Category: LONDON

Baluchi does the best Indian food in London – and now with new Naan’ery by Santosh Shah

Baluchi naan Santosh Shah

London might be known for its royalty and weather, but it’s the Indian cuisine that really puts the culinary spotlight on the city. And when places like the new Naan’ery open up at Baluchi London in The LaLit hotel London, it’s easy to see why. The pan-Indian dining destination has hit the ‘go’ button on its new dedicated space offering contemporary twists on traditional bread recipes. They’re all authentically cooked in a cast iron tandoor oven and accompanied by perfectly paired wines. Think traditional Indian flavours in a wildly contemporary space, tailored perfectly to the tastes of inner-city Londoners. Executive Chef Santosh Shah has transformed the humble Indian naan bread – which he prepares right in front of you – all to the tune of four breads made using seasonal ingredients – with tasty choices including porcini & truffle naan; and fig & cheese kulcha. Priced at £55 per person or £99 for two, the selection of Indian breads will be accompanied by a traditional tiffin, featuring a choice of Baluchi’s renowned butter chicken curry, or an aubergine and tamarind curry, alongside the signature dal Baluchi, soft pilau rice and authentic carrot halwa. Oh, and if cooking naan is your thing or you want to just give it a go, Santosh is putting on some masterclasses to get amongst. Here’s what they’re about: Get your tickets from here. Saturday 11 May 2019 – creating the perfect curry and biryani Saturday 20 July 2019 – the art of Indian BBQ and street food Saturday 10 August… Read More

Royal Opera’s Big Screens: Watch performances from anywhere in the UK this summer

Carmen production image (C) ROH. Photo by Bill Cooper

In 24 locations all around the UK, the best of British culture by the Royal Opera will be broadcast – thanks to BP Big Screens – for everyone to enjoy. Putting on classics like Romeo and Juliet (11 June), Carmen (2 July) and The Marriage of Figaro (9 July), the Royal Opera will broadcast live to locations across the UK like at Aberdeen’s Duthie Park, Castle Square in Swansea, Walton Halls and Gardens in Warrington and all the way down to Bembridge in the Isle of Wight. What else in on? Well, nothing but the best. 11 June at Covent Garden will show Kenneth MacMillan’s celebrated ballet Romeo and Juliet 2 July will see the screening of the award-winning director Barrie Kosky’s exuberant take on Bizet’s Carmen. And, on 9 July, the Royal Opera’s The Marriage of Figaro will be screened. Mozart’s greatest comedy is given a sumptuous staging by David McVicar, its stunning score is fast-moving in this hilarious production with ravishing duets and emotionally potent arias. The Big Screens have been running since 1987 and smashed out over 41,500 audience members between the lot of them last year alone. It’s a popular endeavour by the Royal Opera and it’s easy to see why. There is a seriously large number of places to catch some of the headlining screenings. Here they all are: Romeo and Juliet, 11 June 2019: Trafalgar Square (London); Cressing Temple Barns (Essex); Trinity Square (Hull); Sandy Balls Holiday Village, The New Forest (Hampshire); Television Centre, White City (London); Walton Hall… Read More

Kids’ passion for art: National Gallery London puts on Take One Picture

An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump

What happens when you put kids in front of artwork? Well… generally nothing, but as it happens, not if they visit the National Gallery right in the middle of London. They’re putting on Take One Picture, a unique program to get kids into artwork in a particularly contemporary way: with their phones! Kids from around the ages of 1-6 are invited to focus on one of the paintings in the gallery and respond creatively to its themes and subject matter, historical context, or composition. Purposed to promote the visual arts across the curriculum and inspiring a lifelong love of art, this year the National Gallery chose An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768) by Joseph Wright ‘of Derby’ as the kids’ inspiration and it’s easy to see why. The work An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump depicts a travelling scientist demonstrating the formation of a vacuum by withdrawing air from a flask containing a white cockatoo. Air pumps were developed in the 17th century and were relatively familiar by Wright’s day. It was chosen for the wide range of subjects that are explored: the depiction of a scientific invention and its entertainment value, the human drama happening in a night-time domestic setting, and the references to the Age of Enlightenment. The bird will die if the demonstrator continues to deprive it of oxygen, and Wright (1734–1797) leaves us in doubt as to whether or not the cockatoo will be reprieved. The painting reveals a wide range of individual reactions,… Read More

See Spain, eat Spain: National Gallery London celebrates Spanish art in more ways than one

