Tag: The F London

New, rustic and comfy – Morty & Bob’s at Coal Drops Yard London is your new local

Morty Bobs

Morty & Bob’s was one of the early settlers of London’s new Coal Drop Yard open air entertainment and dining precinct just north of Kings Cross station and you’ll love what they’ve done with the place. They moved in, used the existing brickwork to their advantage and have made a properly cosy atmosphere within, regardless of its open ended format and in-line open kitchen. It all works nicely, soaks you in filtered natural light and slams you with a menu you can’t help but want to try the whole of. It’s comfort food, done stylishly without the frills in a venue that is as much set-up for a quick bite as it is to while away a few hours. Morty & Bob’s has quickly famed itself thanks to its penchant for toasted cheese sandwiches and wine; a combination of which they hero every so often for the carb and wine lover in all of us. Read more about their upcoming one in June here. They’ve split the menu into three parts, with brunch & lunch, evening and bar food and drinks, really catering to everyone with staples like a brunch bun of avocado and streaky bacon; kale, buckwheat and avocado on sourdough and minute rib eye steaks with house hash browns and a fried egg. See the menu and plan your next visit at the Morty & Bob’s website.

Nicolaes Maes is the Dutch Master of the Golden Age coming to the National Gallery London

Nicolaes Maes National Gallery

From 22 February 2020, the work of Dutch Master Nicolaes Maes will grace the ground floor galleries of the National Gallery, right in the heart of London. It’ll make for what’s to be the first exhibition exclusively devoted to the man who died in 1693, taking on loans from private collections around the world. Made up of 35 pieces of work in paint and lead, the exhibition will take you on a journey through the life and learnings of a creative, considered one of the star pupils of renowned Dutch Golden Age Baroque artists, Rembrandt. What’s Maes known for? Maes was fond of works that depicted genre scenes, portraits, religious compositions and still lifes, many of which make up the bulk of next year’s exhibition. He was a pioneer of the theme of the eavesdropper; his carefully styled narratives often break the fourth wall, making the viewer a participant in the scene, as characters (often a maid) eavesdrop or point to illicit goings-on. To end the exhibition, it’ll focus on the period from 1673 when Maes settled in Amsterdam and abandoned domestic genre scenes to devote himself almost exclusively to portraits. A group of these lesser-known works will show how he brought a Van Dyckian elegance and swagger to the portraits.  The exhibition will run until 31 May 2020. See more from the National Gallery at the website.

Jardin Blanc: Eat with Raymond Blanc at the Chelsea Flower Show in London

Jardin Blanc Raymond

In what is possibly one of London’s most refined experiences at the hands of chef Raymond Blac, Jardin Blanc will again appear in Chelsea this year for a stunning gastronomic experience that money can buy. Blanc’s two hats will take centre stage at the secret garden restaurant – Jardin Blanc – amongst the renowned Chelsea Flower Show in London, giving diners a taste of what the £402 per person package can award you. From 21 to 25 May, Jardin Blanc will once again be the premium hospitality experience and hot ticket for London’s must-visit show, turning out access to the show, a complimentary open bar and special menus curated using the best seasonal ingredients, served with style for ticket holders. It’s all about flowers, food and fine experiences, all designed by Raymond Blanc and inspired by springtime’s sensational produce in a super flash surrounding. What to expect at Jardin Blanc “[Jardin Blanc is] an enchanting place filled with art, food, fun and of course, flowers,” said Raymond. “From breakfast to lunch, afternoon tea or dinner, we’ll provide for you a memorable experience.” Think ‘terrace’, with glasses of champagne, a pergola covering and swinging benches by Myburgh Designs, unlimited gin cocktails using Warner Edwards’ gin and the freshest of spring botanicals. For those a little more ‘hands-on’ and gin inclined, there’s a a gin tasting at Jardin Blanc as part of Tuesday’s La Lily Regale package, which for Friday visitors, means access to a live cookery demonstration from Raymond, with exclusive tastings accompanied by Champagne. Find… 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

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