family, relax and enjoy listening to a musical extravaganza in stunning surroundings.”  So if you’re looking for the perfect way to mark this beautiful weather with an evening to remember, this is cleaner than Glastonbury, more civilsed than Wireless and more central than Reading.  Simples.

Greenwich Foundation for the Old Royal Naval College

2, Cutty Sark Gardens

Greenwich

SE10 9LW

020 8269 4747

www.greenwich.gov.uk/Greenwich/LeisureCulture/EntertainmentEvents/GreenwichFestivals/Music/SummerSessions/SummerSessions.htm

Mount Street Deli

“We cherish incredible food with a prominence towards British and Italian producers. Where possible we source local and support many of the wonderful food producers in the British Isles. Whether it’s a special ingredient, an unctuous cheese, an artisanal ham or a fine wine we should be able to help as best we can.”  If that wasn’t a winning way to open your website if you’re a deli then I don’t know what is.  This is the opening blurb from the Mount Street Deli’s website, an entity offering some excellent coffee, select deli products, a divine café menu and even bespoke catering from hampers to hen nights (upper class hen nights of course..).

Breakfasts are prepared by their own pastry chef and include freshly baked delights, homemade granola or delicately warmed pancakes, all paired with exquisite coffee, tea or luxurious hot chocolate.  Lunch is a choice of their homemade sandwiches to eat in or out as well as a freshly prepared menu of soups, smoked fish, Italian and English cured meats, salads and wonderfully tempting puddings and cakes.

And once you’ve finished your obscenely delicious coffee and cake or the serenely filling sandwich and juice then you can take a wander around the deli and the selection of products they offer.   There are some incredibly special and unusual products which they say have been carefully sourced in the UK and from Italy. There’s an emphasis on small artisanal producers “not only because mass production generally means lower quality but many of our suppliers live, eat and simply breathe their produce and it is this passion that gives the distinction between ordinary and excellent.”

They sell locally made bread, fine cheeses, organic free-range eggs from Suffolk, the finest tea money can buy and other seasonal produce.  And if you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can ask one of the staff who have been trained to be able to help you find exactly the cheese/meat or cider you’re looking for.

The Mount Street Deli

100 Mount Street

London W1K 2TG

020 7499 6843

Field Day

Every year I find myself writing about Field Day and every year I feel a bit dubious about it.  The reason is that every time I have been I have not been that impressed with the organization – I have always found myself having to queue for the toilets for an hour at a time and then queue for the bar for the same length of time, leaving me feeling like I actually just spend the whole day in one queue or another.  Despite this, I still continue to write about them.  Why?  Well firstly because I am surprised they are still going after the ragingly awful reviews the festival gets every year – that kind of pluck deserves some recognition – and secondly because the lineup this year has a large number of bands on it that I would want to see.  So were it not for my negative experiences in the past it would be exactly the kind of event I would recommend.  And I am recommending it, in the hope that this year, there will be enough toilets and bar staff not to detract from all those wonderful bands.

Field Day happens on 31 July in Victoria Park and has the most admirable philosophy behind it – kind of a very cool village fete atmosphere with sack races and the like, combined with some excellent music and (hopefully this year..) copious amounts of booze.  But it is the lineup that is the festival’s real selling point so I have included it in its entirely below.

EAT YOUR OWN EARS STAGE

Andrew Weatherall (Dj Set)

Anna Calvi

Bethan Elfyn And The Vinyl Vendettas Dj Set

C.t.m Dj Set

Caribou

Eat Your Own Ears Djs

Erland And The Carnival

Gilles Peterson Dj Set

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

Lightspeed Champion

Phoenix

Ramadanman

Steve Mason

The Fall

The Invisible Dj Set

Thisaintnodisco

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ADVENTURES IN THE BEETROOT FIELD IN ASSOCIATION WITH LAST.FM STAGE

Atlas Sound

Babeshadow

Cate Le Bon

Chapel Club

Egyptian Hip Hop

Is Tropical

Last.fm Dj Team

Matthew Herbert’s One Club

No Age

The Kissaway Trail

These New Puritans

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BUGGED OUT! IN ASSOCIATION WITH FULL CIRCLE STAGE

Carte Blanche (Riton & Dj Mehdi)

Chilly Gonzales

Fake Blood

James Holden

Joker + Mc Nomad

Memory Tapes

Moderat

Rory Phillips

Simian Mobile Disco Dj Set

Tensnake

The Golden Filter

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BLOGGERS DELIGHT STAGE

Blogger’s Delight (Casper C, Nikniknik, Skull Juice)

Dam Funk & Master Blazter

Deadly Rhythm Soundsystem

Gold Panda

Hudson Mohawke

Mount Kimbie

Night Slugs (L-Vis 1990 & Bok Bok)

Off Modern Djs

Pantha Du Prince

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VILLAGE MENTALITY IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE QUIETUS STAGE