National Gallery London fountain

For the Sorolla: Spanish Master of Light exhibition, the National Gallery has introduced some new menus to what’s on offer – read more about that here – but it’s the art on-show by Bermejo alongside it that’s one of the real drawcards. Dubbed the Master of the Spanish Renaissance, Bartolome Bermejo’s exhibition will star at the Gallery until 19 September 2019. On show, pieces of work by the master from the period of about 1440-1501 will be displayed, including six loans that have never been seen outside of Spain, including two of Bermejo’s masterpieces: Triptych of the Virgin of Montserrat and Desple Pieta. The latter was named after Lluis Despla, the archdeacon of the Barcelona Cathedral, where the painting has been since the 15th century. Also right at the centre of the exhibition, the National Gallery will have what’s widely considered the most important Spanish renaissance painting in Britain on display: Saint Michael triumphant over the Devil. Director of the National Gallery, Dr. Gabriele Finaldi said, “The National Gallery’s Saint Michael Triumphant is a supreme work of European 15th-century painting. The exhibition introduces the public to Bermejo, a great Spanish renaissance master with exceptional loans never before seen in Britain.” See more about exhibition, alongside the rest of the summertime exhibitions at the National Gallery at the Gallery’s website.

What to see at the National Gallery of London this English summer

National Gallery London

If there’s one place you visit in London for any injection of art, timeless history and culture that has influence so much of what we around the world consider influential art, then the National Gallery in London is it. And this summer the gallery that sits at the pinnacle of art in the English capital is putting on exhibitions that celebrate the life, time and work or artists Gaugin in The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Gaugin and Bartolome Bermejo in Master of the Spanish Renaissance. Until 26 January 2020 for Gaugin (which opens in October!) and 29 September 2019 for Bermejo, the Gallery is celebrating the life and times of both artists through their works, a testament to post-impressionist and Flemish renaissance art respectively. The Gaugin exhibition makes the first ever exhibition for the gallery, devoted to the portraits of Paul Gaugin spanning a whopping period from the mid-1880s to 1903, when he died. The exhibition features a collection of portraits of a sitter, which Gaugin had placed into suggestive contexts to help express meaning beyond their personalities. By bringing together a number of works of the same sitter for different collections, the exhibition lets you see how Gaugin interpreted a specific model in different media over time. Meanwhile for a shorter period, The National Gallery London will show works by Bermejo, the man hailed as the greatest Spanish artist of the second half of the fifteenth century. It’ll include some of his works like Madonna of Montserrat and Pieded Despla from the Barcelona Cathedral. They’ve… Read More

London’s National Gallery celebrates Sorolla Spanish Master of Light exhibition with new menus

Sorolla National Gallery 1

The National Dining Rooms and The National Café right in the middle of London are celebrating the Sorolla: Spanish Master of Light exhibition at The National Gallery with a special menu hailing all the way from Spain thanks to restauranteur, Oliver Peyton. It’s all going down from 18 March to 7 July, and has been inspired by the stunning work of Spanish painter, Joaquín Sorolla y Bastidas. Think tapas style starters of smoked ham, manchego croquettes with pimento aioli, for instance. Then you’d move onto the likes of hake fish in romesco sauce and almond olive dressing, vegetable paella with sprouting broccoli, asparagus, padron peppers and saffron. Dessert looks something like a bit of crema catalana or tarta de Santiago served with clotted cream and it all kicks off for £19 (about $40) for two courses or £24 ($50) for three. Complete with artwork by the artist themselves, comprised of vivid seascapes, garden views, and bathing scenes for which he is most renowned, the Sorolla exhibition features more than 60 works spanning Sorolla’s career. It – and the restaurants, obviously – are worth a visit. See more at the Peyton and Byrne website. Find them here: The National Dining Rooms Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN The National Café East Wing, The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN

Where to stay in Covent Garden, London: The Nadler boutique hotel

The Nadler Covent Garden - Exterior daytime

Any visit to London isn’t complete without a visit to Covent Garden. The site of music, food, fashion, entertainment for decades, its got its own long list of reason to visit, other than hospitality, but it’s definitely the latest hotel on the block, The Nadler Covent Garden, that gives any tourist – first timer or veteran – a reason to pay it a visit. The Covent Garden establishment is the latest in a long list of Nadler hotels around London, making it the fifth jewel in a crown of striking hotels in the city that really put London on the map – even more so – as a must-visit and must-stay destination; museums aside. It overlooks the Strand, right in the heart of Covent Garden and is perfectly situated for exploring one of London’s most schmick districts. The hotel is unique, other than its stunning aesthetic, because of a few touches they’ve gone with for guests that really set the joint apart from the regular hum drum that might be on offer in other parts of town. Each room comes with a mini kitchen, direct access to the Royal Opera House (currently showing Frankenstein and Juliet & Romeo), champagne tastings at Champagne + Fromage, to exclusive discounts and perks at luxury shoe store, Oliver Sweeney, the hotel’s specially trained front of house. The Nadler in Covent Garden really lets you live as a local, right in the centre of London – which no one can afford otherwise – putting the best of life, right at… Read More

6 reasons to visit the new Vivi Restaurant and Bar in London

Vivi London food

If the 60s were your decade of choice, you like quality bevs and fancy a new joint to visit, right in the middle of London, then the new Vivi Restaurant and Bar at Centre Point is for you. Complete with flair bartending, an all-day menu and a quality range of decor, the new venue – by the folks who brought us the famed London Skygarden – offers up a fresh new six reasons to pay it a visit. And then keep coming back. The dining room Open from brekkie to brunch, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner, head chef Arnaud Delannay will be pumping out signature dishes that focus on bold flavours and fresh seasonal ingredients. He’s kind of made a name for himself by turning out twists on the old classics such as Keen’s twice baked cheddar soufflé; chicken kiev and mash; and duck à l’orange and all the desserts you need. 2. The bar Vivi has really made its mark with the whole nostalgic thing. By working with a drinks menu that celebrates old school bartending with imaginative, quality cocktails, they’ve carved a niche out for themselves that really hits the mark when it comes to justi what you need. Drinks like Wild Honey on the Beach of Bulleit rye whiskey, pimento dram, lemon thyme infused honey, lemon and The Beach Boys, The Weeping Guitar of gin mare, Italicus rosolio di Bergamotto, cucumber, elderflower, lime, tonic water, everything they make is quality. 3. The gallery This is where Vivi-goers comes to people watch, gawk,… Read More

London’s newest, flashest entrepreneur’s club: Home Grown opens in April 2019

London Home Grown club restaurant

If there’s one thing London does well, it’s their clubs, bars and private members’ hideaways, perfect for the sneaky drink, refined surrounds and general chilled awesomeness of what it means to be a member. Home Grown is for high-growth entrepreneurs and from 3 April, will be open on Great Cumberland Place in Marylebone, right in the middle of London. Home Grown is for fast-geared people with a business mind and drive to work, never stop and never take a break. It’ll be comprised of a carefully selected membership of entrepreneurs and investors will join a star-studded group of business to create a unique new community, designed for individuals who not only work to live, but live to work. The founders of exciting brands such as Not on the High Street, Seedlip, Planet Organic, Larsson & Jennings, Pleesecakes, Duke & Dexter and Blondie’s Kitchen along with ambassadors including Daniel Priestly, Jenny Tooth OBE, Julie Devonshire OBE, Lex Deak, Camilla Dolan, Andy Yates and Stephen Page are just some of the dynamic individuals getting ready to make Home Grown their second home. Why? The new pad will be dedicated to growing businesses thanks to its networking opportunities. What will Home Grown offer? For members after a bit of benefit to their membership, it’ll host: Expert ‘How To’ talks ‘Sweatworking’ – a HIIT workout, and networking event where barriers to building better connections are broken down through exercise ‘Breaking Bread’, intimate monthly dinners with leading experts in specialist fields which will include debate, discussion and delicious dishes. Health… Read More

Worth a visit: The Royal Opera House in London has been redone

Royal Opera House

Three years after the Royal Opera House in London was overhauled, it’s open and the result is exactly what you’d expect of the city’s finest arts and culture venue. It comes complete with all the bells ‘n’ whistles of the old opera house, just a lot nicer, newer and with a whole new feeling entirely its own. With inviting new entrances, extended foyers and terraces and a new café, bar and restaurant, together with an extensive programme of ticketed and free daytime events, the Royal Opera House is now open to the public every day from 10am. You’re welcome to wander in, check it out, have a coffee and take a tour, but for those die hards, there’s a full program of oeratic wonderment that is absolutely worth a ticket. See their full line-up here. The whole project was spurred on by the Linbury Theatre; a new space, which takes the spot as the West End’s newest and most intimate theatre. The new space will let The Royal Ballet, The Royal Opera and other special artists all perform in the same space. Check out the Royal Opera in Covent Garden and the new space with any production at the Opera House any time. Have a look at their website.