Amiina

Archie Bronson Outfit

Beth Jeans Houghton

Esben And The Witch

Flower–Corsano Duo

Gruff Rhys Vs Tony Da Gatorra

Max Tundra

Mouse On Mars

Shula’s Wigwam Djs

Silver Apples

-

XOYO/LOCK TAVERN STAGE

Dam Mantle

Don’t Die Wondering Dj’s

Double Denim Djs

Factory Floor

Hounds Of Hate

Leather Boy Dj’s

Mim (Black Cab Sessions)

No Pain In Pop Djs

Prizes

Sunday Girl

Toro Y Moi

Von Haze

Walls

Yuck

Cupcakes

I had thought that as I grew older I would grow out of the huge cravings I have had all my life when it comes to cakes.  But no, if anything it seems to be getting much, much worse.  Whether it’s the boredom of being stuck in an office and needing to punctuate a grey day with some light, fluffy sponge and buttery icing or whether it’s just pure greed I don’t know, but I’ve never before been in such a cake-dependent state of mind.

So, discovering Beas of Bloomsbury was quite a treat I can tell you.  I first came across Beas because they supplied my local coffee outlet with its delicious melt in the mouth brownies and ‘blondies’ (white chocolate brownies) and since then they have been firmly on my radar.  Beas is located on Theobalds Road near Holborn and one look at the cake strewn website and you’ll be hotfooting it down there straight away.  They offer a special Afternoon Tea (recently named Time Out’s Best No-Frills Afternoon Tea) for £9.90 per person, which includes a proper scone, clotted cream and jam, one of their signature cupcakes, a mini Valrhona brownie, a mini Belgian Blondie, and a mini meringue and more. Plus of course, a pot of their lovely teas from Jing, who also supply Fat Duck and Ramsay’s restaurants, among others.

They also offer a vast selection of cakes and cupcakes, including chocolate truffle cake, red velvet cake, triple chocolate cake, lemon vanilla cake, German chocolate cake and a sumptuous carrot cake with pecans, and coconut covered with proper cream cheese icing.  There’s also a daily lunch menu which is mostly made up of mouthwatering soups, salads and sandwiches, the kind that look like they have fallen out of Jamie Oliver cookbook.  And if after your visit you realize you can’t go on unless you have learned how to create your own versions of these fabulous delicacies, they even run cooking lessons.

www.beasofbloomsbury.com

44 Theobald’s Road

London WC1X 8NW

020 7242 8330

Bali Bali

Perhaps food is not the first thing that most people would associate with Bali.  More likely are images of pristine white sand beaches, smiling people and those luxurious spas that you see in the back sections of the Sunday Times magazine that Kate Moss probably goes to but you could never afford.  But food is a big thing for the Balinese and the cuisine is definitely worth a taste.  I first discovered Bali Bali on Shaftesbury Avenue through a friend whose aunt had decided to live in Bali having fallen for a local Balinese man.  When they came to London they always ate at Bali Bali and several times they also took us along too.

The restaurant describes itself as “a truly authentic Indonesian restaurant in the heart of London’s West End. Over the years we have steadily built a reputation as a venue where you can relax, enjoy excellent food and find yourself in a little part of Indonesia.”  Given the way the restaurant attracts ex pat Balinese I think there’s a pretty hefty dose of truth in it.

The menu has everything from the fiery hot to the coolly mild; vegetarian dishes, fish dishes and of course meat dishes (their meat is all Halal) and the restaurant also offers special set menus at certain times throughout the day.  According to the people at Bali Bali, Indonesian food is a cross between Indian and Chinese.” A bit like saying that a tiger is a cross between a cat and a zebra.”  Customers are encouraged to ask the waiter for help should any confusion arise.

If you want to sample a selection of Balinese food you can go for the Special Rijstafel (£17.00 per person), which is a selection of eight of the most popular dishes from the menu.   They also have a set menu for two (£50).  Typical starters include dang Bumbu (£7.50) – grilled Mediterranean prawns served with sate sauce – Udang Goreng Tepung (£7.95) prawn fitters served with sweet chilli sauce – Soto Ayam (£3.10) – mild chicken and coconut soup and Tom Yum Goon (£4.75) Thai hot and sour soup.  The mains are based around beef, lamb, seafood, chicken, vegetarian and fish in incarnations like Kalio Kental (£7.50) – Padang style chicken cooked in coconut sauce – Sambal Sotong (£7.50) – squid fried in medium hot chilli sauce – and Tahu Goreng (£6.75) – fried beancurd and vegetables garnished with spicy peanut sauce.  So even if you can’t afford the luxury spa, you can still sample a little bit of the taste of Bali.

Bali Bali

150 Shaftesbury Avenue

London WC2H 8HL

020 7836 2644

www.balibalirestaurant.com

Surreal House

The Barbican offers such a wonderfully varied program of exhibitions and events, its one place I always keep an eye on.  The latest in this program is the ‘Surreal House’ exhibition: Step inside a labyrinth of chambers, designed by acclaimed young architects Carmody Groarke, and experience The Surreal House – its haunted rooms, delirious forms, blasted architecture and cinematic dreamscapes – featuring a host of artists, architects and film makers including Salvador Dali, Marcel Duchamp, Alberto Giacometti, René Magritte, Man Ray, Joseph Cornell and Maya Deren through to more contemporary figures, among them; Rebecca Horn, Edward Kienholz and Rem Koolhaas.

At times enchanting, playful and at others, deeply disquieting, The Surreal House is a dwelling that is essentially everything that the rational, functional Modernist house is not. A wall collapses here, a door upends over there. An egg-shaped structure hides a womb-like interior and there’s a creeping suspicion that all is not well at home.  There is definitely something a little creepy about the exhibition and you won’t find yourself feeling at home in this surreal house but that’s obviously half the point.

The exhibition is quite a chaos of different mediums, bringing together a diverse range of paintings, photographs, films, models and installations, many of which are rarely seen in the UK.  For example, a video loop showing Buster Keaton’s toppling house, a Duschamp doorbell in the form of a suitably chosen part of the female anatomy and a large scale blow-up of Freud’s Viennese house.

The exhibition runs until 12 September with ticket prices around £8 (unless you have membership or a reason for a concession).  I also came across an offer for members of Guardian Extra that might make the experience even better: The Barbican is offering Guardian Extra members a two-course lunch at Searcy’s, at the reduced price of £12.50 (normal price £17.50), when they book tickets to the exhibition.  Check out the website for all the exhibition details www.barbican.org.uk.

The Globe

The open-air theatre season has begun again at the globe and throughout the summer people will line its historic seats and walls watching the works of William Shakespeare play themselves out in front of their eyes.  Sometimes, just for a moment at the Globe you can’t help but feel like you’re experiencing a little something of what the atmosphere must have been like all that time ago when the audience was bawdy and the Queen might show up.  Nowadays it’s mostly a crowd of well-read students and culture vultures.  There’s of course the odd celebrity on the stage and these productions are some of the best Shakespeare around.  Henry IV part 2 is one of the most anticipated productions to hit the stage this summer.

Hotspur is dead and Prince Hal has proved his mettle on the battlefield, but Henry IV lies dying and the rebels, though scattered, show no sign of declaring their allegiance to the Crown. Even Falstaff is forced out of the taverns to raise a scratch militia in the country. But will his attachment to the rising Hal be rewarded with promotion and the life of ease he feels sure he deserves?

At least the equal of Part 1, Henry IV Part 2 includes some of the greatest moments in Shakespeare: the deathbed scene of the old King, when Hal contemplates the crown; the reunion of Falstaff with his old boon companion, Justice Shallow; and Hal’s devastating rejection of Falstaff himself.

The production has Roger Allam as Falstaff who was recently in La Cage aux Folles in the West End, and won the 2002 Olivier Award for Privates on Parade at the Donmar.  It runs from 3 July to 3 October with a range of seat prices available from the cut price standing tickets at £5 to the top of the range seats at £35 www.shakespeares-globe.org.

Shakespeare’s Globe

21 New Globe Walk

Bankside

London SE1 9DT

020 7902 1400

Ed’s Diner

Diners come and diner’s go but Ed’s Diner just keeps on growing.  In these health conscious times it’s quite hard to believe that anyone would still be able to keep a diner in business, given that the bulk of what they serve is either deep-fried or covered in cheese.  In America, yes you can understand it as these institutions, with their red leather banquettes and their unlimited flows of coffee, offer the cheapest food options around, particularly in a city like New York which can be criminally expensive at times.  But over here?  In London?  Ok so they’re not exactly Ivy prices but still, they’re not gourmet burgers and you can pick up the same down the road at a fast food outlet for a quarter of the price.

Nevertheless diners seem to be here to stay in London and Ed’s has to be one of the most successful.  With locations now open in Soho, Euston, Trocadero and Blue Water, you’re pretty much guaranteed an Ed’s burger a short train ride away wherever you are. Ed’s claim to have founded the American diner culture in the UK, “creating a fun, family dining experience when we opened our first site in London’s Soho in November 1987.” Ed’s is the original 1950s classic diner which has its roots in post-war culture, serving up Rock ‘n’ Roll music, food that tastes great and service with a smile!

The menu is typically loaded with burgers – the ‘Original’ – with lettuce, tomato, onion, dill pickle, mayonnaise and mild American mustard (£5.45), Ed’s Rarebit topped with Swiss cheese and a fried egg (£6.25) or even the breakfast option with the All Day Big Breakfast Bubba – prime fresh ground beef, hash brown, griddled egg, American cheese and sweet-cured bacon on a toasted sesame bun (£6.85).  You can also get yourself a hotdog (£5.05) or a chilli dog (£5.45), a range of milkshakes, pancakes, chicken burgers and some cracking deserts.  Just don’t go there expecting to stick to your diet… www.edseasydiner.co.uk.